How many have dogs that never come off lead?

Just wondering ....Teddy's recall is hit and miss, he was amazing until about 8 months old when he suddenly forgot all we'd taught..we've got long lines and on walks we get him to check in ' Teddy come' and he's fine..but other dogs about and he totally ignores...even if I have his favourite treat 'cheese'. I make myself exciting and praise loads when he does it in a low distraction environment but once he sees other dogs he just can't listen. So, we use a shorter long line and let it go when we feel he is in a safe environment and we never just walk with him, always have a squeaky ball or a clam to throw..I feel sad that he never comes completely off but then I know he will run up to other dogs even if they are loose I don't want him to do that and especially not if they are on a lead.
Whe its just us he listens but introduce the slightest of something else he's gone. He needs distracting when walking past other dogs as he can sometimes bark or pull towards them...we manage this by keeping the lead loose, harder than it sounds, but then once he's clocked the other dog I say 'goodboy' and give a treat whilst carrying on walking.
Any comments welcome

He's still young, and it sounds like he's doing well and you're doing the right things. Maybe you could find an enclosed field where he could go off lead, occasionally? Or maybe an open area with good visibility, at a time of day when few others will be walking their dogs?

But if he's enjoying his walks and isn't showing (too many) signs of frustration, I really wouldn't worry. Plenty of dogs have to stay on lead and are perfectly happy. Yes, it'd be nice if all dogs could go off lead and do their own thing, but not if 'their own thing' is running up to dogs and people that really wouldn't appreciate it. With all your hard work, when Ted is a little more mature I'm sure he'll be a model citizen

Thankyou, I have dog mum guilt! Only yesterday he was in a private dog field that you can hire for an hr at a time... with a buddy and he had a great time so that's always available and local.

Perfect! A private field is a great place to keep practicing the recall too, as well as having fun. It will come, as Judy says he is still young.

Some of my dogs have never been off lead and they still absolutely love their walks, it's just slightly different to what we envisage a dog walk should be.(But to be fair mine have a variety of issues so we have to improvise!)

We have to deal with things the way they are, not always the way we would like them to be. You are keeping your dog safe and avoiding him making other dogs/owners feel unsafe. You are doing well!

Our rescue, Rusty, is an on-lead dog. He has zero recall. We take him to a secure filed now and again for a run around. I know he'd love to run and play with other dogs in public fields, I also know he won't come back! He also has little road sense, and would think nothing of crossing a busy road. Our previous rescue, Jimmy, was the same and we spent hundreds (nearly thousands!) on training which didn't work - had success in a staged setting but not in public. I wonder if it's a rescue thing where dogs have had to fend for themselves and be independent and so are less inclined to follow training. Anyway, he has a great life and wants for nothing.

I think it's easy to feel like you've failed as a dog owner these days. But today as I walked Ted at 6am away from the heat weve been having, we had a lovely forest walk where he sniffed loads and I stopped whenever he wanted to because it's his walk, not mine! He found a puddle from absolutely nowhere and had fun dipping his head under the muddy water...later in the garden he's enjoyed a hose pipe play and got drenched over and over...had the zoomies with his squeaky ball and had cuddles galore....he is loved

What more could he possibly want? He’s a happy chap - what more could top that? Be happy for him (and yourself).

Mum of Ted said:

I think it's easy to feel like you've failed as a dog owner these days.

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To me someone who has failed or is failing their dog is the person that just lets their dog off lead then walks around on their phone, has zero interaction, zero awareness of what their dog is doing or who's approaching, not even noticing when they poop... actually there are many examples, people that jog/run with brachycephalic breeds, people that sit in the shade whilst throwing a ball for their dog into the blazing heat of the day, over and over...I won't go on! You are definitely not failing Ted, it sounds to me like you have a wonderful relationship and are being incredibly mindful of his needs and of others around you, quite perfect imho!

Flobo said:

To me someone who has failed or is failing their dog is the person that just lets their dog off lead then walks around on their phone, has zero interaction, zero awareness of what their dog is doing or who's approaching, not even noticing when they poop... actually there are many examples, people that jog/run with brachycephalic breeds, people that sit in the shade whilst throwing a ball for their dog into the blazing heat of the day, over and over...I won't go on! You are definitely not failing Ted, it sounds to me like you have a wonderful relationship and are being incredibly mindful of his needs and of others around you, quite perfect imho!

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Sadly a lot of that is common place now :-(

Dogs are pretty adaptable. We live in a fairly populated area, so ours is never walked off leash. I will let her come with me off leash right around the house, IE: to get groceries etc from the car and her recall is very impressive, plus its rarely necessary as she really sticks close to me. When we are on our long walk, she is always on a lead, she is used to it, and loves our walks lead or no lead. Its all in what they get used to. I just think too much of her to take a chance.

Secure fields are a wonderful compromise for dogs who aren't safe off-leash. Personally I think for most healthy dogs having off-leash time is a welfare issue. Dogs need the opportunity to move and "be" entirely free for at least some of the time.

Recall is a non-negotiable for me, and fortunately something I do enjoy teaching so all my dogs have had great recalls - some sooner than others, but they all get there in the end.

My Percy is an on lead dog, he has little to no recall and is somewhat reactive at times, we have tried really hard, but he just doesn't care, so I walk him on a dreaded heinous Flexi lead, but we are also lucky in the fact we have a huge garden/small paddock so he can charge about at home if the desire takes him, he and Sausage will have little joint zoomies and do laps of the house and garden.

Add my two to this thread Murphy and George are both hunting breeds with high prey drive. We live in the countryside full of livestock and wildlife. Its just not safe ..

Our 2 dachshunds are very rarely, if ever, off lead. They are very happy to run on extended flexis although Bobby plods rather than runs, he always has. We've walked him with a trailing long line. he just plodded along a few paces in front.

Briea sees walks as a sniff-a-thon, every blade of grass has to be sniffed from top to bottom, back and front.

We're also aware that with them being small they are vulnerable to large, clumsy and over-enthusiastic dogs, Bobby was bowled over by a big bouncy Labrador last year. It wasn't long after spinal surger y, I think we were more perturbed than he was!

Charlie is so independent I'm fairly sure he'd go off by himself for walks and then come home later!

I'm always working on his recall, but he just "leaves the room" mentally and it's really hard to get him back in it!
He has a super random prey drive - he will walk next to rats with no reaction, but then sometimes he picks up a scent of something and he is on it!
He's scared of some local dogs, mostly if they're in a big group, and he would bolt.
Being on a lead has meant I've been able to get him away from nasty dogs a lot easier, and have avoided a few potential bites.
He's not much of a runner and I consider him to be pretty lazy, so I don't feel like he suffers for being on a longline.
I walk him for at least 3 hours every morning, and he regularly goes to secure fields and has his harness/collar removed so he's totally free.

We regularly meet this lovely bunch on our walk and they free roam, so we sometimes come across them in the woods or other unexpected places.
They lost some calves this year because of off-lead dogs chasing them. One of the rangers recently thanked me for keeping Charlie on a lead, because so many dog walkers don't.


(Longline isn't clipped to his collar - I doubled up his usual lead because we had to walk right next to cows blocking the people gate)

We have a new dog in our training class. She's very boisterous and maybe she just has a very strong prey drive.... but she isn't fun to be around.
She's always lunging at some of the other dogs & had a scuffle with one last week because she dropped the lead, yet she's let off lead on walks for some reason.
I don't think the owner knows yet, but there was an FB post about her recently...her dog ran over to someone, tried to grab their small dog, and was jumping up, scratched her son and ripped his top. Other people have experienced similar from her jumping on their children.
She was reported to the police and now they're looking for them both.

If she'd worked on her training for longer, she might have been able to let her off lead, safely, one day.
Now, at best she'll probably be on a short lead and muzzled forever, or being PTS is a real possibility for her.

There's a bloke who walks two, obvious, Pitbulls offlead all the time by busy main roads, so he's already risking their lives in more than one way.
They recently killed a cat and someone just managed to stop them getting the cat owners young daughter.
I assume he's now hiding because the police are also looking for him.

I don't feel bad about using a longline.
Perhaps someone better than me could get a solid recall with him, but I think he has a brilliant life regardless, and we're not getting into trouble, because I'm not taking stupid risks.

I was going to add to my post George and Murphy might be on the lead all the time but it doesn't mean their leads are short or that their lives are restricted.
On average we walk seven and a half kilometres a day. This vairies from the lakes or in the woods on marshland nature reserves along the sea dike. They get to sniff and track and explore more than many of those off lead dogs who get a quick walk to the local park and mindless and running after a ball.
This week alone they've tracked deer followed the scent of a stoat and hares seen cows horses sheep, geese and even stood very quietly while I took some photos of a bitten.
They track the scent I get the photos..

Mine get a mixture of both, walk to the park in the mornings is 20mins lead walk there, 20mins off lead but they tend to stick by me anyway and 20mins home.
Evening walk is always on lead, country park (flexi lead) or in the winter it’s a boring walk around the streets but I will always let them sniff and my thoughts process is it’s there walk so they can stop as many times as they like.
As someone mentioned they get use to whatever walk they have so if they aren’t off lead they don’t know any difference.

I've mentioned on another thread that Zak never gets walked off lead and he seems perfectly happy. I also let him walk and sniff where he wants. I try to find new places to walk too in the area around our house. Luckily we have countryside around us though a favourite place of his is down town. He likes the shops! Even tries to go in one if the doors open