# Puppy off lead - 4 months too young??



## Emraa (Jun 4, 2009)

Roxy is 4 months and we let her off lead for the first time a couple of weeks ago. We were well prepared and set her up for success - the area was secure, not too many distractions and plenty of sausage in our pockets! She was fantastic  We have let her off a couple of times since when we know the area is secure and we have plenty of treats for her.

I went to puppy training last week and got a 'telling off' for letting her off lead at such a young age. I explained the situation but the 'trainer' wasn't having it! Bella who is now 2.5 years went off lead at around the same age and she has superb recall 
The trainer then went on to announce to the whole class 'I won't mention names but _someone _here has let their puppy off lead. 4 months is *FAR* too young to be let off lead, I would *NOT* reccommend it' I felt like I was at school getting a b*****king!!

I know every puppy is different, Roxy is a Lab mix and we felt as she came to use almost every time in the house and garden and when we took her out on her long line we would give it a go!

What age did you let your pup off lead??


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## KeithMorrell (Aug 30, 2011)

Emraa said:


> Roxy is 4 months and we let her off lead for the first time a couple of weeks ago. We were well prepared and set her up for success - the area was secure, not too many distractions and plenty of sausage in our pockets! She was fantastic  We have let her off a couple of times since when we know the area is secure and we have plenty of treats for her.
> 
> I went to puppy training last week and got a 'telling off' for letting her off lead at such a young age. I explained the situation but the 'trainer' wasn't having it! Bella who is now 2.5 years went off lead at around the same age and she has superb recall
> The trainer then went on to announce to the whole class 'I won't mention names but _someone _here has let their puppy off lead. 4 months is *FAR* too young to be let off lead, I would *NOT* reccommend it' I felt like I was at school getting a b*****king!!
> ...


From what I can remember about 6 months

Millie has pretty good recall though the other day ran up the banking and kinda waited at the canal edge with a look of CAN I CAN I ......


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## missmoomoo (Jul 23, 2011)

my pups always go off lead on their first walk... They are always too scared to loose sight of you and will follow you rather than do a runner. This helps them with recall aswell. If I left my breed till 4 months of age it would be my worst nightmare lol as they are used to recall from day 1 I find it much easier.


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## ewelsh (Jan 26, 2011)

I have no idea if I am right or wrong, but I am training my puppy who is 7weeks and 4 days old now to do her toilet outside in the garden and she is off the lead in the day time and is following me and will come to me when I call her, I do however pop her on the lead in the evenings 
(a) because of light issues. 
( b ) to get her used to the collar and lead.

seems to be working for me! and Lucy:smilewinkgrin:

good luck to you and I don't think your trainer at classes was very nice, if that was her opinion then say it to your face alone not to the whole class.


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## Mumbles (Apr 17, 2011)

We let ours off from once he had had his injections so prob around 4 months and as long as he wasn't near the road and couldn't get in trouble i don't see a problem with it. Puppies usually don't like going to far away from owner so i think is a great time to get recall sorted, my toodles has very good recall now and doesn't seem to have been put off from being let off at an early age.


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## 912142 (Mar 28, 2011)

My great dane is off lead when we are in fields, forrests, beach etc and he is 4 months.


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## Burrowzig (Feb 18, 2009)

Emraa said:


> Roxy is 4 months and we let her off lead for the first time a couple of weeks ago. We were well prepared and set her up for success - the area was secure, not too many distractions and plenty of sausage in our pockets! She was fantastic  We have let her off a couple of times since when we know the area is secure and we have plenty of treats for her.
> 
> I went to puppy training last week and got a 'telling off' for letting her off lead at such a young age. I explained the situation but the 'trainer' wasn't having it! Bella who is now 2.5 years went off lead at around the same age and she has superb recall
> The trainer then went on to announce to the whole class 'I won't mention names but _someone _here has let their puppy off lead. 4 months is *FAR* too young to be let off lead, I would *NOT* reccommend it' I felt like I was at school getting a b*****king!!
> ...


7 weeks. Kite was 7 weeks when I got her and the next day I took her to work with me in a large garden nearby. It was secure and had no resident dogs (or visitors, I was looking after it after the owner died). At that age she just wanted to stick close to me and my other dog. Practised recalls between pulling weeds!
She has always had great recall. Just once didn't respond when playing with another dog, I hid behind a tree to teach her a lesson. I'd now rate her 100% reliable, even when playing chase with other dogs, her favourite game.


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## DoodlesRule (Jul 7, 2011)

I let Dougie off lead the first time we took him out and always been really good. Didn't try with my previous dog until he was much older and ended up never being able to let him off as he wouldn't come back so for me proof is in the pudding so to speak. Sounds like an unpleasant trainer


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## Elles (Aug 15, 2011)

Change classes, the trainer sounds like a complete idiot. Even if s/he was right and s/he's not imo, there is no reason to humiliate a student. S/he obviously has no teaching skills, so it's not worth you trying to learn from him/her, certainly not at this stage. :cursing:

Off lead as soon as possible in suitable surroundings, while the puppy is too scared to run off and wants to stick to you like glue and start training recall straight away.


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## PinkEars (Jun 4, 2010)

I let Walt offlead at about 13 weeks he was with my other dog but still didnt stray very far from us. When we take him just on his own he keeps even closer so its a great time to teach him recall especially if there are two of you on the walk.

I agree that you should look at other classes because my trainer encourages offlead socialisation for 30mins before the training and alot of the training we do we start on lead and then do the same offlead. One of the exercises is letting them play and then calling them to get them back, releasing them to play again and repeating!


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## WarFlyball (Aug 15, 2008)

Our pup was off lead from as soon as he could go out - he has the best recall of our 3 and while he enjoys sniffing things and running round like a hooligan he knows that coming back to me = lots of praise and yummy treats  
It sounds as though the trainer needs to go on a people skills course


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## ballybee (Aug 25, 2010)

We got Tummel at 11 weeks old and our very first walk with him was 5 minutes on lead to an empty field then off for our walk, he loved it and explored but stayed close.

The trainer doesn't sound like someone who really wants to help owners with training if she's going to humiliate you...at the end of the day it's your puppy and you can choose when she goes offlead


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## Starfish (Jul 26, 2011)

13 weeks.

Jenson walks on a lead to and from the places we take him, then he's off to free-run and explore once we are in the field/woods etc. His recall is fantastic and it boosts his confidence no end.

If the trainer had done that to me I'd have took her to one side, told her exactly what I thought of her and walked out. She had no right to reference you in that way at all. Even if she _was_ right, which she clearly isn't, surely her job is to train and educate people? She's obviously as inept with humans as she is with dogs.


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## Nellybelly (Jul 20, 2009)

The sooner the better in my opinion


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## kaisa624 (Mar 5, 2010)

I let mine off at 10 weeks after her 2nd jab, however at the training classes I help at, we generally say to let them off around 4 months on walks (as we cover recall from the first class), but offlead in gardens whenever they feel ready.


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## Jasper's Bloke (Oct 30, 2009)

Your pup is ready to go off lead when you think they are ready to go off lead, no one knows her like you do and especially not some idiot trainer who gets off on humiliating people.

Every dog is different and each is an individual, it's not like they suddenly reach a specific age and then they are OK. If your trainer is right then that would mean that there comes a point when you can't let your dog go off lead one day for fear of disaster, but they will be absolutely fine the next day, which is totally unrealistic.

I think you are being very sensible and taking responsible precautions. You obviously know your dog better than your trainer does and I would either have a very serious word with them or find another trainer.


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## XxZoexX (Sep 8, 2010)

As soon as allowed out we found a secure place for Jack to go off lead and he is fantastic now.. Even before that at home i'd "recall" around the house :lol:


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## Grace_Lily (Nov 28, 2010)

My last 5 puppies have all been allowed off lead on their first walk post vaccinations. I think it's best that way, while they still have that fear of getting lost and will keep an eye on where you are. At 6 months my dogs have all been much more independent, not sure I would have had the same response if I waited until then to release them!


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## grandad (Apr 14, 2011)

Emraa said:


> Roxy is 4 months and we let her off lead for the first time a couple of weeks ago. We were well prepared and set her up for success - the area was secure, not too many distractions and plenty of sausage in our pockets! She was fantastic  We have let her off a couple of times since when we know the area is secure and we have plenty of treats for her.
> 
> I went to puppy training last week and got a 'telling off' for letting her off lead at such a young age. I explained the situation but the 'trainer' wasn't having it! Bella who is now 2.5 years went off lead at around the same age and she has superb recall
> The trainer then went on to announce to the whole class 'I won't mention names but _someone _here has let their puppy off lead. 4 months is *FAR* too young to be let off lead, I would *NOT* reccommend it' I felt like I was at school getting a b*****king!!
> ...


Depends on how much control you have of a youngster. If it's in a tennis court for example whats the problem you are building the recall and closeness. If it's in the woods and the same fence is a mile away, then that is a little different. When she gets a bit older, bolder and independant, such freedom can result in bog off dog and then you have problems. Slowly slowly catchy monkey, especially with dogs.


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## [email protected] (Nov 22, 2010)

Your trainer sounds a right idiot! Our dogs were always off lead by 4 months in secure environments and we never looked back. The aim of the game is for you to be the most interesting thing out there should you need to recall immediately and having sausage in your pockets is a great start!!

The only thing I would say is that my border collie was great off lead for a while and her recall was fantastic but then she became more confident in her surroundings and her recall started to lapse so I went back to putting her on a training lead and reteaching her the rules of recall again. I suspect a lot of this was down to the fact that we rescued her at 6 months old and so she was much older when she had to learn these new commands than any puppy we have had.

Prove your trainer wrong, keep doing what you're doing.......and perhaps try a new training class ??


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## springfieldbean (Sep 13, 2010)

Yep, Sherlock's 20 weeks old now and we've been letting him off lead in the nearby park for a month. I was quite nervous at first, but it's a safe environment, and he's been very good at coming back to us. I'm not sure that would be the case if we didn't let him off until he was older, and I think he'd also miss out on important socialising with other dogs, and just the chance to properly run around and play fetch, etc.

It does sound like you maybe haven't got the best trainer - she should know better than to generalise all dogs like that, surely?


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