Leashing

[Joanie]

Hi :)  Ok, I have a question.  I personally always leash my dogs.  I live in an garden apartment, and we have lots of woods and open space, but we also live on a main road.  Even if I go somewhere with one of my babies like to the park I always always leash unless we are in say the tennis courts where I can close it off and don't have to worry that one of my babies will run away.  Our neighbor has three dogs and doesn't leash them.  They do amazing off leash, but personally it makes me nervous.  Today over at my friends house he took Lani off her leash and I mean she did alright, but it really did make me so nervous so I put her back on leash.  Am I just being over protective?  Am I babying her too much?

[Nancy, Ned, Clancy, and Charlie]

You need to do what you are comfortable with and with what you think is best.  Do NOT be intimidated by what others do or say.  Barring specific safety/situational issues it is not totally a wrong or right.

[Joanie]

Thank you :)  I'm very protective over my babies and just don't want anything to happen to them.

[Nancy, Ned, Clancy, and Charlie]

And there is nothing wrong with that.

[Lucy & AnnaBelle's Mom]

Mine are always leashed unless in a fenced in area.  There are those though that firmly believe their dogs have a 100% reliable recall, and I have to admit I'm a little jealous of those folks.  We are going to be working very hard on that in the coming months.

[Jane, Guinness and Murphy]

I personally believe that dogs need to be trained to be off leash.  I would never take a chance by having them off leash until I was 100% confident that they would stay with me and respond to my recall...no matter what the distraction was.  My older Doodle is now off leash for most of our walks (he drags the leash), but this was after months of training using a very specific method.  Our dogs are too precious to take a chance (IMO).

[Sharon & Monty]

We live nearly at the top of the moutain, however there is a main road out front.  We can walk Monty out back into the forest down a private road.  We had practiced letting him off leash in this area.  One day his nose discovered that the ducks had been to the forest and he could not stop himself going to the neighbors private pond to check out the ducks.  Nothing that I said nor did would bring him back, he was simply being a dog.  I wasnt amused, as he walked along the pond chest deep in mud, not to mention I'm sure my neighbor wasn't happy with us.  I decided that day that no matter how well behaved my dog was, he was still a dog and the fact that his nose was in charge instead of me.... well I no longer let him off leash even in this mountain top.  He still gets to get out and about, never mind a leash. I feel better knowing he's right here. 

[Donna K & Quincy]

Quincy gets tons of off leash time, I have been taking him off leash in certain areas since he was a puppy. When he was little I would step off the trail every now and then so that I could see him but he couldn't see me and I would call him back. He is almost three now and to this day he never goes out of sight and if I step out of sight he comes running back to find me. His recall is 100%, just a little slower when there is another dog. We only go off leash where there is no traffic, our local golf course in the winter is one of our favorite spots. I still call him back to me on our walks at ramdom times and he always comes back. Having said all that I still would not let him off leash in unfamiliar surroundings.I guess the bottom line is do only what you are comfortable with and what is safe.

[Christine & Shelby]

I agree.... you do what you are comfortable with.   It took me a while to test Shelby off leash and we only do it in certain areas.... an off leash park with wooded trails, the dog park, and occasionally in the front yard (during breaks when students are away) - I live in a college town.   Generally speaking - Shelby is on leash 99% of the time.  

[Adina P]

Unless a dog is trained to be off leash and proven itself to be reliable off leash or you are in an EXTREMELY safe area, I think it is good sense to keep your dogs ON leash.

[Joanie]

Thank you everyone for your input :)  I really appreciate all your insight.  The whole off leash thing just scares me.  Where we live there's so many places she could get lost.  The forest goes on forever in back of our houses and stretches into many other towns... it's vast and big and takes up most of our town and I can't help thinking that if something caught her attention and she took off into the woods I'd never see her again.  And if something happened to her or even my English Bulldog while off leash I'd never forgive myself.  I love my babies too much and want to be the best mother I can to them and protect them.  I just hate when people say I'm too protective or too babying.  I can't help it.  I'm sure you guys can understand.  I suffer from anxiety and depression and my dogs help me so much and I know they are dogs but they are my children too and they give me unconditional love.  When my day isn't going right or I don't feel well they are always there.  So when my neighbor let Lan off leash I quietly freaked out thinking of everything that could happen to her.  So when she jumped onto my lap I quickly put the leash back on.  I think it's awesome when dogs can be trusted off leash like his dogs, but he's worked with them for years to get them to that point.  I mean him and my husband go quading in the woods and one of his dogs will just follow along for hours!!!  That's amazing and it's great it works for him... but for me I guess I gotta trust my instinct and do what feels right for me.

[Colleen, Jake & Baxter]

I, as I am sure many of us have had the experience of bringing a meal over to someones house when the family was going through a difficult time.  Unfortunately, one of my experiences was when a dear friend's doodle was run over when he was off leash.  It happened in the blink of an eye.  You know your doodle better than anyone else and unless you can trust him/her 100% I would recommend that the leashes stay on.

[Maryann,Roo and Tigger]

I always always keep my dogs on leashes too, unless we are in a totally enclosed safe area.  I would rather be comfortable and overprotective and keep my dogs safe.  Not too many people have a totally reliable off leash dog, it takes a lot of work and the right dog.

My DH and I and about 10 others once spent 4 hours trying to recapture a Siberian Husky at a show who had all the obedience titles you can get and he just decided it was time for a romp.  It was at a dog show at the near the Rose Bowl and he lead us all amerry chase.  He was finally captured when he went swimming in the lake on the near by golf course and a golfer who was an excellent swimmer caught him.

 

Just keep on leashing your darling dogs.  You will never be sorry you did.