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Walking off the lead?

G

gerry

Active member
Can cavaliers be let off the lead at all when on walks? Do they tend to run off and get lost or stick around you?
 
i personally would never let a cavalier off-lead unless i was in either a fenced area or an area where they could run a long way and be far from any traffic. cavaliers are very attracted to movement like blowing leaves, birds and insects and are fearless by nature so they have no inherent fear of cars. Many people on this forum have lost their furbabies or (myself included) had close calls and scares because of leads slipping out of hands, etc...

re-call training is very important, but unfortunately my experience has shown me that it's dangerous to let cavaliers off lead unless they are in a large field, the woods, etc...
 
I walk my Cavalier off lead. whilst by the road, traffic, built up areas she is on her lead but soon as we hit the countryside she is straight off her lead.

I would practice, practice, practice your recall with her/him and when you feel they have mastered it, give it a go... You know your own dog,so dont be affraid, if you feel they will know whos pack leader and come every time then give it a go...
If we are approached by another dog I do pop her back on the lead but only because I dont know the other dog.

Have fun
 
all my dogs are "off-line" :D on walk, preferably in the open countryside or in a field or in a wood, of cource not in the near of a street.
 
I share the view of those above. Yes they can of course be off lead, but only AFTER you have put in the time to train recall and NEVER near traffic. Also always be aware of possible distractions in dangerous areas. For example, my Leo will bolt several hundred yards across the Phoenix Park -- that includes the road -- if he smells the dog pond as he loves to swim. He will also bolt the same distance if the wind carries the smell of deer to him. It is very difficult to get him to recall in these two situations. Cavaliers ARE spaniels and many retain a strong scenting and prey instinct and may run off after something they scent.If the dog isn't already trained to return, it may not return.

Here's some good advice on training recall:

http://board.cavaliertalk.com/showthread.php?t=20346

It's actually a lot of fun to train but start in the house or your own garden, move on to using a long lead (you can get these from www.dogtrainingireland.ie), then [practice in safe open areas away from traffic. Recall needs REGULAR reinforcement so I often bring treats on a walk and will call the dogs back at different distances and treat and praise when they return. It becomes a fun game on a walk.
 
My dog sitter always walks mine off lead when they visit her but I am terrified to walk mine off lead!
 
It's a personality thing too. Like others, I'll only go off-lead in a park, and sometimes not even then depending on fences etc. Holly is reliable in that she never goes further than 10 paces away from me, so I usually feel ok about letting her off. Bad Amber is a typical Cavalier with her head in the clouds and I'm much more wary about letting her off, although she's improved. Now, if we can only convince her that chasing the cows in the field next to my parents really isn't a good idea...
 
I didn't dare to let mine off leash much at all before and even less now. He normally gets to drag a longline at places where no people or traffic is anywhere near and is usually good at coming back unless he sees/smells something interesting, but we had a pretty close call a few days ago when we were out on a big field with only one road at the opposite end of the field about 500 meters away and I let him off to run. And where does he run, yeah you guessed it. Straight onto the road at full speed, ignoring me and mom completely. He has no fear of cars or anything whatsoever. Luckily there were no cars around, but after that incident he is not going off leash at all in non-fenced areas until he's got a solid recall.
 
Sadly, I don't think Daisy could ever be walked off-lead unless there was a secure fence and no other people or strange dogs. In fact, as I've posted before, she's a bit of a pill ON-lead! (But we've been working at it diligently, and I think she's starting to get the picture about pulling not getting her where she wants to go.)

She will bolt to the nearest person, car, leaf, dog, butterfly, gnat, bird, ... without a single thought as to where she is going. Her breeder warned me that Cavaliers were usually like this, and she was so right in Daisy's case. We put up a fence in our backyard once we saw that she would clearly never stay in our yard without being constantly on a leash or tie-out. She has a very strong prey drive, to say the least! She loves us, but she is also wildly drawn to every stranger she encounters.

It is very different from the dogs my family had growing up (toy poodles), who would stay right by us with or without the leash, and who stayed in our unfenced yard just because they knew it was the appropriate thing to do! The last two poodles we had were just naturally good on the leash with no training, basically because their choice was to walk right beside us wherever we were, and the leash was just a formality. I've always wanted a Cavalier and I love Daisy to death, but talking about my other dogs does make me a little whistful for a little more impulse control on Daisy's part... :rolleyes: Oh well, you take the good with the bad and I wouldn't trade her for any dog in the world!
 
Well i took smurf out to a big pitch down the road from us to try it last week, its perfect, you have to climb under a fence to get in, so it's pretty secure. It went great, he loved it, and came back the instant he was called, even when he was with other dogs. (the other dogs were quick to learn when i called smurf... the saussages came out!).

The other day i too him down to Sandymount strand and let him off on the beach with a friends dog(breeder advised not on the walkway), he met a really cool alsation the same age as him and about 8 times bigger than him!

The next trip I think will be the dog pond in the phoenix park that karlin mentioned! Glad to know there is such a place, dying to see him swim. Anyone have any info about it? Is it like a pool that you've to pay into?
 
gerry said:
Well i took smurf out to a big pitch down the road from us to try it last week, its perfect, you have to climb under a fence to get in, so it's pretty secure. It went great, he loved it, and came back the instant he was called, even when he was with other dogs. (the other dogs were quick to learn when i called smurf... the saussages came out!).
Click to expand...

Gerry, I'm glad Smurf came back to you when called. You will need to keep this training up. Smurf will go through his "adolescence" where he will completely ignore you:eek: and make you look like an idiot! Merlin is exceptional at recall but Oakley OMG he is perfect in the house/garden/training class but out in the woods I could have a full roast dinner in my hand an he still wouldn't come back! (we are working on that now:))

just letting you know what you are in for!:dogwlk:
 
That is so interesting. I thought Missy was just being really naughty when she was off chasing birds and refusing to come!! But obviously its a breed thing!
 
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