Greyhounds Off Lead???

[phyl]

Can all greyhounds be successfully trained to go off lead and come back when called? One owner that we see on our walks lets her dogs off lead all the time over the country park and they always come back. One of the dogs has never raced but the other one only finished racing last year. We were encouraged to let our Ben off lead and he seemed to be fine for a while, running through the trees (with a muzzle on) and coming back. Then suddenly on three occasions he just kept running, he did stop eventually but was out of sight one time until I finally caught up with him and saw his red coat. The second time he ran towards the motorway, luckily there was a fence along the side of it and he stopped at the beginning of a foot bridge. He loves anything that makes a buzzing noise and plunged into the lake after a remote controlled speed boat and swam after it until I shouted and he turned round and came out dripping wet with his winter coat on, much to other peoples amusement. Now we keep him on a longish training lead, he has even killed a baby rabbit and a rat while on the lead as he is so quick when he sees something that moves. This makes him sound like a very feisty dog but he is very laid back and calm and lovable and people make a lot of fuss of him and children love him. BUT, If he sees a cat or a rabbit or squirrel or a child over the park with a remote controlled car or helicopter he wants to get it. So is there any hope that we could train him to be off lead? I would love to see him have a good run round. He is 8 years old. A dog trainer told us a while ago that you couldn't trust greyhounds to be off lead. At home and in the garden we only have to say his name and he comes to us.

[andywillow]

From personal experience NO they cannot all be trusted to go offlead! My first greyhound Andy wasn't an easy dog by any means, I did get him offlead eventually but it was only in safe places, Willow my second hound never raced and was offlead after 2 days which may sound stupid but I knew she would be fine and she was, she is the ONLY hound ever I have done this with and all my others have stayed onlead. Jake has been offlead on the beach but I really think too many people are too eager to let their hounds off, they are trained to chase and will do and will become deaf to their owners.
Indoor riding schools etc are available if you look to hire, tennis courts etc are also ideal to let them offlead.
I am over cautious and would rather have them onlead safe then offlead and either go missing or found dead on a road somewhere

[sassbu]

I think that some can with recall training but errrmmm I dont have one of those ;D

I only let mine off in a secure area like our local rugby pitch with fencing around. I don't have to worry at all about him going too far away as he is a real mummy's boy BUT if he saw a squirrel or cat he would run straight over a road or some other hazardous area and that is what would get him in trouble

I'm sure there will be others along who have successfully trained their greys to come when called tho, but there are some who can never be trusted and it's a case of managing it safely so there's a balance of running and safety for all Incidentally mine doesn't run frequently and he is a very content boy so it's not such a big deal as sometimes we think it is

[andywillow]

Feb 7, 2013 17:15:47 GMT -5 andywillow said:

From personal experience NO they cannot all be trusted to go offlead! My first greyhound Andy wasn't an easy dog by any means, I did get him offlead eventually but it was only in safe places, Willow my second hound never raced and was offlead after 2 days which may sound stupid but I knew she would be fine and she was, she is the ONLY hound ever I have done this with and all my others have stayed onlead. Jake has been offlead on the beach but I really think too many people are too eager to let their hounds off, they are trained to chase and will do and will become deaf to their owners.
Indoor riding schools etc are available if you look to hire, tennis courts etc are also ideal to let them offlead.
I am over cautious and would rather have them onlead safe then offlead and either go missing or found dead on a road somewhere

Just to say I have fostered over 30 dogs for Gap, Willow is the only greyhound I have ever trusted like I did, she was a non chaser and never raced and we had an instant bond. She is a very special girl though

[vickyb]

Our 3 girls are all fine off lead and always have been but we're very careful to avoid places like woods with a lot of wildlife and are very lucky to have a suitable place (old pit reclaimed as a large country park) 2 mins away to walk them and they are always muzzled as I don't want them to kill any wildlife should they get the opportunity.

Having said that only 1 has raced and if I had any doubts about them running off I wouldn't let them off. In fact we have stopped letting Maddie off all the time and use a flexi lead instead from oct to Jan because she is so scared of fireworks and something like a car door slamming has made her bolt towards home.

It's nice to see them off and running free but safety has to come first and a prey drive is far more powerful to a lot than all the training in the world

[allthehounds]

Hi, we've had 5 greyhounds and I couldn't let any of them off lead aside from in a safe enclosed space like our garden. They all would come flying back when called inside the garden but outdoors is a different story and for most of them once they pick up a scent or see something move they're gone! I just wouldn't bother if I were you as your boy sounds like he gets distracted by things and aside from them catching/killing other animals the risk of injury to themselves is huge. I know of some greyhounds who've seriously injured themselves by crashing in to an unexpected obstacle in their path. It is great to see a greyhound run but unless you can be 100% sure it's safe then they're quite happy to stay on a lead and probably even happier to stay on the couch! ;D

[Milothemonster]

My greyhound Herbie, goes off lead all the time, but he was a failed racer and has no chase instinct. He has actually stood and eaten bread off the ground put down for wildlife with birds and squirrels stood all around him.
He is scared of cats, ducks, chickens and most others creatures , so you get the picture! ;D

It all depends on the dog's nature and experiences.

Even if you get a hound that you can train successfully to recall etc, that may be fine with no obvious distractions, but who knows when the 'switch' is turned on and your generally obedient grey suddenly takes off and developes selective deafness.

I am lucky with Herbie, he is an exceptionally laid back placid hound with no drive to chase or kill anything at all.
But if I had another grey I would be extremely cautious and would assess their potential over a long long time. It would also always be muzzled if it did go off lead.

If you are very keen to see your dog run off lead, as said you can use indoor arenas or some people have arrangements with farmers to run their dogs in their fields as long as the field is well enclosed of course.

[danhodson]

Your hound sounds a little bit like mine. I could never let him off somewhere busy with smells and distractions like a public park, but somewhere either enclosed or quiet he is ok. The NE members did a workshop with trainer Jim Greenwood last summer and he said two things to remember with sighthounds are; don't expect them to pay any attention to you for the first few minutes as their adrenaline will be pumping and they'll be totally deaf to the world, second is that recall is a choice behaviour, so whether he does come back it depends on if he thinks your more interesting than the squirrel/rabbit (or in your case remote control car!) he's seen, so make sure you've got some high value treats for him to make you more interesting. It sounds like your hound wants to come back but is easily distracted so probably best to start letting him off in quiet country parks and building from there. Good luck!

[gazer]

Hi Phyl, greyhounds have had years of chase instinct bred into them, those that end up racing have had that finely tuned, they are praised for chasing, even those that don't make the track have very often been schooled.
Some hounds have even been trained with live prey

This makes training a greyhound to go off lead and then not chase or hunt a really big ask. When your boy spots something in the distance you will see him change, his ears will come up, his whole body gets ready to hurl himself forward into an unstoppable run. I say unstoppable because when he is in this state, he won't even hear you, he has one thing in his head and that is to reach the object that is moving in the distance.

Inside the house or even garden, things are totally different, you may think you have a brilliantly obedient dog who comes when calls, waits when asked to and hangs on your every word. You are in control. Make no mistake tho', let him off lead in an unenclosed area where there could be distractions that you have no control over then he will be off like a shot. You'll have your heart in your mouth and be trusting to luck that no harm will be done and he will eventually come back.

3 of my hounds do not go offlead for different reasons, they would all come back, I'm pretty sure of that, but what they may do whilst off lead doesn't bear thinking about and I am not prepared to take that risk.

There are, as mentioned above some hounds that are really ok off lead but an awful lot of greyhounds are not.

Take great care whatever you decide, a muzzle, long line or enclosed private area are all good things to think about.

Jacqui

[kamkay]

If you saw Jet in his default position plodding along at my side you'd wonder why he's not allowed off lead , but today I had a wonderful illustration of why not : a JRT raced out of the bushes ahead of us and Jet was immediately in hyper alert state , ears up , prancing , lunging, whining, ready to go in fact.
I keep being told it's a shame that he can't run free, but he gets plenty of exercise, is obviously happy and is not in a position to hurt himself or some other creature. In addition he has zero - and I mean zero- recall, despite all my best efforts.
I knew when I took on an ex racer that it was very possible that he would never be off lead : it bothers other people far more than it bothers me or Jet.

[Sian]

Feb 8, 2013 6:30:57 GMT -5 danhodson said:

Your hound sounds a little bit like mine. I could never let him off somewhere busy with smells and distractions like a public park, but somewhere either enclosed or quiet he is ok. The NE members did a workshop with trainer Jim Greenwood last summer and he said two things to remember with sighthounds are; don't expect them to pay any attention to you for the first few minutes as their adrenaline will be pumping and they'll be totally deaf to the world, second is that recall is a choice behaviour, so whether he does come back it depends on if he thinks your more interesting than the squirrel/rabbit (or in your case remote control car!) he's seen, so make sure you've got some high value treats for him to make you more interesting. It sounds like your hound wants to come back but is easily distracted so probably best to start letting him off in quiet country parks and building from there. Good luck!

I actually disagree with Jim Greenwood there as in the first few minutes is when you can probably keep their attention.

We try to get Kevin off daily, if not a couple of times a week. Although he raced he is great with dogs of all types and has a confident personality. However, we do only let him off in areas we judge to be safe and where we know we can keep his attention. We play 'chase the treat' to tap into his chase instinct and his hungry tummy. He loves that but it only entertains him for so long, then he has to go back onto his extendable and harness.

He is a good boy though and is actually best behaved when at the sand dunes with endless rabbit smells and a big space. He is always close there but we watch him at parks as he loves o follow a path!

I think I am lucky in that all four of my greyhounds have been off lead in their lives and have been great. The only real exception is Muppet but that was for the safety of other dogs! He actually had the best recall otherwise.

[phyl]

Thank you so much everyone, Ben is a lovable laid back calm 8 year old dog as I said before but if he sees a rabbit or any small creature that moves, he can go off like a rocket. Unfortunately there doesn't appear to be any safe fenced areas where we could let him off lead. I think that his training lead will have to do. I won't feel so bad now when I see other greyhound owners with their dogs off lead, as I feel that they are thinking that we are not trying hard enough with Ben so that he can run free as their dogs do.

[jodav]

I agree with Sian that you can work with a dog off-lead, even if they have raced, in the right circumstances. I would urge all new owners to seek professional help and advice if they wish to work towards their hound going off-lead. My experience is that one of my hounds goes off-lead almost daily and her recall is excellent but this is because she knows there is something irrestistible in my pocket which I distract her with compared with the cat I've already spotted across the road Also, she regularly runs off-lead with a pack of sight hounds on the beach so being off-lead is 'nothing new.' My other hound has a very strong chase drive but he too walks muzzled, off-lead on heathland for short periods when visibility is good and the coast is clear. That said, I fully understand why many hounds do not go off-lead and safety is always the biggest priority.

[boco]

I have 3 Gap Greyhounds & 2 of mine are off lead all the time. Paris was the hardest to train. At first she just wanted to have "a go" with everything. But we stuck to our guns & took her on the same walks, met the same dogs, & very slowly we started to trust her. At first just being off lead, muzzled, & usually with big dogs. It took about 2yrs for her to suddenly realise, the penny dropped & I can honestly say she is the best one off lead.

Solly, who did have a full racing career is still not fully trustworthy & like Sue I am over cautious with him. Over the last 12mnths I go out very early with him & the very few dogs that are around then he has got used to, so he gets his off lead time then (muzzled). He has a wander in the trees & a blast on the field. I also have a collar with bells on so I can hear him if he goes out of sight.

[Flaperoo]

Your question "Can all greyhounds be successfully trained to go offlead and come back when called?" is NO. Over the years I have had 7 greyhounds, all ex racers. I have only had one that I could trust completely offlead.

I am not going to repeat what others have said but what I can say (and I currently have four who in public places are all on lead and muzzled), is that all my greyhounds, current and past love their walks whether they are on lead or not.

My personal view is if my dogs are on lead and muzzled they are safe. Safe from causing damage to others, safe from running off and me loosing them and safe from the criticism of others who are very quick to judge, despite their own dogs not being under their control .

Greyhounds are great pets = great with people, great on lead, undemanding and soo soo loving. My Peggy died last September, she would have been 11 in October - we had her since she was four, she was so deadly though that she did not go into the back garden without a muzzle and never went anywhere unless she was on lead. When I first got her I felt guilty that she could never stretch her legs and run but seven years later I KNOW she just loved walking by my side

Maryx