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Originally Posted by rox626 I think it depends on the personality of your dog. If you feel you can trust him, start off in a place where there aren't any cars to run him over. You might never want to try it anywhere else. I often take Debbie to the school playing fields across the street. She always keeps her eye on me. There I have to keep an eye out for hawks.
Today we stopped at Petsmart on the way back from the beach. I had forgotten her leash but she stayed right by me. Then again she really doesn't care all that much for other dogs. A quick sniff is enough and she doesn't like it when they come on too strong which most of them do.
I think you'll know when you can trust your dog to listen to you. Some will never be ready and then again some really young puppies can do it. |
I agree with the personality thing. I used to have a shihtzu who was almost never on a leash. She simply had no interest in running off. Once when she was a pup (at the time we had a big yard on a very quiet dead end street) she started to run up to a bunny. The bunny kinda ran towards her, which scared the daylights out of her and she turned around and ran back to me. LOL that was the LAST time she thought about wandering off. I could go out in the yard (even here where there is a lot more traffic and we didn't used to have a fence) and work for hours and she'd be within 20' of me the whole time.
Ginger, on the other hand, is only ever off leash in our fenced in yard. Occasionally on walks in the woods, where no one is around, I'll drop my end of the leash and she does pretty well. But I would never risk it anywhere else. She has that chase first, ask later attitude.
If you're not confident your dog will listen and stay with you, I wouldn't risk it. It only takes a second for something to happen.