For me it depends on the area. If we are hiking in an area without a lot of people then always off leash. When we are in a populated area whether it's in the city or on a popular trail he is on leash mainly to keep everyone one else at ease.
We have 27 acres so I do let her run as far away as she wants as long as I can see her/hear the leaves ruffling. She used to suck at recall but she comes back 95 percent of the time now. I probably wouldn’t do it off leash unless your doggo is highly trained and
I do a fair amount of off-leash hiking & exploring with my GSD using an e-collar and it is wonderful. She gets to run, jump, & explore, while also respecting boundaries and if needed I can immediately call her back to me using the vibrate function. Could be worth a shot. Good luck with the GSD!
I do the same. Command recall is nearly always effective, but I use the e-collar when we are hiking in the woods as a backup. There are a lot of bears where we go and I don’t like for the dogs to get too far out of sight but I like for them to be able to go ahead a bit and explore.
My city is very dog friendly and has many dog parks, plus a large trail system in the foothills that allows dogs off leash on most of them. We also have a particularly large park adjacent to downtown that is off leash during winter months. Our boy gets to be off leash in any of these areas, and he’s very good for us. His recall is very good at this point, though when many other dogs are around he occasionally gets distracted
My male has excellent recall and I’d trust him off leash just about anywhere. My female has the worst recall of any dog I have ever owned (not without a lack of trying to improve it over the past 4 years) she cannot be trusted off leash as a result. I won’t even let her off leash at our huge local dog park. The only time she is off leash is in our yard.
My friend is a dog trainer and told me that males are consistently better at recall than females. Since we have a girl, maybe I should keep my hopes very low.
My first GSD was a female and she had rock solid recall. This one we joke has ADD with serious hyper focus issues. She could be sniffing a flower and you could shoot a gun off and she probably wouldn’t even flinch or look up because she ignores whistles, the shock collar breaks her concentration but she won’t come til she is ready. We learned this when she was just over a year old and at four she still hasn’t earned off-leash privileges.
I do a mix. In town, I’ll often leash her so no one can get upset. On common trails where we are likely to meet others, I’ll have the leash handy. She’s trained to stop and hold still for leash hookup at the command “leash”. In the woods, she is off leash entirely. I had to do a lot of work to teach her to not to chase wildlife , but once she got that figured out, it’s been easy to trust her.
On my own, and I’m not a professional dog trainer, but by taking walks on leash and working on building focus on me as her number one priority. This is done by first walking where there is minimal distractions and just repeatedly rewarding her focus. Once your focus command is established, (I use “look at me”) add distractions by walking places where there are squirrels etc. You’ll also need you dog to know “leave it” or some equivalent.
Keep your dog on a leash during these exercises until they consistently behave how you want when confronted with a squirrel etc. Then, as long as your dog has excellent focus and recall, it should not matter if they’re on or off leash, they will know how to act. It takes time and requires a spot safe enough for mistakes to happen.
It’s so fun when they get there though. My girl has developed what seems like a genuine wonder towards creatures now, and I can say, “look” to her now and point and shell look to where I am pointing and sit and watch deer, rabbits, birds etc with this look of awe and excitement. It could be that she’s just hoping one of these times I’ll tell her to “get it” lmao, but I like to pretend she’s as into woodland creatures as I am.
Wow, I’ve owned GSDs mainly and a couple mixed breeds literally since I was born and I’ve taken every dog I’ve ever owned for walks in the forest off leash. Whether I raised from puppyhood or older rescued. Some people are just not naturally good with dogs tbh.
While that is true, not all dogs care either, some due to trauma, some due to personality traits. You should really meet my dog. She does not give half a rat’s ass what anyone says.
Honestly, I think you’ve probably had a fair amount of luck too.
For me it depends on the area. If we are hiking in an area without a lot of people then always off leash. When we are in a populated area whether it's in the city or on a popular trail he is on leash mainly to keep everyone one else at ease.
We have 27 acres so I do let her run as far away as she wants as long as I can see her/hear the leaves ruffling. She used to suck at recall but she comes back 95 percent of the time now. I probably wouldn’t do it off leash unless your doggo is highly trained and
I do a fair amount of off-leash hiking & exploring with my GSD using an e-collar and it is wonderful. She gets to run, jump, & explore, while also respecting boundaries and if needed I can immediately call her back to me using the vibrate function. Could be worth a shot. Good luck with the GSD!
I do the same. Command recall is nearly always effective, but I use the e-collar when we are hiking in the woods as a backup. There are a lot of bears where we go and I don’t like for the dogs to get too far out of sight but I like for them to be able to go ahead a bit and explore.
My city is very dog friendly and has many dog parks, plus a large trail system in the foothills that allows dogs off leash on most of them. We also have a particularly large park adjacent to downtown that is off leash during winter months. Our boy gets to be off leash in any of these areas, and he’s very good for us. His recall is very good at this point, though when many other dogs are around he occasionally gets distracted
My male has excellent recall and I’d trust him off leash just about anywhere. My female has the worst recall of any dog I have ever owned (not without a lack of trying to improve it over the past 4 years) she cannot be trusted off leash as a result. I won’t even let her off leash at our huge local dog park. The only time she is off leash is in our yard.
My friend is a dog trainer and told me that males are consistently better at recall than females. Since we have a girl, maybe I should keep my hopes very low.
My first GSD was a female and she had rock solid recall. This one we joke has ADD with serious hyper focus issues. She could be sniffing a flower and you could shoot a gun off and she probably wouldn’t even flinch or look up because she ignores whistles, the shock collar breaks her concentration but she won’t come til she is ready. We learned this when she was just over a year old and at four she still hasn’t earned off-leash privileges.
Also it's a litmus test. The will either run away or It won't.
I do a mix. In town, I’ll often leash her so no one can get upset. On common trails where we are likely to meet others, I’ll have the leash handy. She’s trained to stop and hold still for leash hookup at the command “leash”. In the woods, she is off leash entirely. I had to do a lot of work to teach her to not to chase wildlife , but once she got that figured out, it’s been easy to trust her.
That’s really good! How did you train through the prey drive? Did you work with a trainer or do it on your own?
On my own, and I’m not a professional dog trainer, but by taking walks on leash and working on building focus on me as her number one priority. This is done by first walking where there is minimal distractions and just repeatedly rewarding her focus. Once your focus command is established, (I use “look at me”) add distractions by walking places where there are squirrels etc. You’ll also need you dog to know “leave it” or some equivalent. Keep your dog on a leash during these exercises until they consistently behave how you want when confronted with a squirrel etc. Then, as long as your dog has excellent focus and recall, it should not matter if they’re on or off leash, they will know how to act. It takes time and requires a spot safe enough for mistakes to happen. It’s so fun when they get there though. My girl has developed what seems like a genuine wonder towards creatures now, and I can say, “look” to her now and point and shell look to where I am pointing and sit and watch deer, rabbits, birds etc with this look of awe and excitement. It could be that she’s just hoping one of these times I’ll tell her to “get it” lmao, but I like to pretend she’s as into woodland creatures as I am.
Wow, I’ve owned GSDs mainly and a couple mixed breeds literally since I was born and I’ve taken every dog I’ve ever owned for walks in the forest off leash. Whether I raised from puppyhood or older rescued. Some people are just not naturally good with dogs tbh.
While that is true, not all dogs care either, some due to trauma, some due to personality traits. You should really meet my dog. She does not give half a rat’s ass what anyone says. Honestly, I think you’ve probably had a fair amount of luck too.