Leash,

Best boy Nero is now 6mths old,I have been walking him on a 10 mtr leash, when wld be a good time to try him off leash ?I have heard from other owners if I leave it to long it may affect his confidence.

If you're certain that he will come back, go for it.

It might be worth having two of you - one of you go about 10 metres & call him. Then the other one let him go.

Nobody can ever be certain of 100% recall, but if he'll recall from a 10 metre loose lead, then you'll probably be okay.

Should I be attempting that now or when he’s older ?

Great advice from gilly and it is an added security to be 2 of you.

Opium is almost 2 years old and I only let her off the lead for the first time about a month ago. She has good recall so it was really me the problem.
Nifty stays on a long lead because when she sees those joggers, I just don’t exist.

I don’t believe there is a specific age but it’s a matter of good timing. Try it with the 2 of you and you’ll see if he’s ready. Do choose the location wisely in order to set him up to succeed.

Thx for all your advice

We let Katy off the 1st time we took her to the field at 12wks. Practise recalling him but not attaching the lead then send him off to play or sniff. Keep practising I he won't associate being called back to the end of his fun & going home.
A neighbour of ours didn't let their spaniel off for months & when they did he would stand in the middle of the field so they couldn't get him back on his lead to go home! He still did that a 8yrs old!!!

I 100% agree with Jen. I think the most important thing is to make sure the dog doesn’t associate being called back with the lead going back on.

Luna gets let off the lead on almost every walk since she was about 4 months old, but only when it’s me and my partner because I’d be too worried on my own, plus I don’t drive so most appropriate places we go to for that are together. It was nerve wrecking at first, Luna is cheeky and will zoom in circles for a few minutes when she is first let off, you’ll call her and she’ll go full speed at you and just dodge you when she gets really close. Give her about 5 mins and her recall comes back and she will come when called That’s why we would always have to first let her off the lead in a big open area so she can get rid of that excitement, then we can go about our walk in the forest or park etc and she will stay close,wait for us,she’ll come over when called when we see someone walking towards us To put her back on the lead.

I don’t know however how she would react if someone was to come within a few meters of us, she probably wouldn’t listen yet! Her recall still isn’t great but we are working on it. It would be great to test her and when someone is walking our way not to put her lead back on n just see if she listens or will she try to play, but you can’t really be selfish and do that either

Absolutely!

I often see people go into the park, let their dog off the lead & don't call them back until they're ready to leave again - but the dog doesn't want to leave & so doesn't come back! They've associated coming back with the end of fun.

Yeah we made that mistake with my childhood dog, which may I add was a tiny chihuahua so was impossible to catch him he made a game of chase of it only managed to train him out of legging it out the door when he turned 2 or 3 years old.