Meliora Drents

Living in a sprawling urban-suburban area like San Diego, there aren’t a lot of places where dogs can legally be off leash that aren’t a tiny dog park or the ever-crowded dog beach. But giving a dog time to run and sniff and otherwise partake in species-specific activity without restriction is crucial to their physical and mental health. Here are some things I consider before letting my dog(s) off leash:

Recall Reliability: Both in general, and specifically how reliable is it that day. I strongly believe no dog will ever be 100% reliable in anything, including recall – thinking otherwise does a disservice to the fact that our dogs are living creatures, not robots. With my dogs, I look for their average to be in the 95-98% range. But some days their recall is 99%, other days it’s 80% – just like we do, dogs can have days where their brains is more distracted, and I determine what kind of day my dog is having before I unclip the leash.

Familiar Environment: I have a better idea of what to expect at a trail or park we’ve been to a dozen times than a completely new place. I know if/when/where there are a lot of people, critters, dogs, or other distractions or risks. A more familiar environment is also less likely to amp up or make a dog nervous, two things that can affect recall reliability. Sometimes this also means keeping my dog(s) on leash for the first ten or fifteen minutes before letting them run free, whether it’s a new area or an old favorite, to allow them to acclimate.

Environmental Risk: Some environments the worst than could happen if my dog blows off my recall is that she runs into some bushes after a rabbit. Others, that split second while I fumble for the e-collar remote could mean her chasing a bird off a cliff. Where the environmental risk is high, we leash up.

Respecting Others: Not everyone loves dogs. Even those who do may not want a strange dog running up on them in the woods. I am always aware of where others are or might show up around a corner, and keep my dogs close or leashed where there are or may be other people nearby. I never let my dogs go around a blind corner where I can’t see them.

Demonstrating Control: Recalling my dog to heel or middle, or otherwise interacting with her in a way that has her eyes on me, allows me to demonstrate to others in the area that I have my dog under control. When we pass people on the trail or are about to start a fetch session in the park, I make sure to demonstrate that control. If my dog is too distracted to show that control, we are already leashed or will leash up.

Benefit: Is there an actual benefit to the dog being off leash in that moment, either for her biological fulfillment or for our safety? Sometimes, a retractable leash is nearly as good as being off-leash. For an example of the latter, we did a hike once up a creek. We crossed the creek dozens of times – it was shallow but slippery, so if I moved one way and my dog another and a leash was connecting us, it could have led to a fall. With all the above taken into account too, it was actually more safe to have my dog off-leash in that scenario.

Personally, I am a huge fan of the e-collar for off leash safety and reliability. It’s something I tend to introduce when my dog’s recall is already at 90% with positive reinforcement alone to then bring that reliability to a place I’m comfortable with. I’ve always worked with an experienced dog trainer for the early conditioning phases to ensure it’s being introduced in a way that is minimally aversive and maximally effective for the dog. Long-term, I use a low-level stim as a “tap on the shoulder”, as in my experience dogs are more likely to “hear” a tactile cue than a verbal cue when distracted.

But I am also a big fan of responsible use of retractable leashes. They get a bad reputation from the folks who use them with out of control dogs, but they can be a really awesome tool to balance freedom and safety. I use retractables often with my dogs.

However you choose to approach off-leash time for your dogs, do so responsibly.