Off leash experiences/Tips??

[superchick8912]

So my German shepherd has never been trained formally to come or stay... he just kinda gets it and when my boyfriend and I take him to the park/ on a hike, he loves to run in circles, but never goes too far away... Sammy on the other hand, seems to love to test his boundaries and my patience whenever we take him anywhere! I used to live near a dog park that had a small fenced area for dogs under 20 lbs and Sammy loved to run and play there for hours, but now I am nervous to let him off the leash because there isnt really a good fenced in place close by or even at all that I know of... does anyone have any advice or experience with yorkies off leash? do you let your babies be a little free or always on a leash? he is so fast I worry he would get into danger before I could catch up to him...

[Lovetodream88]

I would never ever let any dog of leash unless in a fenced in area because even the best trained dog can listen to there senses and ignore you and there training. All is takes is a second for a dog to get hit by a car, go off and get lost, be snatched up by a person and taken, or another dog to attack them. Its just not safe and not a risk I would ever take.

[ilovejoel]

I would never let Joel be off leash, I do let Rosco because he's a giant old man with a hurt back leg so he won't be getting anywhere,lol and even then it's only at night when no one is around, and he listens. If his back leg wasn't hurt I probably wouldn't let him be off leash
I wouldn't leave any yorkie off leash even if they listen just because of how stinkin fast they are!

[yorkietalkjilly]

As my sister's dog was run over and died 3 days later in doggie ICU because she bolted from my sister's yard, I trained Tibbe to obey and listen to me in the house, had him under good control and then decided to try to train him not to leave his front yard perimeter. If you have't taught your dog absolute impulse control and never-fail recall first and feel he is 100% trustworthy in controlling his impulses, coming every time he's called, never try the training I am about to describe!!!

I went outside, checked for any loose critters and if none, then we ventured outside with him on a triple lead and I would drop it in our front yard and essentially "herd" him with my outstretched hands, eyes, body and voice any time he made a move toward the perimeter of the property. Once he would veer away from the property boundary, he was tossed a high value treat, smiled at and praised in a low voice - no extra excitement in these circumstances. But any time he faced the perimeter of the property, I was between it and him, stepping in each direction he took, sightly crouched, hands outstretched, guiding him with my eyes and body, like a Border Collie does. I kept repeating this herding-away training month after month and after 4 1/2 years, he's yet to leave the perimeter I've set out for him to stay within. It takes in our yard and 1/3 of each neighbor's yard on either side, thus allowing him to intake smells where other people and animals walk without losing his composure and going nuts. But I stay between him and whatever direction he's going in to herd him back if need be. I use my voice to dial back his excitement if he's alerting, amping up and looking to move toward the boundary. When he relaxes, he's tossed a treat and gets a smile. If he bolts, I say "Stop!" and he does because he's already been taught that in the house and back yard.

I keep checking for any critters during the training and we go inside if I see ANY. Should he start off the property trailing the long leashes, unless he's positively bolting totally out of control as any dog always can, I might could step on one of those leashes and stop him but he's not done that yet. I also have one of his favorite squeaky toys in my pocket along with treats and he has that strong recall response well taught him before we ever ventured out front. We take breaks from the training, I take up the leash and we sit down in the yard & I hug, kiss, praise and laud him gently for his being so good, then back to training.

Little by little I've taught him to always check with me often when outside using the "Watch Me" command frequently and he does(he's ever so often tossed a treat when he looks my way so he loves looking at me). Other times I extend the "Watch Me" to prolonged periods so that it's just us two outside staring in each other's eyes. He gets a very generous praise and treats after those longer sessions every time - and so far, even with a cat walking down the other side of the road a month or so ago as he watched), he hasn't left his property. I saw the cat coming, decided it was time for a real test, moved my foot to next to the long lead and told him "Stay" and "Leave it" when he spied the cat. He remained calm, ears erect, and stood there in his yard, while very well aware I was focused on him, so he was expecting herding or "Watch Me", no doubt. He stayed put, even when the cat saw us and ran off, switching its tail enticingly. He was praised & treated!

Once teenage boys came along the front sidewalk, yucking it up with each other, pushing and playing and he started following them on the sidewalk so excited before I could decide whether to yell out or test him but when he got to his boundary line, he stopped and ran back to me! That was a 1 1/2 or 2 years ago and I still can't believe he did that!!! Loving praise & treat.

Twice now Tibbe has escaped the back yard fence and after frantic searching and no small amount of yelling and panic, I've found him both times on our property in the front yard - once on the porch and once beside the house back toward the back fence. Big praise and treats! (And I searched out his escape routes and blocked them.)


Tibbe's instinct to bolt has been tempered some with those years of training that there is a line he doesn't cross out front and that mom is always there, in spirit or in body, to herd him back, quietly praise and toss him a treat when he turns away and that she's watching at all times in some form or fashion. Still, his time off leash/drop leash in the front is brief.


I don't know if I would ever take him off lead in a field - I tend to think certainly not. Too many unknown and new smells there to possibly excite and entice a little terrier to venture into the great unknown.

[concretegurl]

Elvis follows me no training he just always has.

Scoobers fails recall despite trainers, classes, tons of effort.

Princess is in the middle she'll come but I don't fully trust her.

Here's the thing dogs follow scent, something can take them too.

If you're not in an enclosed area, you're playing with fire one way or another.

Why risk it?

Dog parks are expanding size but are always fully fenced.

Find a place or keep you baby leashed.

For safe exploring in a known safe area...use yacht line or a super long leash...I had a 22ftstep teather yaped leashed to try recall training with Scoobers.

Not cheap but safety first.

[Verbena]

I agree. There is 20 - 50 ft training leashes you can use

[Britster]

I let Jackson off leash occasionally, very dependent on the situation/environment and it's not often. We live on 3 acres and there is 90 acres of farmland behind us -- not much to get into. So if we go out exploring, I'll let him off (always with his highest value reward -- cheese), but I always bring along a 50 foot leash and start off on that.

My uncles German Shepherd is just like yours, never really was 'taught'... just naturally stays close. A terrier is very different!

I would start off on a 50ft long line and practice recall over and over and over again. I wouldn't let off leash until over a year old either and after they've proved reliable and only in a safe enivornment.

[AngelFae]

Buddy, my GSP, knows his boundries and stays in the yard- out front if that's where we are or out back if we are there- he never gets complete reign over where he can go. Blazer, on the other hand, I dont' really trust. He is almost always on his tie out but once in a while he'll slip away before I can get him buckled. Luckily if I call Buddy back Blazer usually follows, but there are those times where he pretends that he can't hear me. THOSE times are the reason I don't trust him off leash and probably never will!

[Nancy1999]

I've read too many horror stories where the dog always obeyed, until one time and then something distracted him and he gets hit by a car. There's a reason Yorkies aren't chosen as guide dogs.

[Verbena]

Originally Posted by Nancy1999

I've read too many horror stories where the dog always obeyed, until one time and then something distracted him and he gets hit by a car. There's a reason Yorkies aren't chosen as guide dogs.

Squirrel . . . .

[gracielove]

Never let dog off lead in any unfenced area. There are professional trainers that spend years training dogs to come and stay. Even rescue dogs are kept on a lead. A very well trained dog can be distracted by anything even as simple as a squirrel and forget everything while regressing to it's basic nature.

[Nancy1999]

Originally Posted by Verbena

Squirrel . . . .

Lol, you got it!

[katy-yorkie]

There is a greenbelt behind my house where I sometimes walk Buster. A few years ago when I thought he was trained, I let him off leash. He came when I called, just as we trained. We did this several times. But there was a time he did not come back. I'm sure if anyone was watching, they are still laughing. I tried everything to get him to come. No deal. I tried walking the opposite way as the trainers said I should. I sat on the ground hoping he would come to me. Just as I thought I was going to catch him, he would scamper away (he's quick). I finally had to call DH, he drove back there in his big SUV, which I'm sure grabbed a bunch of attention. Needless to say, mine don't get off leash unless they are in a contained area.

[yorkietalkjilly]

Well, Tibbe being a really wild dog & door darter when I got him, I had to weigh which was the greater danger to his life, darting out the door during some interlude when a doggie gate was left open, an emergency where I'm down and strangers are coming/going, or any of the unforeseen circumstances that can happen when you count on physical boundaries of some kind keeping them safe and they don't. Plus, I worried about one a tiny as he is getting out of the backyard somehow for just long enough to run off chasing a squirrel/cat/dog and get hit by a car when I'm not looking vs. leaving his yard while we are out there training and I can tell him to "stop", get his leashes, recall him. If a car turns into the street as I'm training him, I just step on the leash until it's past.

As he gets trained in good impulse control out front amidst all the sights and sounds and smells, I think it has helped him when he found himelf out there alone when he escaped the backyard twice when I'd stepped away. Instead of getting out front alone and off lead, being overcome wit excitement by all the sudden, heretofore unfelt freedom and bolting after everything he saw, he'd had some conditioning in impulse control and learning to stay on his property. Would he stay there forever, certainly not, but he did stay long enough for me to find him there when he did get out front alone. So his training paid off so big for us. He could have run off like my sister's dog did but he stayed put.

So far, the two times he's escaped from the back yard, he's not left his front yard when he was alone, free and able to go anywhere. We have squirrels in both the front and back yards all the time and work around them and he's never chosen to chase them out front. Not saying he won't but if a squirrel or some cat doesn't come along when he's possibly out there alone, at least he's got a chance of staying in the yard from his training until I can get to him. After my sister's dog dying as a direct result of door darting, I wanted to train Tibbe to stay in his boundary as long as possible until I could get to him in case he ever got out front alone for a time. I know he wouldn't stay put forever but my sister's dog didn't stay put at all - she ran right across the street and got run over coming back! So I think he's got a better chance of not going wild and running off immediately with good front yard training than if he had absolutely none.

[capt_noonie]

I think it's very important to train with a good recall command. BUT I think only certain yorkies should be allowed to be off leash and only in certain situations. It's up to the owner to decide if it's worth the risk or not. I let Uni off leash when we go to this park that's almost always deserted and we go in the baseball field. It's gated all the way around. However, Uni is not very terrier-ish though. She's unlike most yorkies that way. Usually yorkies are very easily distracted and once they get their mind set on something they will chase it for days.