When to let rescue dog off lead?

[Laguiri]

My rescue dog (around 9 months old) has been with me for 2.5 months. Her recall is pretty good in the garden but still not 100%. We’ve been going for walks for 2 months now. I’m still very wary of letting her off-lead, but am getting pressure from fellow walkers to do so. She’s hyper-attached (e.g. goes nuts if I leave her with someone else while I go for a pee behind a bush), BUT I’ve also seen how she loses it when a fox crossed our path: she would have gone like the wind. She’s a medium-small mongrel, impossible to tell what her genetics/instinct might be, but she’s clearly got prey drive (I also have a whippet, so know all about that 🙄). What have your experiences been? What’s your advice?

How do you stop them getting fat, are you reducing kibble?

Yes, all treats need to come out of a dogs' daily food allowance.

So if you give them a chew, reduce their food. If they get some leftovers, reduce their food. My dog only gets about 1/3 of his daily food allowance as a meal - the rest is given as part of training or enrichment throughout the day.

Yes - the rewards I feed are taken from their daily meals. Up to half their day food allowance is fed on walks.

Even kibble is at attractive as a reward to most dogs if you've got it in a bag with a bit of liver/chicken skin/grated cheese.

I don't just hand feed jt, i run about scattering it. I mix it up to keep it interesting. Sometimes they get one bit, sometimes and handful.

I do tend to be out and about with them a lot - never had a fat dog.

Oh ffs. You need to wear the muzzle love

rude, and that’s why that’s are so many badly behaved dogs Their owners fail to see that they are. Animals and people’s safety is more important.

@Laguiri

There's some great advice here. I have a 3 year old lab rescue, got him 9 months ago. I didn't let him off lead for about 3 months, and even then only after testing him in a controlled space.

I have found that recall is only one part of the equation. In my case, I have worked extensively on the following, all of which have assisted with recall:-
Response to name
Eye contact
Sit next to me when I stop
Rewarded every time he checks in (eye contact again really)
Put lead on and off randomly so he doesn't see it as being the end of play time
I learned to run backwards a bit so that when he checks in, I can call him and run backwards to kick his chase drive in as he comes back towards me
Use my recall cue when he happens to be approaching me in order to reinforce it

He will come back to me when other dogs are distracting him, or other animals. It's water that is my nemesis, so he goes on the lead of there is any possibility of it.

Update: me and dear rescue dog started the “Sexier than a Squirrel” course yesterday, and it’s really highlighted for me that she has no idea at all of how to play with a human. Her initial reaction to a “game” is to be scared 😢. We’ll be taking each “day” extremely slowly, but I have hopes that this will be good for her and she will learn not only that she can have fun with me, but that she can also trust me on a fundamental level. Meanwhile, the long line will be arriving tomorrow, and she won’t be going off lead any time soon.

I’m reading with interest as our newly fostered dog has terrible recall.

I love the look of Sexier than a Squirrel but I’ve read quite a lot of recent bad press about Absolute Dogs who I understand profit from this. I’m conflicted as to whether I want to give them my money but don’t want my reservations to be at my dogs expense. Is it the course so good it’s worth giving money to allegedly a bit of a bad lot?

Hi Duh, we’re only on day 3 (which is VERY like day 1), so I can’t really comment much.
Absolute Dogs make these videos/courses, so it’s understandable that they profit from them 😉. It’s their business.
I like that the ‘course’ is structured and you can go at your own pace. I’m hopelessly unimaginative when it comes to games (don’t get much beyond wiggling a toy), so I like being given ideas. The games are very simple, but they would never have occurred to me (possibly precisely because they’re so simple).
DrescueD enjoyed the repetition of yesterday’s game, which just bewildered and frightened her yesterday, and the repetition of day 1, so that’s positive. My initial impression is that the fundamental premise is to create and strengthen a bond with your dog, rather than improve recall per se, but I’m well up for that. The presenters are insufferably upbeat (think children’s tv), but if it works for DrescueD, I’m happy. It was lovely to see her enjoying the games today, especially as DolderD doesn’t really have the stamina to play with her.

That’s really helpful thanks @Laguiri . Establishing that bond and getting engagement is something really hope to achieve so it’s very tempting. 😊

To clarify I don’t mind any business making a profit but I heard puppy farming allegations were made against one of the key people involved with Absolute Dogs (I believe now left after acknowledging wrong doing albeit apparently’unintentional’). While I appreciate training is separate from breeding I am torn to pay them any money if there is a chance they have behaved unethically or potentially turned a wilful blind eye.

I hope the course works and will be watching with interest as still undecided. Good luck with it!

Just dropping in to say the countryside where you live is stunning!

Does she feel like she is going to immediately bolt if you let her off lead or is it more a worry that she might get a scent or see a rabbit/ deer/ squirrel and run off then? If it is the former, can you do short stints off lead then clip back on? If you think she is ready that is.

My dog has great recall but if she gets a deer scent, she'll go. I clip her lead on in areas where there might be deer and I totally avoid areas where there are almost always deer. I always carry a tuggy, ball and treats. A whistle and a wave of the tuggy will get her sprinting back if she has ranged a bit far and I want her walking close to me.

Just saw your update. Good luck with the long line. Sounds like a good plan!

Does she have any fetch drive? I always get my dogs fetching and then they always have a reason to come back to me. Even when you're not throwing the ball they'll be stuck closeish to you just incase.
I have one dog who doesn't like to fetch and use an e collar with her because she has explosive prey drive, she only needed it on a low setting a few times and now she's fine, but lots of people aren't comfortable using ecollars.

Sexier than a squirrel definitely works. I did it with my high prey drive dog and he constantly checks in with me now.
The only time since that he's gone after deer he was back within 60 seconds.
It taught me a lot about proximity and it's also good for confidence building.
The dreadful overbreeding side of absolute dogs has now stopped, and the training side has always been very positive.

Do it when you feel ready.

we hired a doggy field for a few times and then went with a dog behaviourist to a large park before feeling confident. Also lots of training at home, in the garden, in the house etc, even if the recall was only a few metres. We found using a whistle helped as well.

If/when you do let her off, try to do it whilst walking with another dog that has a good recall.

Update:

We’re still working through the “sexier than a squirrel” course (interrupted by spaying and then a trip back to the UK), so I can’t say yet whether I am in fact sexier than a squirrel, village cat, fox or deer. But it’s nice to see her wagging her tail madly whenever she sees me striding purposefully out into the garden with a pocket full of kibble! We definitely have much more fun together than we would have had without the course.

I tried two long lines, one made of climbing rope that got soggy and tangled all the time, and could have produced burns on both of us, and another made of silicon which was much better, but I found it an enormous faff to be constantly letting it out and reeling it in again. She also immediately started pulling again when back on a normal lead, so I’m not a fan.

In the end, apart from “sexier than a squirrel”, I’ve mainly been working on treating her when she’s walking on a loose (normal) lead/looks up at me.

Today I picked a particularly boring route (cart track, ploughed land, zero distractions) and let her off the lead for the first time! She checked back in with me constantly —it felt like there was an invisible thread between us— and there were no incidents. Her face was an absolute picture the first time she stopped to sniff something and realised I was still walking away from her (you could see the cogs turning), and shortly after that she did a few zoomies with excitement and then just trotted along keeping reasonably close.

It was great to be able to practice recall in a less controlled environment, and a real relief to see that she kept stopping when ahead to check in on me and wait for me to catch up (and give her a treat). Tomorrow I shall be taking really high value treats to really reinforce recall and staying close (so lucky she’s food-motivated).

I’m very glad I waited until it felt right for us, and very grateful to you all for all your advice and encouragement.

Well done with her - it's immensely rewarding when a dog starts to get the idea that you're fun and they enjoy being close (one of mine sometimes puts herself at heel and just trots along there). I do a lot of random recall with mine (very prey driven, both of them). Sometimes they get a treat, sometimes just praise - it keeps them guessing.

The only thing I'd say is that woman who the allegations were about (and there were a lot, from multiple sources) is still a director of Absolute Dogs.

I would never have been able to let my first rescue off lead where you are. She would have disappeared into the distance never to be seen again!
My last dog would have always kept me in sight.

Today I took a chopped up frankfurter for treats, and she walked beside me almost all the time better than she does on a lead! She seems to have decided that it´s easier to keep an eye on me if she´s beside me rather than ahead! I´m so pleased with her ❤

Excellent news, well done 👍

Fantastic, well done both of you 👏