I've trained all four of mine to be off leash with me. I started with them when they were young. Before you even consider training off leash you must first be sure that your pup knows their name and is trained to (come, sit and stay) on command. No ifs and or but about it, they must come to you when called.
When training them I first use the method of umbilical cord/leash training out in the yard teaching them their boundaries. We would walk the perimeter of the yard over and over and over again making them sit and stay every 4-5 yards. Give them a pat on the head and a "good job" and right back to it.
After I was able to get them to walk with me doing that off leash that we went on to teaching them to stay in the yard and not to go beyond those boundaries. We started with training them to stay in the yard on the leash and worked our way to off leash. You sort of have to trick them into thinking they are aloud to go into the road and just when they get to the edge of the yard I give the leash a firm tug and give them a firm "eh eh" "NO" and "BACK" !! Than make them sit and stay on command. I would also make them sit & stay than go into the road, walking back and forth as they sat and watched praising them the entire time reconfirming the stay command. I would even go across the road into the neighbors yard watching them the entire time making sure they did not enter the road. If I saw that they were getting too anxious I gave a quick and firm "eh eh" "NO" and "BACK" I would than go back to them and praise them for not leaving the yard. Than once I was certain that they can be trusted I than started teaching them how far they are aloud to be away from me by allowing them to explore on their own and once they have reach the boundaries I call them back to me by using the command "Here Now" and they come right back to me until I tell them they can go again.
It is so nice to have well trained pups, we really enjoyed our outdoor time together. That was until the neighbors decided to become stray cat hoarders and now there are too many cats around our house to be able to take them out. Teaching them Not to chaise the cats is a whole new and probably impossible feat. They have been anxiously waiting to get a hold of one of them for the past two years.
So I would strongly suggest that you also find a way to teach them to not be so willing to chaise cats, squirrels and other types of small animals. So, whatever you do be sure that you are completely confident that your pup will COME when called. IF not you could put your pup at risk of being harmed.
Hope this helps !!
