How Often Do You Run Your Dogs Off Leash?

[moosepup]

Rarely. Moose has good recall, Zoe is too old and slow to go far :laugh: but Nacho's puppy brain overrides all sense of reason and makes him deaf when we are out and about. I don't think I'll ever trust him off leash TBH!

[Amurryka10]

I live on a 1/4 acre and my horses are on 40-50 acres just out of town so I take them out there a lot and/ or go for a bush walk where they run free. My town is surrounded by state forest, it's perfect for endless running for the pooches.

And I take them horse riding when I get time!

[alpha bet]

Glad to see there are many here giving their dogs the opportunity to run off leash on a regular basis.

There is nothing as mentally healthy for a dog than to have a chance to behave as the dog they are and for most dogs this is only really possible when they have a chance to explore new territory in their own way. When I lived in the suburbs my dogs always had a few times a week out and about and even tho these days my dogs are running most of the day on the farm, I still ensure that I take them out to different locations 3-4 times a week for off leash play in different areas.

With all my years of working with families and their pets - our objective is to help them build a connection with their dog which allows a fun healthy social life - ideally most dogs need 2-3 times a week where they have the opportunity to run, swim and frolic at their own pace, especially productive if they have the chance to do this with other dogs. Unfortunately with the restrictions that start to come from local councils etc it can be difficult for many families to find these opportunities, so a big pat on the back to those who make the extra effort.

[ness]

Every day its the only exercise she gets because leash walking brings her up lame. We go out a couple of times a day to the local oval which is a couple of hundred meters or jump in the car and drive to the other oval which is 5 min away :laugh:.

[airlock]

Every day as we live in a really quite place, only put him on it if there are other dogs or people around or if we are headed somewhere new.

[Mashlee08]

My girl has a zoom session at the end of agility, because I trust most owners and dogs at the club.

Pretty much never at the beach or off leash areas unless there are no dogs in sight. Not because of her recall (hers isn't that flash anyway), but because of other dogs non existent recall. We did set weavers up at the park tonight for half an hour.

[OSoSwift]

Every day as I live on acerage. They don't have free access to that all the time as we have too many snakes around. But every day they have play and runnign around, hutning each other and wrestling toys from each other and playing tug, generally in the evening.

I also take them to the beach from time to time, every week out to fortnight in the warmer months. If anyone else is there I leave and go to another beach - we are spoilt for lovely not crowded beaches here. Especially during the day, during the week :)

[CaseyKay]

Every day, at least once a day sometimes twice. We bought our house in the suburb we did as it backs on to a big reserve/A and P grounds. 5 minutes walk away, I love it. First walk is about 6am in summer and I rarely see anyone else. The only time we don't walk on there is weekends too busy, dont know the dogs. We drive to the forest/river/lake. We never go to "dog parks" I don't like them.

[WreckitWhippet]

whenever I feel like it, I live about 300 meters from a fully fenced leash free

[DogNerd]

I take mine to my parents place several times a week. They have about 2 acres and fenced off so I let them run wild.

[raineth]

I couldn't vote really as one of my dogs gets offlead time every week. But my other, much less often. She has very high prey drive and so finding an appropriate offlead place is tricky. I will take her when it's very wet, as usually any sort of 'prey' will be tucked up somewhere and not out in the open to lure her away on a hunting adventure.

Edited November 14, 2013 by raineth

[Steph M]

Daily! We aim for an hour - 2 hours of free running and swimming and playing a day though I have to admit this week with the torrential rain has been less productive...I'll be making up for it this weekend.

[HazyWal]

Glad to see there are many here giving their dogs the opportunity to run off leash on a regular basis.

There is nothing as mentally healthy for a dog than to have a chance to behave as the dog they are and for most dogs this is only really possible when they have a chance to explore new territory in their own way. When I lived in the suburbs my dogs always had a few times a week out and about and even tho these days my dogs are running most of the day on the farm, I still ensure that I take them out to different locations 3-4 times a week for off leash play in different areas.

With all my years of working with families and their pets - our objective is to help them build a connection with their dog which allows a fun healthy social life - ideally most dogs need 2-3 times a week where they have the opportunity to run, swim and frolic at their own pace, especially productive if they have the chance to do this with other dogs. Unfortunately with the restrictions that start to come from local councils etc it can be difficult for many families to find these opportunities, so a big pat on the back to those who make the extra effort.

Greyhounds can be a little different. Mine are not allowed offleash for their own safety and the safety of others. I don't do off leash areas as my dogs have skin like tissue paper and they can be hurt, people also don't want my dogs (especially my very highly prey driven girl) running their dogs down. I would never let them off at the beach either for the same reasons and the fact that I can't run 70k's an hour to try and catch them as they are chasing a flapping plastic bag that could blow across the road. The last time Stan was 'allowed to explore new territory in his own way' we were on holidays when a friend let him out of the house on the fully fenced property for a wee and he suffered a fractured skull and smashed sinuses requiring two surgeries and months of only onlead toilet breaks in his own backyard. Hardly mentally healthy for him OR me.

My greys don't need a social life they have each other, they are walked twice a day, they play in the backyard together and enjoy their favourite past time which is laying on the lounge with their legs in the air. I make the extra effort to keep them safe because of who they are and I know them better than anyone.

[~Anne~]

Rarely. The only time we do is when we take them to our dog beach.

Both of them do not have 100% recall. Boof is pretty close but Olivia is stone cold deaf and she's stubborn to boot. To me, that's a disastrous combination and makes her high risk. The beach is the only area where the roads and other danger are too far away for them to get themselves into trouble.

[Maddy]

Glad to see there are many here giving their dogs the opportunity to run off leash on a regular basis.

There is nothing as mentally healthy for a dog than to have a chance to behave as the dog they are and for most dogs this is only really possible when they have a chance to explore new territory in their own way. When I lived in the suburbs my dogs always had a few times a week out and about and even tho these days my dogs are running most of the day on the farm, I still ensure that I take them out to different locations 3-4 times a week for off leash play in different areas.

With all my years of working with families and their pets - our objective is to help them build a connection with their dog which allows a fun healthy social life - ideally most dogs need 2-3 times a week where they have the opportunity to run, swim and frolic at their own pace, especially productive if they have the chance to do this with other dogs. Unfortunately with the restrictions that start to come from local councils etc it can be difficult for many families to find these opportunities, so a big pat on the back to those who make the extra effort.

Greyhounds can be a little different. Mine are not allowed offleash for their own safety and the safety of others. I don't do off leash areas as my dogs have skin like tissue paper and they can be hurt, people also don't want my dogs (especially my very highly prey driven girl) running their dogs down. I would never let them off at the beach either for the same reasons and the fact that I can't run 70k's an hour to try and catch them as they are chasing a flapping plastic bag that could blow across the road. The last time Stan was 'allowed to explore new territory in his own way' we were on holidays when a friend let him out of the house on the fully fenced property for a wee and he suffered a fractured skull and smashed sinuses requiring two surgeries and months of only onlead toilet breaks in his own backyard. Hardly mentally healthy for him OR me.

My greys don't need a social life they have each other, they are walked twice a day, they play in the backyard together and enjoy their favourite past time which is laying on the lounge with their legs in the air. I make the extra effort to keep them safe because of who they are and I know them better than anyone.

This.

One of my greys also has really high drive so she's not even walked in public, let alone off lead. She's a very happy dog anyway because I take the time to actually do things with her at home.

The suggestion that taking your dog to an offlead area is "extra effort" and should be applauded.. *eyeroll* Driving to an offlead area, letting your dog in and then standing around playing Angry Birds on your phone is not what I'd consider to be going the extra mile for your dog. More like the opposite.

[Trisven13]

Mine very rarely, at this point, get off-leash, as they have zero recall around things like bunnies & foxes AND we border a major sheep & cattle station in our area - last thing I need is them being shot.

We hope to have some good fencing set up shortly that will allow them to run freely in our acre backyard but for now they have their dog run in which they tear around madly - it is the size of a suburban backyard.

[Flashsmum]

Never. My two greyhounds have zero recall so they are never allowed offleash.

Glad to see there are many here giving their dogs the opportunity to run off leash on a regular basis.

There is nothing as mentally healthy for a dog than to have a chance to behave as the dog they are and for most dogs this is only really possible when they have a chance to explore new territory in their own way. When I lived in the suburbs my dogs always had a few times a week out and about and even tho these days my dogs are running most of the day on the farm, I still ensure that I take them out to different locations 3-4 times a week for off leash play in different areas.

With all my years of working with families and their pets - our objective is to help them build a connection with their dog which allows a fun healthy social life - ideally most dogs need 2-3 times a week where they have the opportunity to run, swim and frolic at their own pace, especially productive if they have the chance to do this with other dogs. Unfortunately with the restrictions that start to come from local councils etc it can be difficult for many families to find these opportunities, so a big pat on the back to those who make the extra effort.

Greyhounds can be a little different. Mine are not allowed offleash for their own safety and the safety of others. I don't do off leash areas as my dogs have skin like tissue paper and they can be hurt, people also don't want my dogs (especially my very highly prey driven girl) running their dogs down. I would never let them off at the beach either for the same reasons and the fact that I can't run 70k's an hour to try and catch them as they are chasing a flapping plastic bag that could blow across the road. The last time Stan was 'allowed to explore new territory in his own way' we were on holidays when a friend let him out of the house on the fully fenced property for a wee and he suffered a fractured skull and smashed sinuses requiring two surgeries and months of only onlead toilet breaks in his own backyard. Hardly mentally healthy for him OR me.

My greys don't need a social life they have each other, they are walked twice a day, they play in the backyard together and enjoy their favourite past time which is laying on the lounge with their legs in the air. I make the extra effort to keep them safe because of who they are and I know them better than anyone.

This, Harry doesn't get let off lead (except in a yard that is fully fenced).

Whitney does get let off lead whilst we are walking in an off lead area, but sticks close to us anyway. She doesn't run around a lot, except when she has been sniffing something and realises we are too far ahead of her, and then she runs to catch up again.

They both have a run around in the backyard, which is big enough for zoomies if they feel like they need them, but as they are 9 (Harry) and almost 8 (Whitney) they don't run around as much as they used to.

[megan_]

Fergus gets off lead time a few times a week (and I don't play Angry Birds while he does this :-)).

Lucy gets much less as she is FA/DA. I simply won't risk a public off leash park. We used to go to a great one but then one yob moved in and ruined it.

I aim to give her an off leash free run about once a week at either KCC or Kepala, where people are not allowed to enter the off leash area if it is already in use.

She also tears around our garden and does agility, so is hardly suffering.

[Nushie]

At least once a day but i try and let him have a run twice a day if possible. There is a great little park near us that i try and stop in after our walks morning and afternoon. Mornings are great cause we get the park to ourselves and its so peaceful. Afternoons there is generally a group of people with there dogs there so Jager gets some time to have a play and run with them.

[Leah82]

Ours gets a few trips to the park a week. My OH finds it boring taking them on walks so that doesn't happen as much as I'd like.

We have a sports oval down the end of our street that is mostly fenced in by a school and the cadbury factory, so while it's not specifically a dog park it's nice and safe. Luckily we haven't had any issues with other dogs there either...yet :)

If there is too much sport happening on the oval we head to another park where there is a bit of artificial forest, lots of sniffing and exploring happens there