Should I keep him on a lead constantly?

My male staffie dexter is now 9 months old. From 14 week I have socialised him with people and dogs. He gets so excited when he sees people and dogs all he wants to do is play. I have read a couple of other staffie forums and they are saying that staffie should never be taken off the lead where there are other dogs. I take dexter off the lead so he can have a good run, but when he sees other dogs he takes no notice of me and he is off. On the whole he just runs around with them, but he will not come back to me, I have to approach him and try to get his harness or I just walk off in the hope he will follow me. If the owners get anxious as some do, because he grabs the ears or neck, then they normally grab him so I can put him on the lead. Is he always gonna be like this as I am getting to the end of my tether with him. Should I constantly keep him on his lead, but what exercise is he getting then? I try enticing him back with treats, am never annoyed at him I keep my voice very friendly and loving but nothing works. Please can someone shed some light and some advice please.

Get a long line for him. People do get nervous when a Stafford runs up to them, especially if it's recall isn't great. But don't forget he is just a pup and with good training he will calm down.
Pete

I have a long retractable lead for Zeus when I take him to parks and a normal lead for street walking. When I take him to a park, 9 times out of 10, people already judge both myself and Zeus (which is a shame) and you never really know how they'll react.

So I'll either take Zeus off lead when there's no dogs around, or I'll wait for the other dog to come up, sniff Zeus etc, if the owners and the other dog are fine, then I'll let Zeus off to play.

Best to be safe than sorry, in my opinion. All it takes is one over reaction from an owner who thinks you have an aggressive staffy and you'll have the dog warden at your door.

Regarding the recall.. when Zeus was a pup, he too would rarely come back to me, or just run off and do his own thing. The long lead helped alot, but I also found running away from him, instead of after him, improved his recall considerably. When he did run back, I gave him plenty of praise and treats, however, at the early stages, it's best to practice this in an open area, away from streets etc.

Hi shay 62 Harley is 6 months and also on occasions goes deaf when there is other people or dogs around lol. What we do is if we see anyone in the distance we do a recall with tasty treat before he spots the approaching dog then we put him on a flexible lead or training lead to say hello if they play nice we let him off and to get him back we call him and throw or bounce his favourite football which distracts him as we found that treats did not work. Hope this helps

Best to start indoors on a lead and gradually extend it as you become more successful, that's what I did and Stanley's recall is great and I let him off with his pals all the time and no aggression problems what so ever. If you'd like to see them there's a few pictures taken by a walker on the Muddy pups dog walking site, he's with her JRT called Tia, a Puggle called Bailey and a female Staffy called Shy. Stanley's best pal is a male Staffy called Reggie and they're like brothers, only Reggie is brown with a white head. Stanley's the chunky black brindle and white dog. Once you get things working inside you can start doing it in quiet parts of the park and eventually you'll get what you're looking for, it also gives them lower levels of distraction when they're in training with you. Good luck mate.

Can only really echo what those have said above with an extendable/training lead. When we have to, we distract our Flo with her fave toy which works every time as she loves that almost above anything else.

Stan and Holly wrote:Best to start indoors on a lead and gradually extend it as you become more successful, that's what I did and Stanley's recall is great and I let him off with his pals all the time and no aggression problems what so ever. If you'd like to see them there's a few pictures taken by a walker on the Muddy pups dog walking site, he's with her JRT called Tia, a Puggle called Bailey and a female Staffy called Shy. Stanley's best pal is a male Staffy called Reggie and they're like brothers, only Reggie is brown with a white head. Stanley's the chunky black brindle and white dog. Once you get things working inside you can start doing it in quiet parts of the park and eventually you'll get what you're looking for, it also gives them lower levels of distraction when they're in training with you. Good luck mate.

Ah this sounds awesome! I have a one day wish for this sort of dog love from Millie.... one day!

I put peppa off lead from day 1 and she's doing great and have perfect recall she also brings me other dogs I'm walking now! I believe it has build our trust and relationship but it needs to be built slowly if you don't 
Want to take unnecessary risk follow the advice above another thing we did you can try is find a closed area where he can run off lead but not run away.

He's still a puppy so other dogs and people will excite him, as well as an overload of smells and the excitment of being out and about!

I recommend a training lead and practice recall at home with high value treats (mini sausages, cheese etc) recall does take time and patience, my pooch still wont come back if he's distracted with a stick!

Ignore other people's opinion of Dexter...some will understand that he does only want to say hello..others will judge you. Just explain he is in training and shrug it off. You will come across these people for as long as you have Dexter, believe me.

True, but all the more reason to show them up when he behaves so much better than everyone else.

Not to crush all your hopes, but Bane is coming up to 18 months and still has very little recall. We have tried everything, even taking raw meat to the park as treats and there is literally nothing in the world (except possibly snow) that can get his attention after he has spotted another dog.

We have a long lead which we got on ebay like so:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/50ft-Long-Dog-and-Horse-Training-Lunge-Lead-Webbing-/300725023739

It's great because he gets a good run around at the park, he can approach only the dogs that we know are friendly and have no worries of not being able to catch him. (He thinks it's great fun to run away when you try to approach him!)

It's not ideal, but I think it is helping with his recall, as you can call him and then give him a little tug to snap him out of his fixations

Do you play with him indoors much? Stanley loves find it games and because I'm the cause of it he wants to play it everywhere so includes outside and then I used treats and encouraged him to think this was the most exciting thing in the world and he loved it (still does) and others are fascinated by what we we're doing , even the owners are fixated too.     Dogs on the lead will look like they are dying to join in and know where it has gone and some look at their owners like Why don't you do that? and I know where it is I'll get it. Plus if someone has a dog that isn't too good at recall I can call Stanley back to me and they can get their dog at the same time, they tend to let their dog off more then and so they also enjoy their walks more. What ever Stanley's doing he has one eye on me and when we get near any gates he'll come over to my left side ready for his lead to be put on. All I have to worry about then are any unsocialised dogs off the lead that might be about. If you make yourself the most important thing in their lives you'll get what you're after.

Scooby is very good on recall but for some reason he is quite selective on which dogs he wants to run towards... if they are calm dogs, then he is not interested, but if he can hear a dog barking in the distance, he is off to investigate and it is very rare if he listens to me calling him.

The funny thing is that all he does is run right up to them, stop and then runs straight back to me haha.... unless the other dog is excitable, then he will play and ignore me.

I dont really see too much an issue with this and what I find is best, is to make sure that you yourself keep a calm and friendly tone and look about you - not just for your dog but for the the benefit of the other dog owners. If they see a nervous owner who does not seem to have control, they will panic and maybe read the situation the wrong way.

I tend to laugh when I get to him and this seems to keep things light hearted

keep trying but realise you may have to keep him on lead if all else fails. i have two dogs that will run the bike and do anything i tell them yet i cant off lead them unless its daylight and nothing around. my boy can hit 8 miles in less than 20 mins so when people say anything i ask them if they can run that fast too. usual answer is no, so on the lead he stays

Bo's 15 months and his recall is good until he sees a dog or a person he likes - which is all of them - then he's off. Luckily living in the Lakes there's a lot of open space and 99% of the people you meet are dog friendly. I've never actually seen a dog on a lead up on the fells so I'm not going to be the only one, and if someone doesn't like it then that's unfortunate, they can go walk in a park or something.

The other day Bo ran off over a ridge up near the limestone pavements and I when I caught up with him he was bouncing around an old woman. I restrained Bo and apologised to her, to which she said, "Don't be so silly! If people object to a friendly little dog they shouldn't be on the bloody fells." Then she proceeded to make a fuss of Bo who stood on his head with happiness.

We want to live there!