my akita girl goes every where off the lead, she stays by my side at all times, you can see she want to go but never dose, i have had cats shoot passed us as we walk together but she gose to go and all i do is one word command and she stays by my side, i walk like this around town and the counrty side, you do need to be aware of whats around and what going on around you at all times, but i dont have a prob with this, so at the end of the day its all down to the training, i have just had a new akita girl and i will be trainging her to do the same.......
- Do you walk your dog w/out a leash? Occasionally, most of the time, or all the time? Occasionally, it helps him de-stress
- How much training / how long did it take for you to be comfortable with letting your pup off leash? At first we only let him in semi-enclosed, enclosed area but once he got to about 1.5 year he was much more reliable
- What kind of training methods did you employ? Positive reinforcement
- If you had to guess on a percentage, how well is your pups recall? 90%
- Do you feel safe / confident in allowing your dog off leash? Yes, he responds 100% to the command "stop, sit, stay"
- Where do you allow your pup to be off leash? [ dog parks, walks, hiking, hunting, etc. ] Dog parks, parks, Beach, hiking, city at night,
I recently posted this on the "shiba side" but my opinion is 95% of shibas can not be trusted off lead. Of the 5% that can I would only do it under limited situations, (fairly secluded areas, not on a busy street!) I have one girl who has a 100% recall. Even if she is going after something she will stop and come back when called(I know not the norm) I used to walk her often on a flexi when she was young and constantly call her back to sit in front of me praise/treat and let her go again. Just recently we were at Ocean city Md, at the beach with others and let her loose. We also had Moe our 18month old Black/tan on a flexi. After my wife getting a fairly bad rope burn on her legs from his flexi we decided to let him go he was fine staying with the group and having a ball casing the other dogs that others with us had. He does not have the recall reliability as ginger but in those circumstances I felt comfortable enough to let him loose.
It all comes down to knowing your dog, and reading the circumstanses and situation and going from there.
I have found as they get older their recall gets better.
NEVER walk a dog off leash near cars. I have a football field rule. The length of a football field is how far away from cars my dogs need to be, and I do trust them off leash. Even with Maymay's extremely high prey drive, I let her off leash. She will always check in with me. Maymay would make a great hunting dog.
This is what we are doing tomorrow AM. Off leash hiking on the base of Mt. Diablo.
I actually do need to bring her down. You would fall in love with her Gen. She's an amazing hunter. Just needs some focus and training. Poor thing has to resort to squirrels and mice. She's good at long car rides too!
Comments
so yes off the lead vote for me
Shiba Inu
- Do you walk your dog w/out a leash? Occasionally, most of the time, or all the time?
Occasionally, it helps him de-stress
- How much training / how long did it take for you to be comfortable with letting your pup off leash?
At first we only let him in semi-enclosed, enclosed area but once he got to about 1.5 year he was much more reliable
- What kind of training methods did you employ?
Positive reinforcement
- If you had to guess on a percentage, how well is your pups recall?
90%
- Do you feel safe / confident in allowing your dog off leash?
Yes, he responds 100% to the command "stop, sit, stay"
- Where do you allow your pup to be off leash? [ dog parks, walks, hiking, hunting, etc. ]
Dog parks, parks, Beach, hiking, city at night,
It all comes down to knowing your dog, and reading the circumstanses and situation and going from there.
I have found as they get older their recall gets better.
This is what we are doing tomorrow AM. Off leash hiking on the base of Mt. Diablo.