Ever since Delilah’s big adventure last year, she’s been kept on leash on our walks.
I hate this. She enjoys running so much and she looks amazing while she’s doing it, yet I can’t take the chance. She has proven time and time again that she can’t be trusted.
Remember my moment of weakness in March?
If our park was totally enclosed, I’d just let her go, but there are too many areas with access to neighborhoods and that is right where she goes.
The good news is I don’t have to worry about her running off into acres and acres of woods. The bad news is that she is running off to people’s homes. And I worry about people and how some of them might handle unwanted dogs.
What do you mean people don’t want me in their yards? I’m cute and I’m providing them with a yard service. Free. Of. Charge.
In order to grant her a little bit of freedom, I’ve been working her on a new command. Go check.
I have to be careful in what area I use this, but normally speaking it works like this. Sampson gets his retriever on. Explanation for those of you who don’t have retrievers….he stops, stands still and stares, before he charges off after his prey. Delilah will stop and stare as well. I call her to me, un-clip her leash and say, “Go check!” She darts off, thrashing through the trees, makes a wide sweeping circle and comes panting back to me. The whole thing is over in less than a minute.
She gets her run on and I get peace of mind. It’s a win-win situation.
Until it isn’t.
She did great when we encountered the deer. And she’s so happy when she runs and when she comes back and so I had another moment of weakness. It was the day after the deer encounter and we had just stepped into the field. I had her pointed in the right direction, un-clipped her and said, “Go check.”
She turned around and headed for the houses, with Sampson right behind her.
“Just remember, she’ll always come back,” Hubby said the last time she took off on me. I tried to remain calm. I called Sampson, thankful when he came back. I walked across the field, calling for her, whistling, clapping my hands. After a couple of minutes I decided I’d have to try to hike through the woods to the houses and see if I could find her. It was raining and the field is rimmed with Poison Ivy, so I was looking for a clean spot to enter.
Sampson and I headed down a trail, but I couldn’t find a way in. We turned around, searching the edges of the field, nothing. I looked at my watch, 12 minutes had passed. There was nothing else to do, I’d head back to the entrance and look for a way through down there, on my journey I’d see if I could spot her through the trees. If I got to the car and hadn’t spotted her, we’d jump in and I’d drive over.
Who was I kidding, it’s spring in New England even though we had a late start, the trees are green and you just can’t see through trees! Still I kept my eyes to the right, scanning, hoping.
I heard a noise and looked up, there she was running towards me. I’m not sure if she’d given up and gone to the car or just finished her rounds and headed back. She was gone at least 15 minutes and she’d used up her last chance.
I have no hope that she will ever go off-leash unless it’s in a fenced in area.
When do you decide it’s enough? When do you stop giving chances?
Mom won’t ever let me off unless the area is fenced because I am a scent hound and once on a scent, my ears close down completely. My sister used to run away all the time, so she wasn’t allowed off leash either but now that she is almost 11 and has some arthritis mom lets her off around home sometimes and she has been good but then all of the sudden she sees a dog she doesn’t like or something and she takes off and doesn’t listen to mom. The good thing is she can’t run forever anymore and common sense kicks in but it is still stressful for mom.
For her own safety, I wouldn’t let her off the leash. I worry how people react when they see a big dog in their yards. I wish there were more fenced in areas around to let our dogs run their hearts out/
We all know when enough is enough and it’s different for every dog owner. So sad that D has lost her last chance but your mental health is as important as Delilah’s life 😉
I use to run amok for hours and no one could catch me but peeps was lucky that I am fixated on one safe area of the park. I was a rotter but now I am older I have calmed down. Still the call of the wild gets me excited. I think enough is enough when it becomes dangerous to you and Delilah. Have a marvellous Monday.
Best wishes Molly
Oh dear…poor Delilah. She must have automatic senses shut off like I do once on a chase. For this reason, I am only allowed off-leash in fenced areas. If I go chase something, I hear nothing…and I only pay attention to what I am chasing, not where I am going so I would never find my way back. You gotta do what you gotta do to keep her safe.
*Cairn cuddles*
Oz
Hi Jodi,
Loved this post. I am sure your heart beats quicker, just like moms who have lost sight of a child. 🙂
I totally understand what you’re saying. With Kelly I know that she will never come back when I call, even if I’m waving a cheeseburger. She loves to run! Brooks would never have taken off to begin with. He was that dog who would walk by your side without a leash never fail. Nothing I tried to do training helped Kelly and nothing I did training caused Brooks to be that way. I guess each dog is different.
Glad she came back unharmed. Have you tried training her to recall to a whistle. We use a whistle when doing our hunt test training to call them back. 3 toots means come. I use it at home when they are out running around in the field and they come back. It will take some training but she might come back faster for you if she hears the whistle.
I thought Ryder was pretty reliable, but the other day he took off on me, and led me on a chase for 2 HOURS! (ok it was really for 2 minutes, but I was so scared it felt like an eternity.) Fortunately we were on the beach, away from cars, but the road wasn’t far away. So he will not be allowed off leash for a long time to come.
I have no words of wisdom. We live in a rural (very) area, so it is entirely a different situation. Plus, each dog is different. With Lucy, I only used a leash when in town or when we were traveling. She simply didn’t need it. Jeffie, Rudy and Rosie are rarely off-leash… even in the country. Too strong a prey drive. Jeffie is better than Rudy. Rosie is learning. Years ago my tripawd used to take off after deer (he’s the one we hung a cow bell on). I just tried to contain my panic – we had 150 acres in the middle of other large farms with no high traffic nearby roads…. he was old, three legged… If Bennie died chasing a deer, it would have been a happy way to go for him. (He died in his sleep… 🙂 )
Oh boy, do I Ever know the “retriever thing”! Callie and Shadow both stalk their prey silently from inside the porch and take off after it as soon as I open the door. Ducky hasn’t learned the silent part yet. 🙂 As for when is enough enough, that’s something we all have to decide for ourselves. The only time my girls are off-leash is in our backyard with all the gates closed and locked. (And Ducky when I have her in my arms, carrying her to or from the car so she doesn’t burn her sweet little puppy feet on the hot cement/pavement.)
Fifteen minutes is like hours when your dog is running free and out of sight. I have had only companion animals for years and never a retriever so I have no suggestions. Some hunters seen to get into a zone where they see and hear only what they want no matter how many repetitions. You have been far more patient than I would be. For your own stress levels, I would keep her leashed.
That’s a shame for both you and Delilah…You don’t need the stress and Delilah must miss those full out runs…but if she’s not reliable on recall you really do have to keep her leashed…there’s just too many dangerous things out there…Maybe just keep frequent practice on a long line … One trick I remember is that you can replace the normal long line with a very light weight nylon string that gives the illusion of freedom to Delilah but keeps peace of mind for you
I know what you mean about her ‘looking amazing’. With our first Brittany, watching him in the woods or field took my breath away sometimes, it looked so perfect. Eventually he proved himself to be completely untrustworthy off-leash outside our yard. Our next dog would run off in the woods, and after an hour of frantic searching, we’d go home and find her waiting on the door step, so she, too, was yard bound except on a leash. It’s a hard choice to make.
When we had our beagle, we almost never let her off-leash. She couldn’t be trusted. Luckily, she would rather sniff than run anyway (for the most part) so I didn’t feel super guilty about not letting her off to run. (Plus we would sometimes run w/ her on-leash.)
But with Rita, it’s another story. We go to our huge off-leash park, but I’ve been leashing her up there when we see dogs we don’t know. After our “incident” I’m afraid she’ll run at some dog we don’t know and piss off the owner – who will do gawd-knows-what. I feel badly about keeping her on-leash when the other dogs are running and playing, but I can’t trust her to not act like a total pill with a submissive dog. I’ve working on getting some training lined up and hopefully we’ll be able to go back to fully off-leash walks there one of these days. We’ll see…
I know your frustration. It’s too bad you can’t find someplace fenced to take her so she can run free for a bit.
We have accepted that Felix will never be an offleash dog and I am OK with that. He lacks impulse control and no amount of work with me, with a trainers, with praying and bargaining with a merciful deity will change that. He is safest on leash. We bought him a light weight lead line and we have embraced him for who he is – a star crossed pup with a strong sense of Wanderlust.
I’ve never owned a dog that I have allowed off-leash. It’s just too big of a risk and 99% of the places we go all have leash laws anyway. I don’t let it get me down though – I have a 15 foot leash and Blueberry is fine with that (since she has never known any different) and she has a fenced yard to run around in.
I guess it’s harder for those that actually live in places where it is ok to have a dog off-leash. But still, for your peace of mind and since she isn’t very reliable, sounds like you are making the right choice to not let her off leash. At least not until her recall is way better than it is anyway! 😉
I think gone 15 minutes out of sight would do it for me. Have you ever thought of putting a bell on her like they do with dogs hunting in high cover? Maybe you could hear her at least. I get so nervous when we are out hunting with the dogs and they disappear from sight. They come back, but I find it more nerve wracking than enjoyable.
Cupcake is barely off her leash inside the house, so I have no brilliant insight. I think you may be the bravest person I ever knew!
Never give up. It takes patience (lots) and it is age too. I use to that … How about get a whistle or a squeaker when you ask Delilah to come. Try to go to a smaller area too and do it in short time interval (2-5 mins). “Off Leash” is a good blog topic … Our Thursday’s post this week was accomplished through lots of patience of heel command/off leash training. Your off leash training is going to help you with freestyle/dancing class too. Lots of Golden Woofs, Sugar
“Go check”–I love it! It’s funny, I used to let my dogs off leash all over the place, in a baseball field in a residential neighborhood and by the railroad tracks in Portland, in the parks and along the trails here in Maryland, and of course in the desert arroyos in Santa Fe. In Santa Fe it was mostly fine but everywhere else they were always getting into some kind of trouble–neighbors’ cats, deer, raccoons, people who didn’t like dogs, etc. At a certain point I just realized that my stress level would be markedly diminished if I didn’t have to worry about them getting into trouble, so now we go off leash only when we are on a relatively remote hike where the opportunities are less:) If I’m just on a neighborhood walk with senior Lamar that’s one thing, but Fozzie is a whole different ball game 🙂
Your woods sound like a great place for the pups and I can understand the temptation. It may be that Delilah will really settle down in the next couple years as she gets older–I know you’ve made huge progress and will continue to do so.
I don’t know. Chester and Gretel are always on leash so they never get a chance. I do take that back a little though. I have let her “off leash” (she was still wearing it but I let go) at a beach. She has a pretty good recall (for treats) so I was able to keep her from going too far from me. Another time was at an off-leash park with lots of dense brush . After the second time of her darting into the bushes for about 5 minutes I vowed never to go there again (this park is not fully fenced so she could have ran out the other side and ran into the sunset).
uh oh Delilah,
Sounds like your fun adventures are over buddy! 🙂
My Mum won’t trust me off leash either, so I only get a chance to run wild when I’m either at the dog park or in the tennis courts at the park when there’s no-one there… 🙂
Wags to all,
Your pal Snoopy 🙂
Oh Jodi, I’m sorry to hear this. Toby has proven untrustworthy off-leash many times – even in his own backyard – and is no longer allowed off-leash unless it is a fenced in area. At one point, he was in a Rally Ring, Indoors, but he raced from the ring and tried to go out the front door of the facility (god only knows why) – which was located on a main road. It was not long after that when I gave up on Rally too.
Oh no! I like both the whistle and bell idea, might be worth a try.
I hate that my dogs cant run free either…they all look so beautiful when they run, but like you and donna, cant be trusted and not worth the risk