[Dillon]

It is great to take Dillon to a road that has a nice wide sidewalk besides it for letting Dillon run freely without a leash on him in the evenings. When I arrive there with him, the first thing I do after letting him jump out of the car is take the leash off him. He usually annoys the hell out of me by flat-outly ignoring my Come on Dillon let's go commands as he is sniffing the damn grass. He can be very very stubborn when it comes to trying to get his mind off sniffing the grass. The only way I can get him to cooperate with me is by turning around and walk behind him and in a military-style voice, strongly say, Get going get going or move along move along. Everytime he stops to sniff the grass, I walk faster towards his butt as if I'm going to kick it and militarily yell, I'm going to kick your a-- now get going. Sorry if I sound like I'm abusive to my beagle, I'm not but it's the only way he obeys my commands when he's doing his grass sniffing. And I actually have never kicked his butt anyway. But it's the only way I can get him to obey my commands. I do let him have a little bit of time to sniff the grass. But if I let him, he can sniff the grass for hours. That's why I don't let him sniff for too long because it kills too much time and plus I need him to walk with me for exercise to use up his energy. He usually does better when I finally convince him to forget about his grass sniffing and I praise him for that as we walk down the sidewalk.

After Dillon doees his poopy and pee, we turn around to head back to the car and he gets so frisky, he's running all over the place except the road. I do not allow Dillon to even put one paw on the road because of my fear he might get run over on it. He knows he isn't allowed to get on the road at all because I've scolded him for it many times. And he usually doesn't get on it at all. But once in a while, his nose will get the best of him when he gets a scent of something across the road and he'll follow the scent not realizing he is standing on the road. When I catch Dillon putting one paw on the road, I immediately yell at him, NO NO!!! What did your daddy tell you? Dillon does a good job of realizing he isn't supposed to be on the road and walks off it immediately. Anyway back to Dillon being frisky and running all over the grass and sidewalk. I enjoy watching him happily run freely in the grass and sidewalk. As we get closer to the car, that's where he gets quite stubborn, too. Dillon will stop running and just simply stand there on the sidewalk as if he is out of breath from all the running as I'm walking farther and farther away from him. I stop and turn around and call for Dillon, Dillon, come on let's go. This is where he'll flat-out ignore me again. And I have to revert back to my militaristic tone of voice to get him to come running towards me again, Dillon, don't make me come and kick your a--. When I yell at him in an angry tone of voice, I mean it Boy he takes off running towards me.

I swear he likes to p*** me off sometimes.

 

[Java]

Wow, you're definitely trusting of Dillon. He's sounds like he listens to you for the most part. I don't think mine are too dependable off leash. I wish there were more fenced dog parks around

 

[Murphys Dad]

I would never let Chloe off the leash unless it's an endless field or an enclosed place!

 

[Murphys Dad]

Re: I let Dillon run freely without a leash at nig

Originally Posted By: Chloe's MommyI would never let Chloe off the leash unless it's an endless field or an enclosed place!

I second that! If Li'l Girl's not in a fenced area, she's on a leash.

 

[JoJo's Mum]

Re: I let Dillon run freely without a leash at nig

Both my girls are off leash 90% of the time except for in area's that strictly say they must be on leash. JoJo is never far away as he freaks if her mummy is not close by. Jesie will go off without me but usually she's just chasing a bird and always comes when she is called. I've worked really hard on recall so that we could get to stage of walking off leash.

 

[cobismom]

Re: I let Dillon run freely without a leash at nig

We take Cobi to the soccer fields after games have finished for the season...big place to run for a little chubby beagle. But off the leash, NEVER! I don't trust him to come back to me on a free for all run...even with the come sit heel he has learned. His nose and unleashed freedom are too compelling to follow commands. We put him on a 60ft tether and let him go....that's far enough that he feels free to run, but not so far that I or dh can't reel him in if necessary.

Cathy J

 

[Brisen]

Re: I let Dillon run freely without a leash at nig

Never, ever off leash here.

 

[Smeagle]

Originally Posted By: Chloe's MommyI would never let Chloe off the leash unless it's an endless field or an enclosed place!

Yep, especially as it comes across in the OP's post that he hasn't done any real recall training to teach Dillian the recall command.

Yelling at the dog to get moving! isn't exactly training it or teaching it anything - wouldn't it be more effective to teach him come! or heel!? Bullying the dog or yelling at him to get compliance is not going to build reliability - how does Dillian know what you want? What happens if Dillian decides to run across the road or he picks up a scent and goes into drive, ignoring you completely?

When a beagle starts scenting they are following an inbuilt instinct, a part of what we refer to as prey drive. Prey drive is an adrenalin fuelled behaviour, a sub conscious reaction to a stimuli (in this case, a scent). A dog that has gone through a drive motor pattern receives a chemical reward, the chemical is an Endorphin flow. This is why it is hard to teach a beagle reliable recall, because scenting gives them a release of endorphins and they get an immediate reward for following their nose. Yelling at Dillian not to go on the road is completely useless if he is in full scent drive - because once you have punished him he has already received a reward for scenting (endorphins).

This is why it is much better to proof your dog before trusting him off lead, and actually teaching him the recall command instead of yelling at him when he is following his instinct. He is not learning anything that way, and he is certainly not going to become reliable. He is not ignoring you to piss you off - he doesn't know what you want!

 

[angelaH]

One only needs one occasion, and a cars coming, when Dillon forgets himself and runs into the road, then he'll be just another traffic statistic. Its not worth the risk. Why not have him on a long lead. Or on a normal lead, and walk briskly with him. Dog training classes would also be a good idea

 

[Zookeeper]

I agree with the above. It's just not worth taking the chance. Beagles' instincts for scenting are just too strong to trust. It would break my heart if something that avoidable caused heartbreak. I would never let Duke or Violet off lead. For that matter, I wouldn't let Cassie off lead and she is very good at recall (she'a a lab), but I still wouldn't trust enough to take the chance. There are just too many split second things that can happen that change lives forever.

 

[Dillon]

Dillon is usually too interested in sniffing the grass when we first start our walk. I do let him have a few minutes to sniff the grass. If I let him, he'll continue to sniff the grass for hours. No telling when he'll decide he's done with his grass sniffing. When I decide he's had enough sniffing, I tell him, Come on, let's go Dillon. But he just flat-out ignores me and continues his sniffing. Believe me he knows what the word Come means. If I say Come with a nice peaceful tone of voice, he ignores me. But if I have to raise my voice COME Sometimes that gets his attention but usually he still ignores that, too. Sometimes I have to use a real mean tone of voice RIGHT NOW at the same time I look at him with a mean face. He can tell I mean it when I give him that mean look. Usually that gets his attention. I don't know why he ignores me when I'm talking to him with a nice peaceful voice. When I finally get him to forget about his sniffing, he'll usually walk much better with me. But then when as we get closer to the car, he reverts back to his ignoring my commands stance. I don't know why but there's something about that area that makes him very stubborn. About that road we walk near, it's only a 2-lane neighborhood road. It doesn't get that much traffic although I have seen people driving 45-50 mph or faster instead of the 30-mph speed limit. That's scary. Dillon listens me pretty good and obeys me when cars are whizzing by. He'll stand there and not move at all when I tell him, Stay or Wait I'm always on the lookout for cars and watch him like a hawk. Not only do I worry about Dillon getting run over on the road but I also worry about coyotes out there, too. My dad has warned me that if a coyote finds Dillon, he will be eaten. Not only coyotes but also alligators, too because there is a ditch on the other side of the road and other nearby smaller ditches that hold standing rain water. But I'm always watching him like a hawk and keep an eye around us.

I like to watch him excitedly run freely. I do want him to use up his saved up energy. he doesn't get to use up his energy much during the daytime because we live in a 2-bedroom condo which severely restricts his activities and I'm trying to find ways to let him use up his energy elsewhere. There is a dog park on the other side of town but I can tell he hates it because he doesn't like to hang out with dogs who are bigger than him. I think the big dogs tend to intimidate him and I can understand that. He really loves to play with smaller dogs if he gets to know them really well. I take Dillon to a dog park in Ft. Myers once a month when the Beagle Club of SW Florida has their monthly beagle meetups. He really has a blast running and hanging out with the beagle pack there. There is a dog beach in Bonita Springs where he always has a blast swimming with me there and hanging out with the dogs there. It wouldn't be much fun to take him there when the water is probably too cold to go swimming by now. I wish there were other fellow beagle owners with big fenced-in yards who live not too far from me so I could take Dillon to their house to let him have some fun with his beagle pals. But I don't know anyone near me who has them. Now you know why I take him to the road where he likes to run like crazy.

 

[JoJo's Mum]

Do you not have any leash free dog parks near by? We've a couple, I generaly dont use them as my JoJo is weary of new dogs but they are great if you have a social doggie

 

[Smeagle]

Sorry, but there is no way I'd risk my beagle's safety purely to let them run freely. You've already stated there are several dangers associated with the area you let Dillion run yet you do it anyway! You've said that his recall is not perfect, and from the sounds of it, you haven't done much to proof it, because there are various times the dog does not respond to it.

Your dog's safety is NOT worth the risk. You can work to proof his recall, using effective training methods (instead of just yelling at him and getting annoyed when he doesn't respond) or don't let him off leash. Its not easy to achieve reliable recall with a beagle but its not impossible either. Having a dog that sometimes recalls or who is generally pretty good at coming when cars are near by is not enough to ensure the dog can safely be let off leash.