What age did you let your dog off the lead?

[heatseeker14]

I’m wondering when would be good to let our 14 week old pup off the lead. He is generally good at coming when called in the house. At the moment he is on the lead when I take him out for a walk and in our garden when he needs to wee/poo.
Think I need to start teaching off lead recall in our garden and then work up to a quiet space outdoor elsewhere.
Everyone I meet say I should let him off sooner rather than later, but I’m worried that he will pester dogs and get attacked. He doesn’t seem to read signals other dogs give out because he is super excited. I don’t think it is right to let him loose to annoy other dogs and their owners.
Please can you tell me what age you let your dog off the lead?
Did you use a long trailing lead to begin with?

[makingmyway10]

we let our 6 month l;ab puppy off the lead at about 17 wekks. It is so scary at first but generally they stick close until teenage hormones call! They then get selective hearing and need food incentive to always come to call.

[heatseeker14]

Thanks Shambolical for your advice, very much appreciated. He ignored me the other day when he was distracted by a scent, probably from a squirrel, so I need to keep using the long line for now.
It looks like the majority of you let your puppy off pretty much straight away. I wish I had let our puppy off the lead sooner. Was just too chicken 😳.

[nothingcanhurtmewithmyeyesshut]

Right from the start when her legs were still short enough that I could catch her!

[Shambolical1]

If he doesn't recall, stand on the end of your long line then pick it up. Call him again (make sure you tell him what you want him to do, don't just shout his name over and over again). At the same time, give a few tugs on the long line. You don't want to be dragging him back, but to be 'nagging' enough on the longline to distract him from what he's doing. Little repeated tugs, just enough to make his tag jingle.

As soon as he turns towards you, shout "Yesss good boy!" or whatever your praise word is. Leave off the lead tugging, get down low and be really encouraging as he runs back to you. Move backwards a bit. When he gets all the way back, reward him with high value treats.

You can practice this with all sorts of things, not just other dogs: come away from the park bin, ducks on the pond. All the distractions.

As long as he is always praised and rewarded every time he comes back, he'll learn that recall is a good idea.

This is also the thing to go back to when the teenage phase arrives.

[ritatherockfairy]

Agree with everyone that says the sooner the better. I never used a long lead but we discovered the power of the whistle very early on. For some reason he will ignore my voice but the whistle stops him in his tracks and makes his take notice.

[Spidey66]

About 4 months, tried her on a long line first. Her recall is usually OK, unless she's distracted by other dogs.

We won't let her off the lead on streets, her road sense is zero, if she's distracted by a cat or something, she'd think nothing of running out. She loves loves loves the park so no chance of her willingly leaving it!

[heatseeker14]

Thanks for all your replies. I’m going to put our puppy on a long trailing lead today. He is very good at coming back when distracted by birds for example but not with other dogs. I have booked a course with a trainer but it’s not for a few weeks. He advised me in the meantime not to let our puppy run up to other dogs, even if they are off lead, as he will get rewarded by doing this and will be less likely to return. Sorry to sound dim, but what do I do if he doesn’t recall? I plan to step on his long lead if he doesn’t come back, but what do I do then? Wait until he returns to me then reward him or reel him back in and reward?

[CaptainCabinets]

We braved it with our rescue boy at 18 weeks and he BOSSED it

Scares the shit out of me because he runs soooo fast but he always comes back to his Mama (and her pockets full of cheese and dried liver)

[GreyHare]

My older dog I kept on a lead far too long and his recall isn't the best, my younger dog was off from 8 weeks and has great recall, but I also never allowed my dogs to play with other dogs, as another dog is nearly always going to be far more exciting than you and your pup will keep blowing recall to go play, plus one day might go approach the wrong dog.

[frostedviolets]

I also don't think it is good to allow puppies to interact with strange, unknown dogs.

Asking the owners if they can interact, in my opinion, is at best pointless and at worst dangerous because most owners have a very, very poor understanding of body language and if their dog does react badly to the puppy the damage is done.

Quite a few adult dogs dislike puppies.

They may not hurt them but a lot of adult dogs will growl and snarl at them for simply being near them.

I'm not sure that's a terribly good message for a young puppy to be getting on a regular basis from other dogs to be honest.

[ruthieness]

we always gave the dog a treat whenever we put him on the lead
and then kept lead out of sight so that as soon as the lead comes out he runs to us!
it is great as some dogs run off at the end of the walk.

you can practise this at home - the lead is not a punishment...

[MirkwoodMiss]

I used a 10m recall line. After a while we dropped the line (still -attached) so we could at least step on the line if he made a bolt for it! As soon as his recall was at a decent level, we dispensed with the line and used treats for good recall. He's brilliant at it now- good luck. It's as much about your confidence as doggie's!

[StillMedusa]

My pup has been off lead since she was 12 weeks old, and has been fab... well until the day she saw a deer ... then she shot off faster than Usain Bolt, with me scrambling across the meadows, through a hedge to find no dog in view. Luckily she responds to me wolf whistling her!

She's just coming up to 6 months and I can see that she will have to go back on a long line shortly as she is getting teen attitude already... she hears me call, stops, looks back and then goes 'na, I'm having fun'!

I'm hoping that by spring she will be through the worst of it!!!!

[LionKingLover]

We have a dog park nearby it's enclosed so we tried it in there within the first few weeks he could go out. With recall and Treats and a big fuss. He's now nearly 7 months and still very good and keeping near to us and coming when called, although the teenage bit is coming now so I may say different in a few weeks

[Stellaris22]

I don't think anyone here has recommended allowing dogs to run up to on lead dogs. It's been recommended to speak with owners before allowing dogs to play.

I get what you are saying, but I've seen with every new puppy in our group how beneficial it is to have older dogs teach younger ones correct behaviour and stops nervousness. Obviously it has to go with training from owners, but the two approaches work very well and helps develop a much more rounded dog who is well socialised.

[threemilesupthreemilesdown]

I'm going to go against the grain and say that I would not encourage off-lead socialisation with random dogs met on walks or with groups of dogs in the park. For every dog that turns out just fine with this approach, I think there's another one out there that's becoming the teenage horror, that finds playing with other dogs so all-consumingly thrilling and rewarding that they bog off at any opportunity. I don't want to model behaviour based on the 'he's only being friendly' brigade, who often have a poor understanding of dog body language and behaviour, neither is it their dog's responsibility to police my dog's behaviour by snapping/correcting. That's for me to sort out!

I also don't think it's ever ok to allow a dog to approach an on-lead dog, or even an off-lead one that is otherwise minding its own business and showing no interest in interacting, though I appreciate that my opinion on this is coloured by lots of other factors.

For that reason I prefer to take the approach of teaching recall, focus games, 'watch me', hand targets etc. at home and in the garden first before ramping up the distractions, and at least initially avoiding setting them up for failure by avoiding high volume areas and/or using a long line until the behaviours you want are sufficiently proofed. A good dog training class will aid with this - the set-up of the Dogs Trust Dog School is fantastic, they use curtained-off bays which get moved further and further back each week as the dogs progress.

This is a very rambly way of answering your question with 'as soon as they will look to me amid distraction'. For one of my dogs this was somewhere near two years, for the latest it was about 14 weeks (very different breeds and circumstances, in fairness).

[koshkat]

I used a longline with mine (wayward spaniel) until his recall was rock solid. He was a confident and nose driven youngster and would hoon off after hares as soon as he got wind of one.

He was let off at around 9 months but is currently undergoing some remedial training on his long line as he seems to have forgotten his recall manners depsite going to training every week since he was a pup!

He is 3.

[HotdogSausagedog]

My dogs are always walked off lead from the moment they can be walked.

I have a spaniel and dachshund and both have been of the lead since 14 weeks, they recall very well and always stay close to us. They see it as being 'normal' so do behave really well of lead.

[raspberryk]

@GoFiguire -Is your dog called Fenton, Boris?
Jesus Christ Feeeennnnttooooonn 🤣

[heatseeker14]

Yes, I definitely need to let him, to a certain extent, work out which dogs to approach and which ones to avoid. I just get worried he will get hurt or I will get an angry owner shouting at me!
I’m thinking about buying a recall line ready for his teenage phase. How long should this be? Is a 10 metre line okay or will it get tangled up?
I might also buy a short house line as our puppy has decided that he doesn’t like what I want him to do sometimes and will growl at me. Another story I know, but I need to be able to lead him off safely e.g away from front door, from eating a particularly nice shrub (!) or off the sofa. I have been using commands like come, leave or off and rewarding good behaviour so far. However, sometimes he just decides he doesn’t want to move! Should I put him on a line indoors? I can’t remember our family dog ever growling, so his outbursts have taken me by suprise! Can’t wait for his teenage phase .

[LolaSmiles]

That's always a risk when training a new pup, but they soon learn about signals from other dogs and how to read them and recall etc.
The only way to train them off lead and to manage distractions is to have them off lead around other dogs. Most dogs and dog owners will be fine.

[Stellaris22]

Agree with this. When new puppies arrive in our social group they do test boundaries, but older dogs will soon let them know when it's a bit much. Our dog certainly learnt a lot this way.

[EleanorReally]

other dogs may well put an over excited pup in its place, its all a lesson

[babyblackbird]

I didn't use a long line but wish I had . Mine has good recall generally but he wanders further from me than I would like. Using a line gets them used to a certain radius eg if you get a 10m long line and reinforce them when they check in with you when they get to the end of it , eventually it will be automatic for them to stop and pause and check in when they get to that distance - ---- that's the theory anyway

[heatseeker14]

I took him to a quiet area of a large park near where I live and let him off. He stayed close to me the whole time. I’m so pleased I did it. Thank you all, your messages helped me to chill out enough to get on with it.
The only point I was a bit worried was when he ran towards a dog on a lead. The dog wasn’t friendly and barked as dpup ran towards him. I managed to call him away in time, but I was worried for a few minutes.
We met a beautiful black lab while we were out. They played so well together.

I will take your advice and will take his favourite squeaky ball next time, Nettleskeins. It is super noisy and should get his attention.
@Stellaris22 I take him on a puppy walk at another local park on a Saturday. The pups are on leads for the duration of the walk. I hope to make friends with some of the owners.