Let 13 week puppy off lead for a bit over park!

The other day we took our puppy over a very large, busy park which was teaming with children on bikes and dogs off lead etc etc in order to help socialise her. It went really well and she absolutely loved it. At that point she was on lead. However once we turned off onto a wooded trail we thought we would let her off lead because she seemed quite wary of being left behind. It went really really well and she didn't wander off once. When an off lead dog approached she would trott close to us so we were able to supervise any introductions. Thankfully they were all positive. Are we being a bit premature by letting her off at 13 weeks. I get the feeling that maybe at the moment its ok but once she starts getting more and more confident she'll probably be less inclined to stay close to us.

Sooner the better I think, as long as you are confident in your recall. Just be wary of other dogs too, you may be being sensible they however may not. Nice one! Oh the stay close bit, we have a huge safe woods near us and I rarely see mine when we are there!

Oh good. I must say though that I wouldn't entirely say the the recall is great. In the garden she comes when she feels like it but as I said, in the woods she seems a little bit out of her comfort zone so she comes whenever we call her. Just not so sure it will last!!!

Also don't over exercise her, she is still very young! She will get braver too

We let Dempsey off when he was about 12 weeks old. His recall was (and still is, to an extent) pants, but we knew we could catch him! He was ok, as long as we didn't let him go too far & kept a strict eye on him.

Now, we just make sure that no other dogs are too near when we ley him off!

Yeh the sooner the better i think i let kaiser off the lead on his second walk(had to because he would sit on his bum on the lead and not move) and ever since he has always been good comes back when we shout him and we even get comments on how well behaved he is id defo reccommend off the lead as soon as poss they will stick to your side at first kaiser did till about 6 months then he strted to get a bit braver and wander abit of ahead but even now he doesnt go out of sight always checks im behind. He is good on the lead now though

I think you are doing the right thing...
I left Holly off her lead when we are on the walking track.. she stays close to me...but if she seems someone walking towards her or another dog god help me.. she is still not listening that well to me...
we are working on it tho.. she is getting better , afterall they are still babies

we let billy off lead in the woods and he is good, there are only other dogs and there is only one way in so he can't get up to much, but not in the park dogs are not allowed off lead there.