Off Lead Advice???

[bird]

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Hi everyone, I took my 14 week old pup Lacey to puppy classes last night. The lady that was taking the class said that I should let Lacey off her lead now when we're out. I'm really worried in case she runs away. Has anyone any advice please?? x :unsure:

 

[Trish]

ive always let mine off the lead as soon as they could go down and i found that they was more afraid of losing me and stayed quite close i also kept shouting there name which alerted them if they was sniffing too long in one spot and a bit of a distance had grown between us.

if your worried best to go somewhere safe at first and try it out,but im sure she wont do a runner.

by the way i have to say,she is gorgeous :wub:

 

[posh totty]

hi you !!!! hasnt she grown up!!!! she is gorgeous!!!!! :wub: :wub: :wub: :wub:

best advice can give is what dad and i do is to let the dog off in an enclosed safe place and if she refuses to come back then hide from her, she will be shocked into thinking you have left her!! it has worked for us and you know how my dads dogs dont leave him!!!! well we say nothing bout the pinching of the food tho :- "

she is a credit to you tho and so pleased for you :huggles:

 

[sophie]

ive always let mine off the lead as soon as they could go down and i found that they was more afraid of losing me and stayed quite close i also kept shouting there name which alerted them if they was sniffing too long in one spot and a bit of a distance had grown between us.if your worried best to go somewhere safe at first and try it out,but im sure she wont do a runner.

by the way i have to say,she is gorgeous :wub:

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There's people with way more whippet experience than me on this site, but I have a year old dog. Like Trish, I let him off very early on (armed with a pocketful of treats for when he came back). He was more afraid of losing me than running off, and very interested in the treats!. When he later did stray a bit further I took Juley's advice (breeder) and hid behind a bush for a few seconds - which had the effect of making him really keep looking back for me. He's now pretty reliable on recall, unless a cat/ rabbit is spotted, in which case there's no hope in hell of stopping him in his tracks.

 

[Trish]

ive always let mine off the lead as soon as they could go down and i found that they was more afraid of losing me and stayed quite close i also kept shouting there name which alerted them if they was sniffing too long in one spot and a bit of a distance had grown between us.if your worried best to go somewhere safe at first and try it out,but im sure she wont do a runner.

by the way i have to say,she is gorgeous :wub:

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There's people with way more whippet experience than me on this site, but I have a year old dog. Like Trish, I let him off very early on (armed with a pocketful of treats for when he came back). He was more afraid of losing me than running off, and very interested in the treats!. When he later did stray a bit further I took Juley's advice (breeder) and hid behind a bush for a few seconds - which had the effect of making him really keep looking back for me. He's now pretty reliable on recall, unless a cat/ rabbit is spotted, in which case there's no hope in hell of stopping him in his tracks.

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ive done the hiding bit too,ha ha,usually when their been stuborn and wanting more walkies :lol:

 

[Seraphina]

Definitely, earlier you start easier it is. Whippet needs to run free. Little puppy will not runaway from you, but older they get more adventurous they become, so you want to get her trained well early. Hiding or running away in the opposite direction are good ways to get them to understand they need to stick with you. :luck:

 

[Janimal]

What a gorgeous picture :wub:

Ive had only 4 whippets so far, but have let them all off at a very early age ...... where its safe of course. :thumbsup: (make sure you have lots of treats in your pocket too - it helps :thumbsup: )

 

[doris]

as soon as I notice that any of mine has stopped keeping an eye on me, I turn the other way and walk as fast as possible - works a treat! :thumbsup:

good luck with her, she's a pretty girl :*

 

[nicky12]

oo my what a little sweety she is :wub:

 

[Rosie]

Hi, good luck with her, she's lovely :wub:

I've only the one whippet and far from experienced but I couldn't agree more with the advice you've already been given. I was terrified my little girl would run off (after all she is a whippet!) but she never let me out of her sight and it does do them good to have a run from a young age - she'll sleep flat out and be happier and more relaxed around the house :thumbsup:

If mine got cheeky and started testing boundaries I would walk off purposefully in the other direction and she would soon come hurtling back to me!

Also if you want to practice recall I found a long flexi lead really useful for those places where it isn't safe to let her run and for reinforcing your command ie call her and if she goes deaf you can give a little flick on the lead to show you are in control

 

[Janet]

What a beautiful puppy!

I agree with everyone here that I've let each of my 3 off the lead as soon as they can go out. As well as the plentiful supply of treats I've also encouraged mine to play fetch indoors before they went out. You can then take their toy out with you and mine all love a game. I'm sure she'll be fine with you.

 

[Rae]

Treats and toys. If you can get her to play with that ball on a rope thingy then she'll be having too much fun with you to run off. 8) Make sure you practice in the garden and somewhere safe first.

I've only had 2 puppies but they have both been off lead as soon as we got them almost. Their recall is far better than the other 6 that we had as adults and started recall training later.

If you can reinforce it at this age it becomes a knee jerk reaction.....most of the time :luck:

Whippets need to run, she cant spend her life on a lead, so be brave. :luck:

 

[whippetmad]

a very pretty lady :wub: :wub:

 

[jok]

ive always let mine off the lead as soon as they could go down and i found that they was more afraid of losing me and stayed quite close i also kept shouting there name which alerted them if they was sniffing too long in one spot and a bit of a distance had grown between us.if your worried best to go somewhere safe at first and try it out,but im sure she wont do a runner.

by the way i have to say,she is gorgeous :wub:

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Same here, i've let mine off from the word go. I have found the whippets don't like to go far from me anyway and have had no problems with their recall :thumbsup:

 

[urchin]

i do the hide and seek thing with mine whippie too, bird! it really makes him panic when he thinks i've left him behind - i do it any time he's let me out of his sight and EVERY time he's refused to come back when called.

it's a slow process but he's getting better all the time :luck:

 

[Whippetwomen]

I play hide and seek with mine all the time, we have a maze in our local park so i usualy chuck a stick or a ball into the maze and they go chasing after it while i go and find a place to hide. its great fun but they dont leave my side for he rest of the walk! but it definatly helps! my two whippets come from a whisper 8) treats are alwasy handy to have aswell.

good luck with your beautiful puppy

 

[pixieru]

When Pixie was a puppy i used to run in the opposite direction or hide, they soon get wooried and come running after you! she is 5 now and can still be stubborn when i call her back, so i still do the same now and it works every time!

 

[Judy]

The other poster's are right I think about letting them off as soon as you can. They are too scared to get to far away from you. Keep calling her and giver a treat when she comes back and it will hopefully form a life long habit. I did this with Kaos and he has the best recall of any dog we've had. I wish I'd done it sooner with the others now but I was a bit too cautious.

 

[peapod25]

Have to say my experience doesn't match others.

I think it just depends on the individual whippet. Some stick close. Some like treats more than prey. Some get scared when you hide. Some follow when you run the other way. Some come running if you fall on the ground and look silly. Some will only respond to a really loud whistle.

Some of them don't do any of the above. They just keep going.

Test your dog a LOT in safe places to get a feel for whether any treats or tricks work or whether they are going to "chase" no matter what.

 

[kim & Tilly]

I agree with the sooner the better thing

When we had Tilly she was 3 months first dog and i was really worried about losing her so she stayed on the lead for ages before i got the confidence to let her off the lead......she is 2 1/2 now and wanders off and doenst really care if we are there or not cause she knows we will be waiting round the corner

Beanie on the other hand was let off as soon as, as a result she would stay at my heal most of the time, unless she was sniffing, but she always had me in he line of sight