How old was your puppy when you let it off the lead in public?

[suburbandream]

Our pup is 17 weeks and I haven't let him off the lead in public yet, his recall is still non-existent if there are any distractions what so ever. I'm too scared to! Please tell me I'm not a wimp, I just don't want him to get in any danger or distress anyone (he is only little but very friendly and excitable with sharp puppy teeth and nails)

As soon as she was allowed out I took the plunge and let her off - so around 12 weeks .

Had been working on recall in the garden - she is quite food orientated so food treats worked well - also I had started training her to recall with a whistle .

You could use a long training lead which I also used at times .

In all the books ive read they all say do it as soon as possible cos when puppy is little it wont want to go far anyway but if you wait too long then it will want to go explore everywhere

I was told to do it as soon as he was allowed out. He was perfect until about 9 months and then got very bold/deaf/bionic.

Lots and lots of recall training later, he's now almost always very good.

We let ours off as soon as he was able to go out. My train of thought was that as he was so tiny, A) he wouldn't want to stray too far from us and B) if he did I could chase him down without too much effort! He is now 6 months, and he is a good boy. He is still exciteable around other dogs, but as we walk the same route every day, the other owners have known him since he was tiny and are very forgiving when he becomes too much!

oh dear, have I left it too late then? He definitely wants to explore everywhere! Has been on a short lead, but maybe I should get a training lead. His recall in the garden and inside is quite good with me, but only as long as there are no distractions. I'm worried about him running off and having too much fun to return (don't want to do a "fenton"!)

It's natural that they will want to explore and they will get distracted by other dogs - but they will soon learn what dogs want to play and who don't .

Another dog is far more fun than you - but you have to be more fun than the other dog - easier said than done .

Most dog walkers understand a new pup , some don't , so be prepared at times for a telling off or a muttering under the other dog walkers breath .

My puppy is 17 weeks old too and on the advice of the lady running the puppy classes, I have just began to let him off. His recall is great ( lots of smelly sausage treats or chicken) unless he sees another dog, when it all goes to pot.
I tend to take him to a beach and nowhere near a road. I also waited till my dh was free and had him run between us.

A word of caution a friend of a friend's 14 week old puppy bolted a couple of days ago and was sadly ran over and Killed:(

I would get training long lead :) I don't think it's too late - he is still a baby and ready to learn. Our recall is very good -but if there is another dog about he becomes very deaf! We have thought about a long lead too, but are just seeing how he goes for the time being!

Go somewhere safe (no roads nearby) on a day where you have no urgent things to do. What I do is put a treat under the puppy's nose but don't give it to him (so he knows I am the bearer of good stuff). Then I let off the lead and say "away" (or an equivalent). I call him back when I don't need him to come, give him a treat and I repeat at intervals. In my puppy's case, if he doesn't come at any point, I know I need to get closer to him (if I can) as this seems to help. I don't call him if I see he is distracted by something else, I just come closer and wait till his head is up for a second and then call him. Hope that helps. Good luck.

Thanks everyone, I feel reassured now! We have a lovely park near us but the trouble is that it is right next to a busy road on one side and a big wood on the other so I do worry that if he took off, he'd either run out onto the road or get lost in the woods. I'm off to buy a training lead this morning

Get some very high value treats, such as chopped up cocktail sausage, and he will keep coming back to you. The dried treats from pet shops are not as yummy, so not as useful for recall training.

Don't miss the window!

Get him off lead as soon as you can - while he is young, his instinct is to be near you. He's not yet old enough to want to explore much away from you. It won't be that way for much longer though, don't waste any more time if you can help it.

Get something really, really stinky and take a squeaky toy, go somewhere you know he can't actually escape from and let him off. Play with him, make you the most exciting thing in the whole world. He really won't want to be away from you at this age. Keep calling him in, don't let him go to far away from you - manage him carefully.

I wouldn't advocate using a long line - it could cause problems with lead and heel work in the future. He won't know why he can walk where he likes on some leads but not on others. It is asking for trouble as he gets stronger and more likely to try pulling.

I let my pup off the lead from day one and her recall is excellent at 14 months old, in fact she hardly has to go on the lead at all. I spent hours and hours and hours working on recall as she is a terrier and can run very far away chasing a squirrel, bird, rabbit but even at times when I can't see her in the woods, I just call her and she is back with me. When she was small we spent lots of time running about in the woods, splitting up and calling her to and from different family members, hiding behind trees and calling her etc. I have ALLWAYS got a box of high value treats and as soon as I click open the box she appears. The other thing I think is really important is not over use of her name and keep walking onwards, they soon catch up. My sister has a basset who is 11 months and they never let her off lead until about 3 weeks ago and she would "chase people" and "not come back from another family/dog etc" but when going out on walks with them I understood why! My dear sis would unethusiastically call her name, never praise her for coming back and never had an treats, often she would chase after her to drag her away from what held her interest. I went out with her dog and when she went up to another family I ran in the opposite direction, calling her name whooping and excitedly waving my arms around (looked like a complete prat mind!) and guess what doggy came bounding back, sat and had a nice smelly sausage. I have had sisters pup for 4 days and she is never on lead and stays with me beatifully, I make sure I keep bounding on and make sure she knows I have nice things in my pocket and lots of praise for when she comes back.

Straight away with both mine (so from 12 weeks) both had reasonable recall little dog much easier as assisted by the big dog!! Both let off away from roads though first times!

I have always used long training lines - i.e. don't walk them on the long lead, attach it when you let them "off" - it gives you more chance to step on it and restrain them when/if they don't come back. Our vet used to say they think you have the magic power to stop them in their tracks . I haven't needed it with all the pups we've had, but it's been very useful with the selectively deaf ones! (and yes it get really grubby).

Whistles and treats has been the best overall method though but i do have food obsessed breeds