Not brave enough to let 7 month pup off lead

[cyclingwife]

Our labrador pup is lovely but I'm not brave enough to let her off the lead. We don't have a secure back garden and so she has always been on a long line or lead since she came to us at 8 weeks old. One time i didn't keep an eye on her she disappeared into the neighbours garden to chase their dog.

We walk her 4 times a day (8am, 11.30, 4 and 8pm) but she's always on a lead because we don't trust her to run off. She loves to sniff around and wander all over the country roads where we live, but I wouldn't trust her to come to me when a car comes for example.

We practice recall twice a day as training session but also most of the time generally calling her and she's pretty good at coming unless there is a higher reward - like a cat, cow muck to sniff, rubbish to pick up- and then she is easily distracted.

I just worry that she never has a really good race aroun apart from her zoomies but they're always restricted by the 5m lead. Is she missing out?

I'm looking for advice for when i know she'll be fine if i let her off her lead. Today we were in a forest and she would have loved to have whizzed off into the forest to run but I would be so worried I'd never see her again. Should I just be brave and let her go?

[frankie001]

That is lovely news! Well done. It’s gets easier!

[cyclingwife]

Thanks @frankie001 I am sure it does!

We took her out in the garden this afternoon off lead and whilst the neighbour's dog was in their garden we spent the time making our garden much more interesting to be than chasing the neighbour's dog. She had a great time, loved being off lead and chasing around and playing with her ball and rope. It was great. I really feel we've come on so much in just a few days .

[Eckhart]

Glad it went so well! My dog's 6 and I still take high value treats on walks sometimes, just to reinforce the training. Also, I got a dog whistle, and returning to that gets a high value treat every time. Another trick in the 'in case she gets distracted' box... and it saves my voice!

[MsAdorabelleDearheartVonLipwig]

@cyclingwife that sounds great! Well done. Just make sure you practice it frequently to proof it or she’ll forget. And then keep practicing it

[MissShapesMissStakes]

Sounds like you've made great progress.
I was nervous too to let mine off. It helped if I went with a friend or two. It gave me a bit more confidence at first that there were more of us to find him if he got lost (he never did!).

Also he adores playing ball. So I got some squeaky balls. Instead of a whistle he comes flying back when I squeak the ball for a game and/or a high value treat.

I also had a 1:1 session with a dog trainer on a walk. She gave me lots of confidence with him off lead.

He's almost two now and has great recall. Most dogs do just want to be with their owners anyway.

I saw someone the other day whose dog had a really loud bell on its collar in case it went missing. You could hear it for miles!

[Girliefriendlikespuppies]

Why isn't the garden secure? That must be a pain for you and the dog?!

I read somewhere that it's best to get them used to being off lead as young as possible so that's what we did. Our pup was allowed off lead from around 12 weeks and we did loads of practice in getting him to return to us. He's very attached to dd and I anyway so doesn't like us getting too far away.

You need to be brave and go for it, trust your dog! One of the great pleasures of dog ownership is seeing my dog run free.

[dontdisturbmenow]

That's great news! And good tip about the forest.

It's been 3 weeks since we let our puppy off the lead, and he is definitely getting more confident so happy to stay further away. He is still very little at 14 weeks so watch for big dogs or potential loud noise that would spook him. Our main problem is that he is so friendly, he goes to everyone and won't come back as quickly then, and if there's food, that's even harder! But so far no instance when he has come back or gone to far away, even in the forest, so cross fingers.

[dogmam]

Not sure if this has already been suggested but when we got our rescue dog, who we were still getting to know and didn't know if they had been trained recall, we took him to a tennis court in a local park, you know the ones with high secure fences? He loved it and we could practice recall with him.
We've had him a year now and always let him off the lead with no issues AS LONG AS we have his ball with us. He is obsessed with fetch so as soon as we get the ball out he comes to us. You could try getting your pup a ball and use the same one every time to play fetch with. Good luck!

[Dragongirl10]

Its rather unkind to not let a lively breed like a labrador off lead, these breeds need to have freedom and be able to stretch their legs and run, l am shocked you don't know this and that you didn't secure your garden before getting a puppy.

All our pups get free run of the garden from coming home and recall is practiced from Day 1. They also get taken to a secure small public park as soon as innoculations are complete at 14 weeks and let of. They don't go far as they are not that confident, but they get tto meet other dogs, children, people generally and build their confidence as well as recall.
Find a secure local park and let your dog off, take treats or start clicker training.