going off lead... when is the right time?

[Em2]

We've had our 1yr ish rescue lab Tess nearly 2 weeks now and she knows her name and comes to call if she can see a treat - it's hard trying to exercise her enough on the lead (she gets about 7 miles a day but can still be wound up and unsettled in the evening!) and I really feel she needs to let off some steam at least once a day with a proper run around- I know of a secure-ish field used by dog walkers (i.e. no proper openings but I suppose if she really wanted she could squeeze through a gap in the fence or jump right over). Is it too soon to think about letting her off lead somewhere like this? She is very keen to meet/play with other dogs but not overly boistrerous with them. What would you guys do? How long do you normally wait before trying this with a new dog?

[Tarimoor_Art]

With Rhuna and Chloe, my two rescues, they were let off pretty early on, but then they were oldies, so easy to run after!!

Can you arrange to go walking with another dog, so that she's already got someone there to play with? It might help her and you gain confidence off lead? Also, make sure you take along some good treats, and/or a high value toy, but make sure she doesn't mind sharing if you're with another dog.

Mine probably get about three miles a day, and a bit of training, and at the moment it is only a little bit with Tau being in season, she's even more of a numpty than usual!!

[labler]

All the above...and play close eye to your pups attention span before free release... you should know comfortably before hand whether shes likely to run off, or stay in a comfort zone by her responses in a controlled enviroment... does she respond only to reward..?..or more desireable..to you direction.... its a big leap of faith..but..if you look for signs around home..you should know when the times right....

[-Angela-]

I was going to suggest finding another dog walker with a dog with good recall to tag along with too. I did this with our first rescue as I was nervous of letting them off lead.

I think when really depends on the dog - if the dog is nervous/has potential to bolt, I'd be more hesitant. I've varied from early on to a couple of months, depending on the dog.

Take some very smelly and tasty treats with you as Joanne has suggested. We recently started letting Jasper, our new 12 year old, off lead and he's now very good. When he first came to us he very much wanted to get back to his previous home - and for an oldie he can run rather fast if he wants

[_Diesel_]

We let Diesel off lead the first night we got him home

We all headed off to the park armed with treats and toys and gave him laods of praise everytime he came back to us.
At this point we didnt realise he was ball obsessed and would always return as long as he had a ball to throw

Id follow the advice that others have given you.
Although we let him off lead quite quickly it did take a while for him to recall first time, i think he was just happy to be let out

[rubyrubyruby]

If you are worried why don't you by a training long line so she gets used to being a bit further away but you haven't let go completely. After a bit of time on this you will have more confidence and know what her recall is really like.

Hope this helps

Chloe

[Tinkerbella]

I can sympathise with you as this is a very worrying time; I was just terrified with Frank, particularly as Rosie is so ball-obsessed on walks that she doesn't encourage him to stay/play with her.

I let Frank off the lead straight away; but only in a secure field. He was still learning his name and I worked really hard at it - I had chopped up smoked frankfurters in my pocket for goodness sake

We did enclosed field walks for a week, and then I took the plunge. I had a friend with me with her choccy boy too, so that we were kind of walking in a pack - and he was perfect.

Since then he has wandered off a couple of times and I always encourage him to me just before a point in our walk where if he wandered off he would be in proximity to a road.

Work really hard on your recall; you have to be really really silly high-voiced clappy hands jumping out in delight type praise when she recalls and do give really tasty treats. Also, instead of just giving treats, reward her by play too - skip away and jump about, encourage her to chase you. You'll feel a bit daft, but recall is so important and sometimes I think food alone doesn't quite cut it!

[Em2]

Thanks everyone for the great advice! I am going to stock up on a ball launcher, the smelliest treats I can find and take her out with a friends dog for the first outing. She is starting to respond quicker around the house to general commands ("gerrof the remote" etc) and we play a lot of chase me/hide and seek in the back yard which she loves (and makes me feel like a 5 year old again, awesome!) Will let you know how it goes....