February 24th, 2008
Fido, Come Without a Leash
Training Your Dog Off-Leash (Part 1)
When training your dog off-leash, remain in a protected area for at least the first month of training. Continue to work on all previous commands and all new safety commands with the regular leash, the drop line, the tab, alternating in no particular pattern. As you work, test your safety devices off leash with the fence bolted. Try the “Drop” on recall, the emergency down, the serious “Come,” “No,” and “Wait.” However, do not work your dog to death or make him into a game.
You can begin to work your dog in the park. Use both the short and long lines so that when you take the drop line off, the dog is still wearing something. After he is working well on drop line, take it off and remind him immediately to heel. If he lags or moves out to the side, make a sharp correction with the tab and then praise him. Work only for a few minutes so that at the time you quit he is still working well. Do not push him into errors. Instead, build the time he will stay with you and obey you smartly without his leash and in this exciting, new environment.
When you are really confident and you are sure that your dog is sharp and obedient on all the safety commands, begin to try “Stays” and “Comes” from a distance in the park, first with the long line dragging and then with just the tab. If he is attentive and obedient now, you may begin to work him on the street.
When you first work your dog on the street with a drop line, work when the street in your area is least crowded and when traffic is lightest. First, there’s the problem of distractions, which you do not need at this most difficult stage of training. Second, there’s the mechanical problem of people stepping on your dropped long line, unintentionally giving your good dog a correction.
In order to fully concentrate and so that your dog can do the same, keep your first street lesson very short and work when no one is around. Of course, your drop line is dragging so that if your dog tries to run off, he will not be harmed. You will simply step hard onto the leash.
Plan at least a month for each new stage of training to make sure your dog behaves reliably even on his bad days. After a month of work in the park and a month of drop-line work on the street, you should be ready, if that is what you choose to do, to try working on the street with only the tab.
You will also want to read about training in Here Rover.
