Do You Totally Trust Your Dog Off Leash?

[frillint1]

Smokey I trust anywhere and in any situation. I would allow him off leash at anytime and not worry, although he is 17 and has practically lost his hearing I am careful around the road, since he can't hear me

Chief I would let off the leash anywhere, he would come back I don't have a doubt about that, but it would be on his time not when I call him

[robk]

I trust my dog to do what I expect him to do. Some times that includes things I don't want him to do. Because of that I always take precautions. Now what I never trust is other people or their dogs around him.

[Liesje]

Nikon - Yes. If I call him to me and leash him it's because of *other* dogs or people, not him.

Coke - absolutely not!

[Kyleigh]

Yes for Kyleigh. I even bragged a month or so ago that I called her back to me when she was chasing something and she flipped right around to come back (except that the three dogs behind her ran into her and she went into the creek LOL)

Downtown / in the city, I do trust her, but I have the leash on her and it's draped over my shoulders. Don't want a $150 fine LOL

Like others, I've worked more with her off leash that I have on leash. We've been at the dog park since she was a puppy, and hiking off leash since she was about 5 months old ... never had any issues.

[onyx'girl]

Karlo is great off leash, though when he was about 10 months blew me off to get to a yorkie bouncing off a leash. Since then, however he's proved himself to be pretty much 100%. More often than not, I train with no collar or line on him(on my own property) but if needed I do use a line for communication.

Kacie possibly, so far so good...she is very handler sensitive and will listen, but her prey drive is huge, so I am diligent in watching proactively.

Onyx no way! She is not a biddable dog, and will take a correction with glee. NO recall either. So she is never "free" when not in our fenced in back yard. If I wanted to, I guess I could get a better dog with ecollar training, but I just haven't put the time into her recall or reactivity, I basically washed her out of sportwork, so it isn't necessary.

[JakodaCD OA]

I don't think anything is 100%

My dogs are normally offleash beginning as puppies, I have always had excellent recalls with my gsd's (aussie not so much,, I have/had a couple (Masi included) that I can call off deer/squirrels/wildlife, which is a big plus since I do alot of woods walking and we have alot of wildlife around.

I would say close trustworthy off leash, and have (knock on wood) never had an incident where I didn't get a recall when asked, but there's always a chance.

Jynx(aussie), I gave up a long time ago on recalls with her, Unless I have food in my hand, that girl has always had her own agenda, if wildlife is around, she'd chase them to china if I let her

[Cassidy's Mom]

Mine are very used to being off leash, they've both been going to off leash parks to play ball and swim from a young age. But they WOULD chase a neighborhood cat or a squirrel, so they're not off leash near cars.

I would say it depends on the area, and also the circumstances. The more engaged with us they are, the less they care about anything else, so playing ball at the park or with Halo at flyball practice they are very reliable.

Originally Posted by JakodaCD OA

I don't think anything is 100%

I don't either, and I'd rather be safe than sorry.

[codmaster]

Originally Posted by Gharrissc

This question doesn't apply to people who don't have a solid recall on their dogs,but for the rest of you ,do you totally trust your dogs off leash or do you use precautions depending on the area? This is assuming that you are in an area where there are no leash requirements. I've heard some people say that a truly well trained dog should be trusted anywhere off leash and should always recall.

I personally use discretion depending on the area,even for my dogs who have a solid recall.

GREAT! question.

My answer is - if you don't (or can't) trust them everywhere; then you can't trust them anywhere!

A previous female GSD, yes! Anyehee and under any distraction including walkingdown a busy city sdewalk or downa wldlive forest trail.


Current male GSD - NO! Much better than he used to be but nowere near yet!

[codmaster]

A really well trained dog is as close to 100% as is "humanly" possible. (But also VERY rare!)


By witness, how many top scoring OB dogs have you seen where the handlers get upset with people too close or even heaven forbid, saying Hi to their dogs prior to going in the ring?

And the ones i have seen like this are the "pros" of OB - entered in Utility B and Open B!

[gotahaveaGSD]

I trust Maya 100% off leash. Ever since day one. All I have to do is a double whistle and she comes running.

I'm rite now visiting mother-in -law in West Virginia and had her off leash in a field near a road and near people's back yards and two of them had 2-3 barking dogs and she looked but ignored them for the most part. ( love seeing her just run full speed, nothing like seeing your dog with ears back just running) when I was ready to go I just whistled and she came running and sat rite in front of me so I could put the leash on her.

Ever since I was a kid, I wanted a dog I can trust off leash. I just can hear my mom and dad yelling " shut the door, don't let the dogs out "