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On leash or off leash?

On leash or free?

  • Total voters
    48
zoofreak1

zoofreak1

Zooville Settler
Let's have a little discussing about this. I think there are a lot of strong opinions and feeling about keeping dogs on or off leash.

Personally, I have mine free as much as I can. There is nothing that gives me more joy than seeing a dog run free and enjoy herself in the wild nature. It gives me some kind of primal feeling.
But my dogs are hunters and natural born killers, so I have to be careful and have a solid "stay" command. And also it's prohibited to have dogs off leash in my country from spring to autumn. Something I mostly don't give a fuck about...
Most importantly, in my opinion, is that your dog does not run to other dogs or people and bother when off leash!
 
Good dog, will do well with others, but can jump on any that comes agresive. Also really bad at stay commands and local regulation for off lead.

Long story short, off leash on designated dog areas, reeeally long leash (law says leashed but does not specify max lenght) So I can step or grab elsewhere. Except in city (short leash)

Long leash works great in forests and tracks. You can have him free, but if he goes anywhere out of sight, just grab the end of the rope ?

BTW, leash is quite bad for dog relations. About any trouble I've had has been while they were leashed. Leave them free, they do well or just ignore the other. Put the leash, tension starts.
(not considering people who are actually afraid, so they pull the leash effectively putting their dog at attention, even in attack mode)
 
zoofreak1 said:
Safe locations? Because of the traffic? Or cats
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Usually out of the city in the country because of traffic.
He is good with cats.
Unfortunately nowhere is completely safe because in my country your dog can be shot when he is off leash and 100m away from you by people we call gamekeepers (this might not be a complete translation) who are supposed to protect our nature who so far managed to destroy our nature.
The law says something a bit different, but from the reports of shot dogs by these people, nobody cares.
So this does scare me from letting my dog off the leash in unknown places.
 
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Never on lead at home, always on lead in town or city, mixture when in the bush, although he was a bit more wary about talking to echidnas after the first time he when up to one to say hello when off lead.
 
pes said:
Usually out of the city in the country because of traffic.
He is good with cats.
Unfortunately nowhere is completely safe because in my country your dog can be shot when he is off leash and 100m away from you by people we call gamekeepers (this might not be a complete translation) who are supposed to protect our nature who so far managed to destroy our nature.
The law says something a bit different, but from the reports of shot dogs by these people, nobody cares.
So this does scare me from letting my dog off the leash in unknown places.
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Wow, extreme! But not unlikely in my country. There is even a saying here "our country kills dogs"
Here we have hundreds of thousands of sheep walking in our forests all spring and summer, therefore the off leash prohibition. The sheep keepers can shoot your dog if he so little as looks at the animals. Many non-agressive dogs with zero hunting instincts have been shot.
In my area, fortunately there are no sheep, so my doggy walks free all year round in the forests
 
Goattobeloved said:
BTW, leash is quite bad for dog relations. About any trouble I've had has been while they were leashed. Leave them free, they do well or just ignore the other. Put the leash, tension starts.
(not considering people who are actually afraid, so they pull the leash effectively putting their dog at attention, even in attack mode)
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That's the world's most common problem that people have with their dogs. Leash-agression we call it.
 
zoofreak1 said:
That's the world's most common problem that people have with their dogs. Leash-agression we call it.
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Yes. Sort of fun. They know the guy with the leash controls the dog, I suppose.

Dogs front to front, the other one unsure keeps looking at the dog and to me alternatively trying to guess who is more dangerous.
Then you drop the leash. Tak an step to the side and he forgets about you. Some sniffing and either nothing, or they start playing or some growling you need to stop. All in all, a more healthy reaction.
 
My dogs are off leash where it's appropriate. My dogs are well behaved and are used to loose leash walking, so on or off doesn't make a lot of difference. If we're in places where leashes are expected, we use them, but at home or out in open spaces they're usually off.
 
FloofyNewfie said:
Careful with the long leashes, if you have a dog with a high pray drive they can potentially injure their neck while trying to run after a fleeing critter like a squirrel or a rabbit.
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Actually YES. That is an important point.

I started with a usual collar, but switched to a harness very soon cause I feared that.
Also, if you have a +120 pound dog, be careful for yourself if stopping him after he runs with a head start of 30 ft. or more.
 
dartel said:
My boy has never been off leash outside, and I've only got a short lease.
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That's sad. I think every dog should experience the joy of running free from time to time. Or else, he's just a prisoner his whole life.

A dog that always just walks besides his owner will have a weaker body and muscles, especially if you are walking on flat terrain! All dogs I've had have been running a lot in forests and by that they have developed a good balance, strong and healthy muscles and good fitness. That's important for a long and happy life
 
When you have a big powerful breed, if something happens between your dog and another dog it's always the bigger dogs fault in far to many people's eyes. So my biggest pet peeve is people with off lead dogs that come running up to mine and getting in his face. He'd be on lead and very patient with little dogs, as they must be puppies in his head. But if there was ever to be any problem you know who would get the blame.

He can go where he wants on the farm or in the bush when we're walking as he never goes to far away, and if I take too long to catch up, he'd come back to find out why I was being slow. You've got to have good recall if your going to give a dog autonomy or freedom when out places for their own protection from dangers if for no other reason. But if there are other dogs or people around it's always back on lead again. So he's always on lead in built up areas.

Having him on lead saved his life one day, the lights changed and he stood up and started to cross because he knows when the sound at the traffic lights changed all the cars would be waiting for an important dog like him to cross in front of them. However I came close to dislocating my shoulder when a car ran a red light. But that control I had over him meant that I could pull him back just in time. If not for the lead the car would have struck his head for sure. So I don't care what anyone else says, leads will always be used by me in certain walking situations period.
 
zoofreak1 said:
That's sad. I think every dog should experience the joy of running free from time to time. Or else, he's just a prisoner his whole life.

A dog that always just walks besides his owner will have a weaker body and muscles, especially if you are walking on flat terrain! All dogs I've had have been running a lot in forests and by that they have developed a good balance, strong and healthy muscles and good fitness. That's important for a long and happy life
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I've never had an enclosed yard where I could just let him loose, and was never socialized with other dogs so not about to take him a dog park and let him loose.
 
HugDoggy said:
When you have a big powerful breed, if something happens between your dog and another dog it's always the bigger dogs fault in far to many people's eyes. So my biggest pet peeve is people with off lead dogs that come running up to mine and getting in his face. He'd be on lead and very patient with little dogs, as they must be puppies in his head. But if there was ever to be any problem you know who would get the blame.
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Yes, total agree about bigger one always being blamed. Talk of humanizing dogs. "If you are strong, you can not hit the small guy". Dogs do not really work like that. Even if they seem more patient with small pestering dogs, likely because they do not see them as a big treat.

I had an interesting opposite case of scared owner while having the (big) pup leashed in a meadow.

Lady with small dog offleash calling him snd seemingly nervous as I let mine approach. They sniffed and played a bit... Later after I told her he tends to wander off, she said "Oh, So I though it was dangerous cause you were walking him leashed"
?
 
Goattobeloved said:
Yes, total agree about bigger one always being blamed. Talk of humanizing dogs. "If you are strong, you can not hit the small guy". Dogs do not really work like that. Even if they seem more patient with small pestering dogs, likely because they do not see them as a big treat.

I had an interesting opposite case of scared owner while having the (big) pup leashed in a meadow.

Lady with small dog offleash calling him snd seemingly nervous as I let mine approach. They sniffed and played a bit... Later after I told her he tends to wander off, she said "Oh, So I though it was dangerous cause you were walking him leashed"
?
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It's all about the recall! No dog should be off lead in a public place if they won't come back when you call, that means coming despite their being another dog there or a smell or a ball flying past, or that ice cream truck, oh wait I was chasing that last one as much as the dog.

Anyone who has ever walked a beagle for example know how sometimes the dog's brain is so into a smell or something that the rest of the world and your calling just fades away. If your dog gets lost in such things a lead isn't really optional for their own safety when out in human society, in such case the size of dog is irrelevant it's their behaviour that is important. But yes bad or scared owners can be just as big if not a bigger problem than a rogue dog.
 
There are places where it's appropriate and placed where it's not.
FloofyNewfie said:
Careful with the long leashes, if you have a dog with a high pray drive they can potentially injure their neck while trying to run after a fleeing critter like a squirrel or a rabbit.
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Had similar problems with using a halter. It was necessary in this case though, since a malamute in harness is what teenaged me would have classified as "unstoppable".
 
YIMBY said:
There are places where it's appropriate and placed where it's not.

Had similar problems with using a halter. It was necessary in this case though, since a malamute in harness is what teenaged me would have classified as "unstoppable".
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I'd see a halter as even worse, in that case, as it will turn the head around.

I know people having both collar or halter AND harness when walking the dog, so they could use one or the other at a given moment.

There are also those no pull harness that hook on front under and sort of squeeze the front legs if they pull. Had a trainer tell me thise could also do some injury if case of sudden pull but honestly I prefere an strained shoulderblade to a broken neck anytine.
(I am using one that hooks front-below, but just normal, does not "squeeze". Seems to work quite well for my boy)
 
My boy had different collars for different activities: Webbed for normal walking around at home in and looking cool, Smooth linked Correction chain for walking in public, Padded and fluffy towing collar with a quick release for pulling light weight stuff like me on a bike when he was in the mood to break the sound barrier, body harness for pulling a little cart when going camping. And a lead could be fitted to all of them. Although clipping a lead to the towing collar (his zoom zoom collar) is likely to end up with you flying rather than walking or at least taking huge moon steps trying not to fall flat on your face. (He could run way faster on those 4 paws than my 2 feet could ever manage.) Fortunately he still obeyed voice commands and would stop if he thought there was a problem, having a dog with Brains to go with the Brawn was always a joy.
 
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Always always on leash. For one Shiba Inus are pretty bad off leash and there are tons of poison traps here, even in quieter places. I wouldn't risk that
 
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