Never putting your puppy on a lead

[RegalLime]

We have a 4 month old lab. He's our first dog but we have lots of dogs in the family and had them as pets growing up. All the dogs we know have started on leads and then when/if they have good recall they have off lead walks.

I've had two people (a spaniel owner and another lab owner) tell me I should never have put my pup on a lead. That young pups will always follow you so you don't need one. I've replied that I use one for safety around roads and to stop him running off after dogs/people but apparently that's not necessary as he would have been born with perfect recall had I not ruined it by using a lead.

Is this a thing? Well clearly for these people it is but it's not something I've heard of before.

We attend a dog training class and are working on recall there. The trainer has never mentioned not using leads. My dog has great recall at home/in the garden but given how excited he is on lead I don't think he would come back to me if he saw people/dogs.

We live near a town centre and he would run across roads to meet people if he could. He would approach people and dogs who don't want to be approached and possibly upset people/get barked at or injured by another dog.

But maybe none of this would be the case if I'd never used a lead?!

Again, if you read my posts, I'm not actually advocating for dogs to never be put on a lead.

I'm just saying that having your dog off the lead from puppyhood (where safe and appropriate) isn't a wholly stupid idea. OP's dog may not be a working dog, but that doesn't mean you can't use the same training techniques.

Dogs and people are attacked because badly behaved, unsocialised dogs are off the lead - and of course that shouldn't happen, but that doesn't happen because of well behaved dogs trotting along by their owners.

I do let young puppies offlead pretty much straight away, because they do tend to stick close and you can start recall training out and about straight away.

But only where it’s safe to.

Off lead on pavements is nuts though, a puppy doesn’t know what the difference is between pavement and roads!

Absolutely - and if you're not comfortable with letting him off, it's totally okay to keep him on. It's personal choice at the end of the day :)

But having worked with dogs for years, I do think there's something in the idea of having dogs off the lead as much as possible from a young age.

@Pashy any dog can bolt though - as a PP said, it's about risk management.

Even a dog on lead can bolt off if they pull it out of your hand, or you fall over and lose your balance, or they slip their collar etc.

Puppies who've not yet 'learned recall' (small puppies, 10/12 weeks) will not turn tail and run from you, if they're appropriately bonded to their owner/family. They will follow you in the same way any baby animal follows it's mother.

The biggest problem I think with recall is that some people don't just bond with their puppies any more. They crate train them from babies as is 'recommended', they're separated from their owners from an early age for really long periods, frm day 1. It damages the bond, it damages the puppies natural instinct to stick close to you.

Where I live it's a requirement to have a dog on a lead outside of parks / green spaces. Even if you live in the country at this time of year you would need to keep your dog on a lead in some areas as it's lambing and nesting season. It just seems very impractical advice!

Well of course any dog can bolt but let's not pretend it's not a thousand times more difficult to do so when they are securely on a lead compared to if they are off lead.

The fact is the Plpeople the op is talking about are suggesting never to use a lead of any kind on a young puppy and whilst it might have worked for their dogs it's a wholly daft mindset to think it's a sensible idea for all puppies especially ones living in a built up area.

My dog is extremely bonded to me. When we're walking sometimes I can't see him and it's because he's so close to my side, he disappears from view.

But if he sees a squirrel or a rabbit? Forget it.

So he's off lead in open spaces, on lead near roads or anywhere where he might injure himself if he spots some wildlife he wants to chase.

My friend has farm dogs , they are not trained to be on leads. They are well trained dogs but very different to dogs that live in an urban environment. Being well behaved on and off lead is essential for pet dogs

Yes it is all about risk management, but a lead eliminates more risk than relying solely on recall. My pup is from working lines and a clever little thing who is usually pretty bomb-proof but she’s a dog and so a slave to her instincts. While yesterday was the first time she’s bolted from our garden, if she had done it on a walk and without a collar, the outcome could have been so much worse.

One if my previous dogs had poor recall. She was really well lead trained to the extent that if we dropped the lead accidentally, she would stay close because that’s what she was used to.

The bottom line for me is that I’d prefer a dog at the end of a less than under the wheels of a car.

We’ve had our pup offlead in safe areas since she was 10 weeks old. Nowhere near roads or livestock. We e also worked hard on loose lead walking for urban areas (we live in a rural town). Her recall is excellent but we’ve heavily rewarded her choosing to look at us and come back to us from day one.

I do think it has helped her recall. She is a terrier so we’ve had to make ourselves the best thing.

No recall is ever 100% no matter when you let them off. We’ve always carried a long line in case she has her terrier ears on but we’ve only once had to use it (when she discovered a dead rabbit!)

🤣🤣that went well then!

Puppies will follow owners around like ducklings at 8 weeks of age.

If you use this time to work on recall eg call your puppy run backwards and ALWAYS reward you will have a dog with excellent recall. I always do this with all my puppies and recall is the one area I do not have to worry about.

I also teach a dog to walk to heel when very small but always off lead

Obviously this will be done in safe places but considering you have two weeks at home whilst you are waiting for vaccinations this is a great time to do a lot of work on recall.

No one would in their right mind would consider walking a puppy off lead by cars, livestsock etc

If you keep your puppy on lead and let it off at 6 months or older you are hitting adolescence when the puppy is flooded with social hormones and will run off and not come back.

If you have not got a recall before 6 months then keep on a long line and practice recall and you may need to keep online for several months. Your training will need to be very consistent and you need to work out only to recall for success. It is harder at this time to train an amazing recall but can be done.

The fact is the Plpeople the op is talking about are suggesting never to use a lead of any kind on a young puppy and whilst it might have worked for their dogs it's a wholly daft mindset to think it's a sensible idea for all puppies especially ones living in a built up area.

There's a middle ground between "dogs off lead all the time" and being so cautious you never let them off, though.

I'm not advocating for dogs to be off the lead no matter what environment they're in, I just think there's a real benefit to having your dog off the lead from young age where possible - as long as it's safe to do so. Long-lines are fantastic for this if you're nervous or unsure.

My last dog was a highly trained obedience dog. Grade 5 agility (out of 7 grades). Recall as close to 100% in all situations. 16.5 years of incident free walking. Apart from one incident where we were in the middle of a field and she bolted. She ran across a main road and a railway line with a train coming. I finally caught up with her trying to make friends with a man that looked like her other human. It never happened again. I wouldn’t have kept her on the lead all her life because of a single incident. If it had been frequent then obviously yes. But shit happens. You have to weigh up the benefits and risks.

Sssh, she has turned out to be a competent working dog. Can flush a field really well to whistle commands. She went through a phase of thinking joggers were just big birds but we seem to be over that.

Mind as PP mentioned it is now nesting, lambing season, so she is mainly on a lead.

I thought it was the law that all dogs needed to be on a lead when walking on a pavement by a road. It is stupid and dangerous to have any dog off lead near a road, they would just try to run to another dog and get injured/cause an accident. Too many people telling other what to do with their dogs

There’s a general rule that visitors using their open access rights must keep dogs on a short lead of no more than 2 metres between 1 March and 31 July each year (except in the coastal margin) and at all times near livestock.
https://www.gov.uk/guidance/open-access-land-management-rights-and-responsibilities

This is what I do from 8 weeks old.
So at 16 weeks your puppy is a bit more confident so it will take a bit longer to teach non/ off lead walking

Puppy comes home and at this point most puppies will follow you around. I use this to "go on walks" around the house & garden. I tap my leg and give the command: heel. You start with a few steps and slowly increase time & distance. I also have a release command: free - so puppy knows no more heel walking.

Once you are out & about, you can use the same method- it will be ingrained into your dog for life! (In theory, you don't need a lead with this method, but in an urban environment with all the distractions it's better to use one!)
Recall is similar, right from day 1, always say puppy come & praise with a treat. Same for once you are out & about.

It is a thing.

We did this with our lab. At first drove to an open area and then he just followed me (was around 9 weeks old). I didn’t look back so he had to follow, I’d just walk. He also followed me all the way to the post office and back off lead when probably around 12weeks. We walk him on lead now near roads as he would chase cats etc now he’s older but when they’re very young they won’t run off as they are programmed to follow. He’s never more than a few metres from us when off lead now and even if he does chase a squirrel for example he’ll never chase it for long before he gives up and comes back. He’s very rarely out of sight. I don’t know if this is to do with him not being on lead when very small. His recall is great as he’s never very far away!

Just to mention this wasn’t in the UK and the advice there was to take pup out straight away as it’s more dangerous to have an unsocialised, non trained dog than the risk of Parvovirus. They have immunity from Mum
and first jabs.

If puppies are also taught to sit when they see movement from 8 weeks of age you will have a dog that is much less likely to chase after anything and just disappear into the distance

I have working dogs who are all asked to sit when they see rabbits, cars, birds, squirrels, deer etc as soon as I get them as puppies. Now they will do it by default.

A really easy behaviour to teach and one that can save lives and injuries. Apart from making living with your dog much easier.

Think of dogs in the field sheepdogs learn to lie down when they want to herd, gundogs sit and wait in a field with birds literally falling from the sky and do not chase. These would all have started with sit to movement as puppies.

Exactly this. Our dogs have never been on leads and they don’t wear collars either day to day. The only dogs I know that are on harnesses/collars/leads are pets of my friends.

It is the law, which is why pretty much all the replies have said "off lead except by roads or livestock".

Nobody's telling other people what to do either? They're just giving advice based on their own experiences - you don't have to follow it.

TBH I know lots of pet dogs who never wear leads/collars either, lol.

And before someone comes along to tell me it's illegal - I'm aware, and I'm not advocating for it, but that doesn't stop a lot of people from doing it.

My dog always wears his collar/ID tag in public as is required but I see dogs every single day who don't have collars or leads - the owners use a raggedy bit of rope as a slip lead if they need to restrain them for some reason.

Again, not advocating for it or saying it's a good thing, but it definitely happens - I suspect more in rural areas than towns/cities.

This worked with my gsds, tried it with my spaniel and when she hit 2 she started bolting off to go and hunt up, it depends on the dog but it can't do any harm to try. Not on the roads though, stick to somewhere with a buffer zone where a lapse in heel doesn't mean she gets smushed