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?!

I can’t think of many working gundogs that wear collars and tags on shoots. They’d be a complete hazard for getting caught in the undergrowth. I always took my old spaniel’s collar off - it was one of his cues to be in ‘work’ mode. It was very rare to see a dog with their collar still on, you just wouldn’t do it to them.

We had Spudpup (working bred lab) off the lead from day one - of course we used a lead in the village or anywhere near a road, but on safe open ground, we took it off. He was always fine and has a good recall these days, and also walks acceptably well on a slip lead, which we use for convenience (I blame DH for that, he’s never been consistent about leadwork. As soon as I take the lead off him, standards improve noticeably…). He doesn’t do gundog work as I haven’t had the time to train him so he does wear a collar.

I would always use a lead for walking round the streets and also when out in the country around livestock. Or anywhere there is another on lead dog we need to pass.
I do let them off lead at every single walk from the very first walk though. In parks and countryside. Where it is safe to do so. Not had an issue with recall.

It is a thing and it does work but obviously common sense needs to be used. I’d always use a lead if there were any hazards about.
I would advise caution about using a harness on such a young dog, if they pull they can just set their weight into the harness and pull even more.

Depends on the harness. A well fitting Y shape they can’t but a lot of people use the Julias K9 type with a chest strap which does affect movement and gait.

This 👆

I'd even be using a lead inside the house for training purposes.

Harnesses are fantastic for dogs that pull as long as they fit properly and aren't those awful Julius-K9 style ones.

If you use a normal lead/collar on a pulling dog, they can permanently damage their neck and trachea.

There are a hundred and one ways to raise a healthy, well adjusted and safe dog. Which is right for you and yours often depends much on the dog you've got, the dog you want, your experience and knowledge and the environment you are both living in.

I've known dogs raised without leads wihout risk or issue. I've known dogs raised with leads used so ineffectively that they are nothing more than the illusion of safety - and all in between.

I personally hate to see dogs walking by roads without leads because I am natutrally risk adverse and I think it leaves too much to chance. But similarly, I love to see a well trained dog off lead in a field (or similar) getting the chance to make the right choice for themsleves, rather than the lead be used as a form of remote control. (Not all people use leads like this, I realise).

The more I learn, the less I know and so I mostly take umbrage when people insist the method that best suited their last dog will automatically best suit their next one. The dog in front of me is the dog I have and the one I need to train, and so while I may have preferred methods, I'd be a pretty crappy trainer (I believe) if I insisted one size fits all.