First time off lead advice please

[Retrievemysanity]

This is my first dog and she’s now 15 weeks old. I’ve read lots of good tips about getting them used to off lead by running between 2 people initially etc My problem is, in the day time it’s just me. Most of my friends work during the day and we are tier 3 so a lot don’t want to meet up anyway. DH is wfh but is only free in his lunch break which doesn’t usually coincide with pup’s awake time. By the time DDs are home from school it’s dark. So I was wondering about trying on my own. Is this a really bad idea?!

Pup is v food motivated indoors but on walks, not bothered, would rather sniff although I’ve just been taking kibble with me. I suspect with hot dog or something she might be more interested. My main concern is that she is so friendly and excited about people and dogs that if she sees one, she’ll bolt over and she’s a jumper so will jump up at people etc.

I signed up for recall workshops in an enclosed field but they were cancelled and I don’t want to miss the boat. Other option is just waking her when DH is free but that’s usually not long after she’s just gone down for her next nap!

Any thoughts?

If she's going to run over to other people and dogs if she's off lead, you need to keep her on a lead. Buy a long line for her - the plastic coated flat ones are good so you can practice recall while you're still in control.

I am home alone in the day (well apart from the dog) but trained mine like this and did the running between two people thing at the weekend

Long line (not extending lead) clip on and let them explore. Anytime they are running towards you mark the behaviour and call them over, reward for being at your feet. If they're never running towards you, run in the opposite direction and they'll run towards you. If not, you can grab them with the longline. Repeat praise as above.

Definitely recommend using a long retractable lead, this way she can run off and practice recall but you are still in control

Just pick your time and place carefully - and yeah you want higher value rewards.

But start by letting her off somewhere with no-one about, practice recall and then pop her back on the lead.

If there’s no-one else there, she’ll stick fairly close anyway.

I first let mine off in my local park. There was another lady who had a puppy who is a month or so younger than mine, but she'd had dogs before whereas this was my first one. Because the puppies liked each other they just played constantly.
The next time my dh came with me. We went to a large open area far enough away from the road, and just let her off. We didn't do the going between us thing, we just let her run and then just called her back with treats. I was nervous as anything, but dh had grown up with dogs so didn't have the same worry.
The recall is something you work on at home. You can call your dog and reward, then work up to calling from another room and rewarding them.
In your situation I'd use a longline, and do the recall with that, so they get to explore and you have the confidence they'll not be able to run off.
It is so nerve wracking but so worth all the effort you put in when your puppy comes to you when off the lead.

At that age they will naturally want to stay close to you. The trouble starts when they get to adolescence. Our pup has amazing recall until 7months old. He's 14 months now and despite our best efforts his recall is awful, he's always on lead unless in an enclosed field.

Definitely try a long line and treat everytime they come.

Do not use a retractable lead -dangerous and painful. Do buy a long training lead. Look on YouTube and practise recall first. Get a whistle and learn how to use it.
Good luck.

DDog was great at first (about 6 months when we got her) as she came to me for protection and reassurance. By about 8 months she was more confident and started to ignore me. Liver cake was a game changer - she adores it and now (10 months) comes running as soon as I call

A friend's dog has the same reaction to cheese, but isn't bothered by liver cake - find the thing that your DDog would sell their grandmother for!

Don't always put your puppy back on the lead when he comes back, otherwise he will associate comng back with the end of playtime. Either put it on and take it straight off, or hold his collar while you praise him and then let him go. For all dogs, it's recall, recall, recall. And as you need brakes too, stop whistle, stop whistle, stop whistle. Everything else builds on these two. Practise in your house and garden. My most recent dog will stop on command a hundred yards away and then take directions to his retrieve item from that distance. They love it.

“Don't always put your puppy back on the lead when he comes back, otherwise he will associate comng back with the end of playtime.“

Oh yes, I meant practise recall for a bit then pop back on - not the once btw

Ah, thanks all. I did buy a long lead months ago so I’ll check if it was just a long lead or a retractable one. With a long lead do you let go and just grab it if they run off or do you always hold on to it? We do practice recall a lot. Round the house she’s great, in the garden not as good but still pretty good but there are fewer distractions than out in the real world. She loves hot dogs and chicken etc but I haven’t overused these at home in the hope that they’ll have more value out and about! Gosh I feel so out of my depth! It’s hard to go somewhere where there are no other people and dogs as we are quite urban and all the parks and fields I know usually have a few dogs there!

“It’s hard to go somewhere where there are no other people and dogs as we are quite urban and all the parks and fields I know usually have a few dogs there!“

That’s where time can be useful... people tend to walk at certain times, so some places right after school run time can be heaving, but say 11 real quiet - it’s just a case of working out where and when...

The longline, with an older dog you’d leave it trailing, with such a little one - tbh, whatever works, lol

I wouldn’t use an extendable one with such a young puppy ( I do like them for some things, others hate them) but with a puppy you run the risk of reinforcing that pulling gets places as that’s pretty much how they work.

Also check secure dog fields near you, they’d work for the first few times as well... one I used is owned by a dog daycare and were happy to use their own (not client) Dog’s as stooges in the next field to practise distractions because there’s a fence in between it’s still controlled.

This is a long line - basically it's a very long lead. With a young puppy in a crowded space, I wouldn't use one though. And don't use a retractable lead on a puppy, especially if they have a collar rather than harness

@Clymene this is what we have. She has a harness. Not a crowded space where we would go, it’s a huge field but there will most likely be a couple of other dogs on there.

@tabulahrasa thank you, you reminded me that I had some credit from all my cancelled sessions so I’ve booked the enclosed dog field they use and will use that this week!

Oh that's fine though it will get muddy which is why I have the wipe clean version!

Given her age and that you can only take her out for a short amount of time, you can just practice recall with her over short distances for 5 mins or so at the end of the walk and just leave the line to trail so that she's not really aware she has it

Dog fields are great - I keep agility equipment in my boot like a total saddo for the dog field - my dog loves it

Will she fetch a toy?
I built that up in the house first - I throw the toy and she chases and brings it back to me in return for a treat. Then I added the command to "come" just as she was coming anyway, so she understands what she's supposed to do. Then I took the toy outside and basically repeat with more distractions.

The long line is good because you can leave it trailing behind them and then you can stand on it if you need to stop them going too far away. I also use mine for walking on the field - I make it look like I have somewhere to go by walking in a particular direction & pup follows within a 10m radius

@Clymene I can see myself doing that in years to come! I’ve already got her running through the kids’ play tunnel in the garden!

@newpup123 yes she will fetch a ball and bring it back in house and garden. She will come if we do hide and seek in the garden too with each child and me hiding and calling her! I just have the feeling that if she catches sight of another person or dog on the massive field, she’ll be off. I don’t know of course, and that’s the issue!

[quote Retrievemysanity]@Clymene I can see myself doing that in years to come! I’ve already got her running through the kids’ play tunnel in the garden!

@newpup123 yes she will fetch a ball and bring it back in house and garden. She will come if we do hide and seek in the garden too with each child and me hiding and calling her! I just have the feeling that if she catches sight of another person or dog on the massive field, she’ll be off. I don’t know of course, and that’s the issue![/quote]
The long line is definitely your friend (mine too!). You can even tie it to your belt or bum bag or whatever then your hands are free to play but you know pup is safe.

We still use a long line. Though his recall is 100% in the garden even with distractions, and we have gone off lead outside, if we see other dogs approaching we have to call him back and put him on lead anyway as other dogs are still more interesting than any treat or us.

It is good to practice outside though so good luck!

Update-had half an hour in the enclosed field just us today. Took sprats which she’s not had before. She loved it! Came back every time when called. Booked again for the weekend and will use long line on a field with DH at the weekend. Thanks all.

@Retrievemysanity

Update-had half an hour in the enclosed field just us today. Took sprats which she’s not had before. She loved it! Came back every time when called. Booked again for the weekend and will use long line on a field with DH at the weekend. Thanks all.

That's really good to read. It helps with your confidence as well as hers being able to do things like this. I hope your next one is as successful, but if it's not, don't stress, just take a step back and work towards it again.

@longtompot thank you! This morning DH and I took pup and our eldest out to a local field, still pretty enclosed but not totally and practised with her running in between our legs and she came every time. We did some hide and seek and some chasing each other and she was great. It was pretty empty though (early and cold!) so no distractions but I’m glad we did it and like you say, it builds confidence. We’ve hired the private field again for tomorrow and got some 1-2-1 training sessions sorted so feeling a bit better about it all!