Off-Leash Training Tips For Your Dog

For those of you with dogs that are trained to heel accordingly, you are ready to make the transition into off-leash dog training.

What You Will Need

You will need two pieces of rope, five feet in length each. One of the pieces of rope should be strong and preferably made of nylon. The nylon line should be about the same thickness as a regular kite string. The second piece of rope should actually be a five-foot length of ten-pound test salt water fishing line.

The length of nylon line will be referred to as the “B” line, while the fishing line will be called the “A” line. You will begin by using the “B” line, so you may put away the “A” line for later use.

Tie one end of the “B” line to the ring of the snap on the leash. It must be tied through the ring – rather than the snap – to prevent the line from coming loose. Make sure the line is tied securely. Next, tie the other end of the “B” line on the dog’s training collar, making sure that you tie it onto the same ring that the leash snaps onto. Then, snap the leash onto the collar in the normal manner.

You will notice that you are dragging a loop of line on the ground and either you or your dog will be getting your feet all tangle up, so pick up the “B” line slack and – using a clothespin – attach the “B” line excess right to the leash. This will keep it up and out of the way until you are ready to use it.

The first five minutes of your training period should be just as normal as always. Review all obedience commands so that your dog will be in the proper frame of mind for the upcoming lesson. The second five minutes of the training period should consist of nothing but heeling exercises. Do not go more than five feet in any single direction without either stopping, making a right turn, left turn, or about turn.

Do it fast and smartly so that your pet is performing like a real professional. Then stop and give him praise and a pat on the head. While he is preoccupied with the praise, unsnap the leash, in a nonchalant way, wrapping it into your right hand. One end of the “B” line is still attached to the ring of the leash and the other end to the ring of the training collar.

Put away the clothespin and prepare for a few more quick start-stop heeling exercises. Keep slack in the “B” line and do not allow the line to tighten. If your dog suddenly senses this new feeling of freedom and decides to goof off, he will be in for quite a surprise. Nylon does not break easily and a properly timed correction will produce a sudden revelation to your dog. He will discover that just because the leash is absent, the requirement for obedience is still there, and so is the correction for disobedience as well as the praise for a job well done.

Heel your dog back and forth, making right turns, left turns, about turns, and sudden stops while only the “B” line connects you to your dog. Just before your fifteen-minute training period is up, give your dog praise and snap the leash back on. Finish off the session with a bit more on-leash heel work.

For the next two weeks, you should alternate between working your dog on-leash and using the “B” line. Alternate back and forth, so that your dog won’t be aware of which of the two he is attached to, and doesn’t care either. Working with the “B” line can be a bit awkward and you’ll find that it gets in the way once in a while, especially on the recall exercise. But this transition is important so be patient.

The Stay Command Using The “B” Line

While executing the "Stay" command while the “B” line (five-foot long nylon line with the thickness similar to a kite string) is in use, you will have the advantage of stepping out more than just a leash length away.

Because the “B” line is five feet long and your leash is six feet long, this exercise using the “B” line will allow your dog to have a feeling of freedom he did not feel when just using the leash.

You are farther away now and the temptation to bolt or stroll away out of the training area might occur. Be prepared for such an occasion by making sure that you hold onto the leash. You will want to make a proper and timely correction should that occur.

Let the snap end of the leash lie fully on the ground while your dog is holding that “sit-stay”. The total length of your leash now is eleven feet and the snap in the middle puts all the weight at that spot. Keeping the snap up off the ground will have a tendency to pull your dog toward you.

Recall Using The “B” Line

When executing the recall using the “B” line, you will experience more difficulty than with any other exercise. This is because you will no doubt find it very hard to take up the slack of the leash and “B” line as your dog comes into you on that recall. But with a little practice, you will discover that you are getting faster and better at it.

Two to three weeks of work, alternating back and forth between the “B” line and leash, should be adequate. When you notice that corrections are no longer necessary when working your dog on the “B” line, you will be ready for the shift to the “A” line.

Using The “A” Line

The “A” line (five-foot length of ten-pound test salt water fishing line) is connected in exactly the same way as the “B” line. That is, one end of the line is tied to the ring of the snap of the leash. It must be tied through the ring rather than the snap to prevent the line from coming loose.

Make sure that the line is tied securely. Next, tie the other end of the “A” line on the dog’s training collar, making sure that you tie it onto the same ring that the leash snaps onto. Finally, snap the leash onto the collar in the normal manner.

Making A Correction While Using The “A” Line

The only difference between the “A” line and the “B” line is the thickness and weight of each. Shifting the “B” line gave the dog a feeling of freedom as compared to the weight and thickness of the six-foot training leash. The “A” line will give your dog even more of a feeling of freedom as compared to either the leash or the “B” line.

The technique is applied the same way, with one slight modification. Because the “A” line is so light, using it to make a correction would be meaningless. It would snap like a twig. Therefore, a way must be devised to give you the opportunity to correct your dog in the event he accepts this new freedom as a challenge. You can make the correction using a tab attached to the dog’s collar.

A tab is simply a six-inch length of clothespin rope attached to the pull ring of the training collar. It’s like a handle, ready to be grabbed should your dog needs to be corrected. While working your dog on the “A” line, always keep in mind that correction is not possible unless you physically reach for the tab on the collar. Do not try to make a correction with the “A” line; it will break and your dog will be heading at the opposite direction from the other side of the house.

The “A” line is strong enough to hold your dog and to prevent him from bolting, provided that the line isn’t jerked up short. The tab is for correction. Two weeks working on the “A” line and your dog will be ready to work for you without any leash or line at all. But the tab must stay on!

During your work on both the “A” and “B” lines, continue to practice your work on the hand signal for the drop on recall, drop to the down position from a sitting position, and the drop from the standing position. By using the “A” and “B” lines, you can do this at a distance of eleven to twelve feet from your dog rather than a mere six feet.

You will be increasing the distance gradually as you progress through training, but do not try to get ahead. At no time should you signal your dog to drop to the down position if you are more than twelve feet away from him, until instructed otherwise.

Off-leash training is a transition because it is, most definitely, a slow process.

It would be nice if we could just reach down, unsnap the leash, and know that your dog would instantly obey the commands “Come”, “Sit”, “Down”, “Stay”, and “Heel”. Regardless of how proficient a dog may be in basic obedience while attached to the leash, his efficiency diminishes about 80% once the leash is removed.

While heeling, he will lag terribly, go wide on the turns, forge ahead and sit in front of you when you stop. Sometimes, it is as if the unsnapping of a leash erases everything on the memory of a dog’s mind.

On a sit-stay exercise, without the benefit of a leash, a dog suddenly realizes that his owner is powerless to do anything in the way of correction in the event of disobedience. Should the dog then bolt and runs, the command “Come” falls on seemingly deaf ears.

To begin off-leash work without making the proper transition would be the same as standing a baby on his two feet to walk before he had even had an opportunity to perfect his crawling technique. On the other hand, to begin making the transition before your dog has demonstrated absolute perfection and control in his work on leash would be a total waste of time.

If your dog needs constant correction while heeling on-leash, he will need the same constant correction while heeling without the benefit of the leash; but without a leash, how are you going to make a correction? Your dog should be able to perform all basic obedience exercises willingly, smartly, and with no opposition, before you undertake the transition to off-leash work.

If you have followed proper obedience training from the very beginning, you will now begin to realize why so much emphasis was placed on correct heeling techniques.

You were constantly reminded to keep a belly of slack in the leash at all times. Instructions were explicit that dogs were not to be allowed to forge ahead and tighten the leash. One of the purposes, of course, was for the dog to get used to feeling no connection between him and his owner. Of course, if the dog spends ten weeks being restrained by the leash while heeling, there’s not a bond of affection that’s strong enough to hold that dog in the proper heel position once the leash is off.

If your dog is proficient in the commands “Come”, “Sit”, “Down”, and “Stay”, but requires constant tugging on the leash while heeling, spend more time correcting that deficiency now while you still have the help of a six-foot leather training leash. Use it while you can.