When /how to Walk off lead

[MildredPuppy]

This is probably a stupid question but how do you start walking off lead? My husband has always had dogs(retrievers) but this is my first and its a cocker.
He recalls in the garden but on a walk he cant hear us if there us another dog and i feel fairly sure if he wasnt on a lead he would just run after any interesting scent.

I think just be careful as you'll know your dog's nature. A lot of people say puppies when young won't stray far but ours would have done if he had the chance. We have an incredibly sociable and confident cocker who is very quick - he could be sprinting and get a kilometre away before he turned around to see where we are. Not because he's not interested in us but because he's caught a scent and is obsessed with following it. Cockers (particularly working ones) are dreadful for that!

So just be careful the first few times you do it outside of your own garden because even with a long lead trailing on the ground (and I would recommend a biothane one), if he's quick you really need to watch him. As you point out, once they are a certain distance away they aren't going to hear you.

Pippa Mattinson Total Recall book.

totally agree with poster above ... THIS IS MOST VALUABLE DOG BOOK I EVER BOUGHT.... it became ridiculously easy to train a small very strong-willed small dachshund to have brilliant recall. Just followed her instructions to the letter. And I hadn't been able to make it happen before, or at least only sporadically.

And mega important to us as he's so tiny he could easily get run over...

It is seriously exciting to see the wee fella come beetling back from afar at the rate of knots, ears flying, almost skidding to a halt when he reaches me!

I was scared to let go the first time, but was surprised how easy it was. We let him off three days after his first walk out. Went in a quiet area with nothing around.

He was actually very keen to stay very close and it dared to venture a bit further when going through the teenage stage. I never have to worry now at 1 year old and even when I stop to take pictures, he is always right next to me waiting for me to be done.