Sam - First Time Out And Let Off Lead

[BorderCollieSam]

Sams week after his final set of injections was up yesterday so time for the outdoor world.

 

It was a family event, my wife, and my two daughters accompanied me, luckily we live in the country so i was only 2 minutes walk to completely empty fields.

 

I first started him on the lead, which he didn't like the idea of initially, but after a few minutes started to relax a little, i asked my daughters to walk in front and to call him, so he would get the idea of walking and hopfully forget about the lead, it seemed to work, as i said he started relaxing and walking.

 

When we got to the fields, i was quite confident that Sam would come back if let off the lead.

 

I was so eager to see him run free, after being in the house for 5 weeks with only the garden to run in, and i had been pracising sit, down, stay, come, which he seemed to have mastered in the house, so i thought i would let him off the lead.

 

My wife was very worried, she was unaware i was going to let him off the lead, whilst i was taking his lead off she said he won't come back, but i had some tasty treats in my pocket and whever i make a noisy eating slurping type noise in the house he comes running in from the garden, so off went the lead, Sam went running out, i then called him back, and he came running back to me for his treat.

 

Everything went as planned, i know a lot of you will not think it was right of me to attempt this on his first time out, but i know he and i have a good relationship/bond allready, and i was confident that there wouldn't be any problems, and this is now another hurdle over.

 

Today i took him for another walk, this time we were gone for over 3 hours!

[Tassie]

Everything went as planned, i know a lot of you will not think it was right of me to attempt this on his first time out, but i know he and i have a good relationship/bond allready, and i was confident that there wouldn't be any problems, and this is now another hurdle over.

 

Today i took him for another walk, this time we were gone for over 3 hours!

 

Sounds like he's doing really well. It depends on the pup and the situation quite a bit, I think. I've been much more relaxed with my current pup, Rory, than I have with dogs in the past. Rory is a very biddable and attentive boy, and it helps that I have Kirra, a well trained almost 7 year old Border Collie bitch that Rory uses as a role model.

 

I've broken a lot of 'rules' with Rory - had him out and about in safe situations even before his second shots (no choice - and there's no parvo around here at present), and allowed him off lead much earlier than I would normally. So far, he's rewarded me, but I'm alert for the start of the teenage time - he's almost 5 months now - when I might have to start making sure his recall stays solid.

 

How old is Sam? 3 hours sounds like a long time for a wee pup to be out walking and running. I tend to limit the amount of exercise Rory gets at any one time. I'm hoping he'll be an agility dog, so I want to make sure I don't put too much strain on his growing body. (He of course, thinks he's 6 feet tall and bullet proof .)

[BorderCollieSam]

Sounds like he's doing really well. It depends on the pup and the situation quite a bit, I think. I've been much more relaxed with my current pup, Rory, than I have with dogs in the past. Rory is a very biddable and attentive boy, and it helps that I have Kirra, a well trained almost 7 year old Border Collie bitch that Rory uses as a role model.

 

I've broken a lot of 'rules' with Rory - had him out and about in safe situations even before his second shots (no choice - and there's no parvo around here at present), and allowed him off lead much earlier than I would normally. So far, he's rewarded me, but I'm alert for the start of the teenage time - he's almost 5 months now - when I might have to start making sure his recall stays solid.

 

How old is Sam? 3 hours sounds like a long time for a wee pup to be out walking and running. I tend to limit the amount of exercise Rory gets at any one time. I'm hoping he'll be an agility dog, so I want to make sure I don't put too much strain on his growing body. (He of course, thinks he's 6 feet tall and bullet proof .)

 

Hi Tassie,

 

Sam is 12 weeks old now, his first walk on Saturday was with my whole family and lasted for around 1.5 hours, yesterday was just myself and my eldest daughter, we weren't in any hurry yesterday and went out at just before 11am, and didn't return until after 2pm!

 

He is being a really good dog, i have a small field outside my house which i leave him off the lead whilst crossing, but at the other end of the field there is a country lane, and i call him and tell him sit, he sits whilst i put his lead on, then cross the road, then take the lead back off.