Advice on letting Greyhound off his lead

[naykon]

Hi all,

This is our retired racer Bruan (Race name: North Bruan)

we have had him for 3 months, he is 5 years old and has been retired 1 year.

I've noticed on these forums a lot of pics of people who let their greyhounds off on the beach. I also realise a lot of people never let their hounds off but I would really love to do this eventually, although at the moment I feel he will not recall to me.

For those who do let their hounds off I just wondered how long you had had them and what kind of training you did with them in order to feel confident letting them off.

At the moment he just seems obsessed with what's going on around him, and i feel he would just bolt and run off.

Thanks,

Attachments:

[kamkay]

I've had Jet for just over a year and he doesn't go off lead. I've taken him onto some local tennis courts to practice his recall by offering bribes rewards of cheese and have also had him on a long lunge line ; however, he only comes when he feels like it- in fact he acts like a teenager and gives me that "what" look that they are all so good at . He is very prey orientated and I know if he spotted a rabbit, cat or squirrel he would be off. I'm sure there will be others far more experienced than me along to offer more encouraging advice - good luck with Bruan.

[debbzz]

Ditto - I cant trust Buster - he is far too prey-orientated.

He is food-motivated - but the sight of prey really gets his adrenalin going - and I (and sossidges) become totally insignificant. Even though he only has 3 legs now - I still cant keep even close to him when he wants to run!!!

I am sure you will get better advice from those who have dogs they can let off-lead - but my advice is to go with your gut feelings - if you feel that you cant trust him - even after lots of recall work - then you probably are best keeping him on lead.

Long-lining is fun - I once broke all speed records when long-lining Buster on a harness, as we accidentally flushed out a deer - I truly have never been dragged so fast!!!

[sammy13]

Firstly what a gorgeous lad he is I have had Nell for nearly 2 years and she is nearly 9 and doesnt go off lead. She is very keen so would be gone in a flash. When we first got her we took her with a friends dog to a so called secure field. She took off and i was in bits. We did get her back but it put me off. Lunge leads are supposed to be very good. Good luck

[Nettie]

First thing to do is to put some recall training in and when you have recall ingrained in him then you can let him off lead.

I recall with a whistle. Briefly to do this you need to start in the house by blowing the whistle and immediately giving him a treat (do this about 30 times so to him whistle means treat) - this needs to be really high value chicken, liver, cheese etc - shop bought treats probably won't do it. Then distance yourself from the dog - a few feet to start with, keep doing this a few times a day, you can also blow the whistle at feeding time and then immediately give him his dinner. Once the idea has sunk it then practice doing this every day when he's in another room from you. Once this is 100% you can graduate to the garden. Once you decide he is ready to go out in the big wide world to train you need a long line (10m) is good and a harness (never attach a long line to a collar because if he gets to the end of the line at speed he could end up with dreadful neck injuries). Choose somewhere quite boring where there are little distractions, keep hold of the long line and let him wander off a bit, then blow your whistle and treat if he comes to you, if he doesn't then you must reel him in and then treat him. He should never be allowed to ignore your command. When you call your dog it is essential that you set him up not to fail, so don't whistle him in if he's concentrating on something in the distance or if he's sniffing the ground, you need to catch him when he's not particularly interested in something. Keep repeating the exercise. Don't move to somewhere with more distractions until you have 100% recall in your chosen location. Once you have 100% up the anti by going somewhere with more distractions and keep on training - once you have 100% recall then you can release the long line, its still there for you to step on if necessary and then when you're absolutely sure you have a solid recall you can let him offlead.

Important points:

Use the same whistle at all times, if someone else takes him out make sure they have the whistle with them. Always use the whistle for recall.

High value treats only, you've got to make yourself more important to him that anything else and food is usually the route for most dogs. If food isn't a good reward then have a toy that is only used for recall and he can't have at any other time.

Practice, practice and more practice, don't move on to the next level until he's ready and coming every time you whistle him.

Don't set him up to fail. Make sure you call him in at a time when there isn't anything else that has got his interest.

By the time you finish training he should come back to you every time.

This could take 6 weeks or more but don't rush training. Some dogs cotton on quicker than others. If after being offlead for a while his recall starts to slip, could be a few months or more, go back to the long line and get a few days of training in again to refresh his memory.

Good luck, I'm just in the middle of doing this with my beddie x whippet and he really doesn't get it, we're in it for the long run.

[julies]

Totally agree with what's been said - the only thing I'd add is that they really do move fast and go deaf- I sometimes use a local riding arena which gives lots of room but is safe and I would never let my grey off if we were in a park with roads close by ... my grey is fantastically obedient on a long line and will respond to a whisper .. and extremely deaf when she's off lead

To race till he was 4 must mean your dog was good and had many races so he will 'know his job' and even 12 months is not long for him to be retired and learn his new life When you do have great recall and are going to let him off it's a great idea to muzzle him just in case his behaviour with other breeds is not good.

Good luck with him

Julie

[mickey]

Hi I also have a big brindle lad that doesn't go off lead as prey motivated and fearful of big dogs when on his lead. He has a tencency to lunge at anything that gets too near, although this has improved over the 9 months we have had him and he will have a quick look at them and walk on (with lots of praise). I did make the huge mistake of letting him off on a deserted beach only for him to bolt, fortunately he had his muzzle on and he didn't kill the dog he found about 2 miles away.It was truly awful, and he wouldnt give up chasing the other dog even with the owner kicking him off. I will never take that chance again. I questioned my ability to own a greyhound (ex racer) after this and knew I had badly let him down for letting him off lead.Take care in tennis courts and fenced in areas, we have had two very badly split toes when he leapt at the wire, full force after a dog walking on the outside.
Netties advice is the way to do it.
I have another grey who does go off lead at times, but she has a totally different personality, nervous and doesnt want you out of her sight. but she has her own issues if there is a bang, car backfiring, gunshot (in the country) or teenagers around she is ready to bolt. please go really carefully, I think in lots of the photos of dogs offlead the area has been well checked out. Or the gappers all have private beaches
Neither of mine will tolerate any yappy dogs pestering them and let them know in no uncertain terms, much to the fury of other owners.

[allthehounds]

Hi, Bruan is a lovely looking lad and I hope he's enjoying his retirement. I've had 4 greyhounds, 2 were ex-racers and 2 weren't but I couldn't let any of them off the lead in an open or public place. Sometimes in the garden I'd think they were doing really well with learning recall but as soon as we went out of the garden it's a different story! All my dogs have had a high prey drive even though to look at them upside down on the sofa you wouldn't believe it! As soon as they spotted something be it a cat or a deer, that awful high pitched excitable screaming would start and they'd jump about and try to twist out of their collars so they could give chase. Sometimes it's a real struggle to hold on to one never mind two at the same time. ;D Our dogs have got a lot of secure fenced space to run about in at home so I don't think they're missing out on anything by not running free elsewhere and I've seen first hand the injuries greyhounds can end up with if they do set off in hot pursuit so for me it's just not worth it. Good luck with your boy and I hope you have fun with him. Sian

[nickiharding]

Hi. I think that I am exceptionally lucky with my greyhound CJ. I didn't let him off lead for a good year as the couple of times that I did do it, in secure fields he would run off and not come back which was very stressful and worrying. He now has a low prey drive and lives alongside 4 cats. I don't know if this has helped, but when he is off lead now he had excellent recall. I walk him along country lanes (no roads) and he (touch wood) comes back when called. He also doesn't seem to go off far either. Once upon a time, you couldn't see him for dust! I would never walk him off lead near roads or in areas that I don't know first of all. I must admit I am always on the look out for dogs etc and call him back and put him on lead if I see any. Not that he does anything. I am just not sure about the other dogs. Good luck with Bruan. I think every dog is different and it takes a while to get to know your dog. I have had CJ two years now. Our other dog, Lily is so nervous and anxious of the outside world that it is difficult to get her to even walk in the first place.

[naykon]

Thank you for the replies everyone, very helpful!

Thanks Nettie, I will be giving that a go, I think his prey drive is very high still due to his 4 years racing, hopefully over time I may be able to condition a recall response, i'm hoping this will also help when I take him to my mum's who has cats.

I'll keep him muzzled and on lead, although he's worked out how to take his own muzzle off, takes him about 10 minutes

[julies]

Umm as the carer of two hounds who plan daily how to rid the earth of all things moggy ... I can really recommend keeping him muzzled if you have to stay at your mum's ... would be awful to fall out with her over a cat or two

J x

[Flaperoo]

I have had 7 greyhounds over the years. I have only had one that I could completely trust offlead (but only in areas both he and I knew).

I currently have 2 that I woud never let offlead other than in a secure field, and two that I can let offlead only in areas I/they know, but even then I have to be very alert for rabbits, foxes. deer.

The good news is I personally have never had a grey that didn't enjoy their walks onlead and most greys are very happy walking by your side.

I now believe it was my desire to see them run rather than their desire to do so. We are now fortunate enough to have a large safe area for ours to run, but they rarely do , even Sal who only arrived 6 weeks ago, now just meanders around, despite going crazy when she first got here.

Don't worry about letting him offlead (he looks gorgeous by the way , he will love you whether you do or don't.

Also Welcome to you both.

Maryx

[sassbu]

Sept 5, 2012 16:00:38 GMT -5 Flaperoo said:

I now believe it was my desire to see them run rather than their desire to do so.

he will love you whether you do or don't.

Maryx

I completely agree with you on that Mary

90% of our walks are on lead but I have occasional access to a very quiet rarely used rugby pitch which is completely flat so I can see what's coming and its secure too so and I take mine there with muzzle on a couple times a week but many times when I unleash him he just follows me round though ;D

As far as beaches are concerned the beach I let him run on is only in the winter when its very quiet.

On a very very wide beach we once saw a toddler in the distance. He or she was literally a dot on the horizon, a small figure tottering around but his interest was too intense for my liking as I could tell he couldn't work out what it was. I wasn't concerned he would actually attack the child as knew that once he got close enough and saw it was a toddler (and therefore a very frightening being ;D) he would hightail it straight back to us but I wouldn't have liked to have been the family seeing a dog running at them from distance at 30 miles and hour so snapped him back on until we'd walked on a bit.

I would never ever let him off lead without a muzzle but he enjoys all his walks, they are safe for all and personally I don't think it is ever ever worth it unless you become 100% confidant in him!

Sarah x

[kamkay]

Mary ( Flaperoo) makes an excellent point about the reasons we want our hounds off lead. It is lovely to see them run - pure poetry in motion , but they really are quite happy to potter along beside you on a lead. Dog owning ( but not grey savvy) friends of mine are always asking why I don't feel it necessary to let Jet run . Those of you who have followed our walking ( I was going to say running!!! ) total for the year in RMF will know that we cover miles together : I believe that what your hound needs is stimulation, a change of scenery and your company. I hope all goes well with Bruan - just trust your own instincts .

[dizzi]

Sept 6, 2012 14:41:55 GMT -5 kamkay said:

Mary ( Flaperoo) makes an excellent point about the reasons we want our hounds off lead. It is lovely to see them run - pure poetry in motion

I've never actually thought that about a greyhound in full flight to be honest - it always seems more of utter organised chaos that the legs flailing in a comedy manner somehow manage to all point in the same direction! That, and "oh heck there goes my lawn" are my usual two thoughts.