Now you really have lost me. All I asked was for you to define what a stimulating walk was.

Some working dogs get lots of Running/working but no Free Time running or walking . working & Kennel i think that is worse than a mainley on lead dog that had the liberty of a odd off lead blast every few weeks or so & was then allowed on lead ambles, able to sniff about etc. Ours in general only have one or two proper Long (1hr Plus) Running walks per week.

I get ALOT of pleasure watching them charge about, But actually enjoy the 2nd half of the walk more when they have blown the cobwebs away & are milling around us interacting etc

Tango is not chained to me. She is on a 7 foot lead on the pavements and varying lengths of longline in free running areas. Chained to me??? Get real.
Does she have no freedom,well she has a lot more than she ever had in the past.
In what way are they the polar opposite of most retriever breeds?

Yes because you didn't want to read the thread again because you are 'busy'

It would never be long enough to cater for Loki's ability to cover distance with speed. He is very quick indeed.

I wish mine would get to that point sometimes....never seems to happen - they just keep going.....People I walk with can;t understand it! (neither can I for that matter!

Same with Roxy, the brainless creature that she is (and I do mean that!) just loves to run! And run and run.....even if she's on her own. Molly will humour her for a while and run with her and then leave her to her mad ways because she can't be bothered with it after a while.

In temperament and activity level.

FCR's are primarily retrievers, I would argue that their energy levels arent as high as the spaniels or the HPR's. If you look at the work a retriever does, it's vastly different to the breeds which hunt and need to sustain their energy levels and stamina. I'm not saying it's impossible for working breeds to be fulfilled on a lead but lets face it, out of the thousands of people who own springers and keep them on a lead, how many bother to put in the time and effort needed to keep that dog from going insane?

Us Dogsey members are the minority dog owners who actually want to understand our dogs and do the absolute best by them. Thats 15,000 out of 5 million (Google statistic!) dog owners. I would say there are alot of dogs suffering out there because they do not get a good run or a sufficient alternative.

I think some dogs that are free run everyday and thats all they get miss out on heaps of interaction with their owners.

As I said at the start it is the quality of the walk and the relationship with the owner that is important, not whether the dog is on or offlead....yes it's nice to give offlead but not a necessity.