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Post by fastdogz on Jun 20, 2006 20:42:24 GMT -5
I realize as I type this that I'm opening a can of worms here and I'm probably going to be flooded with posts from horrified grey owners, but here goes.
Has anyone else done any off-leash training with their greyhound? I know, I know, the cardinal rule with greyhounds is that they can NEVER be off leash. Because my grey has excellent recall and absolutely zero prey drive (squirrels and rabbits don't even tempt her) I decided to try some off-leash training. I am amazed at how well she does! When I walk her off-leash, she sticks to me like glue...it's almost as if she doesn't want to lose me! She will sometimes stray a few feet in front or behind me, usually to sniff some bushes, but she always heels immediately on command. I've been training her in open fields as well, and she always returns to me on recall. Ironically, I find she pays much closer attention to my signals when the leash is off.
I realize that all dogs need to be leashed by law so we don't do too much off-leash stuff but it's been a wonderful bonding experience for us and has taken our obedience training to a whole new level. I'm just curious if anyone else has had any luck with their greys off-leash.
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meganm
Junior Grey Lover
Puppy Love
Posts: 292
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Post by meganm on Jun 21, 2006 8:49:15 GMT -5
Personally, I would never let my dogs off leash unless I was in a fenced area...... but with that said, we have done some work with recall in an enclosed space it really depends on the dog, one of my boys would stick to me like glue, the other one would be 1/2 a mile away before he even realized I was calling his name I would never suggest that a grey owner (or any dog owner) should take their dog off leash in an unsafe area, but if you want to do off leash training, please be careful! you never know when something will catch your dogs attention and they will take off.
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Post by stylishhound on Jun 21, 2006 9:36:35 GMT -5
Heart failure over here! Unless you are in a completely fenced area never let a greyhound off leash. There have been many people that say the same thing, that they have great recall, but then have lost their dogs to something catching their eye and being hit by a car. There are many risks associated with off leash dogs of any breed but particually a sighthound. I'm all for the training in a safe environment but not if there's any chance at all of them being able to get away from you.
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Post by multiplicity on Jun 21, 2006 10:28:25 GMT -5
We did lots of recall training with our first grey and in the ball park he was excellent but it only took one walk in the woods to realize that Tex was a greyhound (like most) that needed to be leashed in unconfined areas. PLEASE be careful!
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Post by crazyamy on Jun 21, 2006 11:12:23 GMT -5
When I first got Booter I said I'd never let him go off leash because I was told that for the breed it wasn't possible. Now almost 2 years later I do trust him off leash. He doesn't have the prey drive, never ventures far from me, and always returns on command. Even in the off-leash park he follows me quite closely. I don't let him off leash near a lot of traffic though, because you just never know what could happen. Mostly I don't trust the drivers. But we frequently walk to and from one of our neighbour's houses without a leash. He knows what "wait" means and knows he has to listen for the okay to cross the street. I used to worry about what would happen if he ever got out of my fenced backyard but recently my worries were squashed. He was out for almost an hour while I was down the street and only wandered onto the front porch where he stayed, watching traffic and people go by. (I know this because I have a security camera, and replayed the tape) I think it totally depends on each individual dog though. Even if you trust your dog, you still need to have some common sense about the situation and the risk involved.
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Post by jiffer on Jun 21, 2006 11:20:28 GMT -5
I have worked with Icarus and Atlas off leash. Icarus won't go too far from me and at that time, Atlas wouldn't either. Mind you, the area we did this in was fenced on one side and bordered by a river/creek on two others.
After we moved from that area to a townhouse, I stopped doing that since I had no "safe" area anymore. But I learned my lesson when Atlas and Echo slipped out of the house when I was coming in. If Rene hadn't been on his way home and if they hadn't run in his direction, I would never have gotten them back. Atlas' recall went out the door with him. I won't let any of mine off leash anymore unless I've walked the fenced perimeter and made sure they can't escape. My heart stopped that day. They were only loose for 3 minutes.. but it felt like hours. The worst part is it was during rush hour and we live less than 1 km from Wonderland Road (which is the direction they took; a majorly busy road anytime of day). When I came out of our drive (in our complex) and I saw Rene standing there on the corner with his arms around them, I ran, knealt and cried.
Oh we've also installed a babygate at our main entrance to prevent any further mishaps.
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Post by stylishhound on Jun 21, 2006 13:05:22 GMT -5
I have worked with Icarus and Atlas off leash. Icarus won't go too far from me and at that time, Atlas wouldn't either. Mind you, the area we did this in was fenced on one side and bordered by a river/creek on two others. After we moved from that area to a townhouse, I stopped doing that since I had no "safe" area anymore. But I learned my lesson when Atlas and Echo slipped out of the house when I was coming in. If Rene hadn't been on his way home and if they hadn't run in his direction, I would never have gotten them back. Atlas' recall went out the door with him. I won't let any of mine off leash anymore unless I've walked the fenced perimeter and made sure they can't escape. My heart stopped that day. They were only loose for 3 minutes.. but it felt like hours. The worst part is it was during rush hour and we live less than 1 km from Wonderland Road (which is the direction they took; a majorly busy road anytime of day). When I came out of our drive (in our complex) and I saw Rene standing there on the corner with his arms around them, I ran, knealt and cried. Oh we've also installed a babygate at our main entrance to prevent any further mishaps. OMG Jen, I totally just felt that! A similar experience happened to me with 2 of my dobie girls. My dad left one back gate open and forgot to tell me (and I didn't check it) and I let the dogs in the back. When they went up the side of the house and didn't return I ran out only to see the back end of each of them running down the middle of the street. My heart stopped. The good news is that I had just finished a radical recall class with Taylor and called her - she returned bringing Raven along with her. So...you never know regardless of how much you think your dog won't run off, it happens so please everyone be careful with off-leash dogs. Many greyhound adoption groups also make you sign saying you'll never let your grey off leash. Not a bad idea in my opinion.
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Post by ontariogreys on Jun 24, 2006 16:37:49 GMT -5
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Post by Susan C. on Jun 25, 2006 6:31:26 GMT -5
Oh my - that is very poignant!
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Post by cuzsmom on Jun 26, 2006 10:05:11 GMT -5
Great article - I would never want to take the chance- my boys come when called but it is not enough to convince me.
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Post by crazyamy on Jul 25, 2006 9:50:33 GMT -5
A sad story, but this can happen to any breed of dog. One of the times we were at the emergency clinic giving blood it was a Jack Russel, and just the other day my friend's Rottweiler ran out on the road too. So descretion, each individual dog, and being aware of the risks is what I still think....
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Post by inkpen69 on Jul 25, 2006 11:03:44 GMT -5
Hi! Okay I am with Amy here. I will join the can of opened worms. We have done off leash training with Wyatt. He is awesome! He knows about 10 words and listens to his commands Sop! Stay and No! We are very happy we did it. He is very good and i think he like the freedom. Of course we are always in safe places and only in areas he is familiar with. New territory we would not take the risk. Hope this helps Now we want to lure coursing (wink wink) t
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Post by inkpen69 on Jul 25, 2006 11:04:27 GMT -5
Opppss that should have been Stop!
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Post by jiffer on Jul 25, 2006 12:37:46 GMT -5
Hi! Okay I am with Amy here. I will join the can of opened worms. We have done off leash training with Wyatt. He is awesome! He knows about 10 words and listens to his commands Sop! Stay and No! We are very happy we did it. He is very good and i think he like the freedom. Of course we are always in safe places and only in areas he is familiar with. New territory we would not take the risk. Hope this helps Now we want to lure coursing (wink wink) t I hope you read the above article. Your dog might come 100 times, but that 101 time decide to go in the other direction. I don't know a single greyhound who would be okay 100% of the time, for that matter, I don't know a single dog that would.
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Post by sheri on Jul 25, 2006 13:38:06 GMT -5
I just don't understand how anyone would want to risk that....especially knowing their background and after being told countless times to keep them on a leash. i would never want to risk that, i love my puppy so much and it breaks my heart even thinking about something happening to him.
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