Off Leash Dog Training

[jertom]

anyone familiar with it?
here's my situation;
have 11 acres and a pond, so plenty of room for Rocky to explore but I can't/won't have him running in the road for cars, kids, other dogs and such, I need him to stop and come back when called, I have a trainer that mentioned I might be interested in off-leash (new to me) claiming he'll get him to come when called in two lessons.
sounds optimistic to me.
what have you heard about this method of training?

[Snowshoe]

Would need to know what the method IS. What does the trainer actually DO? What training aids will be used? Does this trainer have a website? I think it's ok for you to post a link to a trainer's website.

Franchise trainers, can really vary by location. I would not darken the door of one closest to me, I did talk to them and was impressed - in the negative. I didn't like the nearest of another big chain, my friend did; so how they mesh with you and your ideas and your dog is also important.

A membership in one of the US links at this Canadian website might be nice. Ask your Vet too, friends, go to see a session with another dog first, if you can. Remember, there is no legal requirement or agency checking out what dog trainers say or do. Anybody can hang up a shingle proclaiming themself to be a trainer.

How old is Rocky? He looks a bit big (meaning too old) in that snowbank picture for a puppy method that worked for me. But if he's under the recommended 16 weeks you can check out what I did at:

Snowshoe's Album: Teaching COME

LOL, no shingle at all for me but it did work for two puppies very well.


No matter how successful the training I personally would be very careful of letting a young dog run loose on my property. COME will only work if you say it. And for that you need to see the need first. I think what you really need is boundary training. My lot is small enough to fence. You might look into invisible fencing. I have had dogs that would stay in my yard without a fence, my neighbours do too. More of the dogs around will happily leave their yard, though, all it takes is another dog walking by, a squirrel, a cat, a leaf, a bicycle.

[jertom]

Rocky just hit 16 weeks today.
I could have mentioned, I am invited to meet with trainer and discuss this further, no charge, no obligation.
perhaps I will/should do that first, then I'd be able to tell you what he proposes and check his credentials at the same time.

[xracer4844]

Honestly - I don't even attempt to train a dog "off leash" until I have a solid foundation of obedience. I don't all of a sudden remove the leash and trust the dog off leash...I transition to off leash over time. Go into your back yard and work on re-call. Reward every time. If your dog takes off, use a long line. Yesterday, my boy came to work with me. I work in an office building, and the parking lot is quite a few acres. On the weekends, it's usually empty so I tend to use this to work on whistle work, recall, and obedience. A couple of things I like to do are to send him out as far as I can. At a few hundred yards away, I use all non verbal/hand signals. Down. Back to a sit. Back to a stand. Call him in with a whistle. Stop him at half way, stop him at 3/4 of the way. Bring him in all the way, and reward. The whistle work I've trained and the hand signals were all designed for work at a distance.

Before we got to this level, we started working very short distances. When I first transitioned to "off leash", I would dangle the leash in front of him, using it as a sort of umbilical. I would train tight left turns, tight right turns, stop to a sit, stop to a stand, as well as transitional stays, and transitional downs. Once we mastered these exercises together, the leash went away.

One of the hardest things for us to teach was to have a perfect stay. Whether he was running away from me, towards me, chasing a ball, or another dog - all simulations we created to train. It's a lot of work to train, and I don't think people will have a lot of success if the dog doesn't have a solid foundation of obedience. Training on leash, in my opinion, needs to be mastered before you can start training off leash if you are looking for reliability at all times off leash.

[Annette47]

Training on leash, in my opinion, needs to be mastered before you can start training off leash if you are looking for reliability at all times off leash.

I agree with this whole-heartedly. All of the exercises in the Obedience trials we compete in are now off-lead, but Chloe is rarely off-lead in training. I've found with my dogs that if you train the on-lead properly, they don't really notice whether the lead is on or off.

Now, that's mostly for things other than recall. It sounds like the OP is mostly talking about getting a solid recall. There are several methods that will do it, some take longer than others. The quickest method I know is with an e-collar, but that isn't for everyone (and the OP's pups is still too young IMO). No matter how you teach a recall, the one thing I always do that maintenances it for situations such as hiking in the park is to routinely call them back, reward well when they come and then release them to "play" again. They learn that coming back doesn't mean the fun is over, merely that they can have a snack before having more fun. I do this on a long-lead or flexi for a long time before I will let them try it completely off lead though.

[Tanya]

agree with the above. off leash time is earned after training and proofing.

I will be honest - claiming they can get your dog to come in two sessions is nuts. not sure how on earth any training can do that - if they could they would be a millionaire cuz recall is one of the most difficult things to train and it takes LOTS of time and practice and training. Any training offering guaranties in a short time should be approached with great caution.

[Woodrow_Woodchuck]

I take a different approach. I start off leash from day 1. But I am very rural with lots of room around. I take full advantage of the fact that the pup just left her litter and I am pretty much the only thing around to be her friend. For the first few days I just follow her around, letting her be a puppy and explore!!! If she finds something I join her and make it really fun! Lie on the ground next to her and get involved in whatever she is into. "A leaf?? WOW! A leaf! Oh LOOK!! another leaf!" If she just up and runs off, I get up and follow her. She is an 8 week old puppy, how far is she going to run off??? And her attention span is zero at this point. It isn't like I will be actually able to 'teach' her anything. I just want to form a strong bond is all, for the first week or so.

Once she learns her name, and has a bond with me, I put the fear of losing me in her. For me this is a HUGE step, she is always looking for me, I never have to go looking for her from then on.

Right from day one, I try and make myself the fun guy, finder of all fun things. 'Hey, Sunshine! Check this out, a BUG!!!' Or a stick, leaf, whatever. Just make it the best thing in the whole world, for the few seconds of her attention span. Let her wander and I find something else really fun! I am always really close to her at this point too.

Talk to the pup!!! Constantly! If you can start to 'lead' her somewhere, use that and tell her. 'Let's go to the left (hand sign) and lead her to the left. No, she will not learn directions or commands at this point! But, you are setting her up for long term success. What you are doing is teaching her to keep an eye on you and listen to you. Even if at this point she has no idea what you are saying, she is still learning.

Never, Never, NEVER make coming to you a bad thing while a pup!!! She is off leash and has free choice if she wants to come or not, make it the best thing in the whole world to come to you!!! My pup could be running in the middle of the 8 lane, or whatever, but if she comes when called... It is the best thing in the whole world !! YEAH!! GOOD GIRL!!!! I'll worry about teaching the road lesson another time.

I might have gotten OT a bit, sorry. Bottom line, develop a good strong bond with your pup to where they WANT to be with you. Sure, they might run off after a squirrel or whatever, but as soon as they realize you are not in sight... They will come RUNNING back to find ya! Sure, chasing that squirrel might be fun, but... Where is Woodrow???? OMG, where is he!??? What if he is doing something really REALLY fun!!!??? ZOOM!!!

I don't know if you have spent the time to develop this bond yet, it takes a lot of time invested. If your pup tends to wander, I'd go with the long lead and a good trainer. I have never done this so have zero input here. Either way, you need to put in that time to train the pup! The more time you invest in the first year... or two... sometimes three... The greater the life long payback!!!

[Snowshoe]

I'm sorry, I mentionned the links but I didn't put the first one in. Here is, look at the U.S. agencies linked. Again, not a necessity, but a way for you to check besides people you know. Certainly if you get lots of good recommendations from other dog owners you trust check it out even if the person isn't on one of these sites.

Canadian Association of Professional Pet Dog Trainers

[Starla]

I took my Starla girl through an obedience class, which taught her recall and then we would do training exercises with a 30 foot lead... Then we went to walking to the car with no lead and we are now to her only having to be "locked up" when I absolutly have to... Because she accually listens better off leash. She doesn't approch people or other dogs and I only have to say her name for her to do a u-turn and come to me. Even when we see Deer... I was amazed at how well she did and how smart she is! I live within the city limits, if I had the acreage you do I probably would have gone to off-leash a lot sooner. The class was the key. To train me, so I could teach her. ��

[Woodrow_Woodchuck]

Congratulations to you both!!! Starla is a fast learner!!

I find Sunshine is much more obedient off leash also, no idea why. On leash I'll have to backhand tap her in the side a couple times to get her attention, then she turns to look at you with an attitude. Off leash, a short Yo and she stops, turns, and waits for a command.