Warming up before off lead exercise

Do you/should you warm you dog up before you let it go for offlead exercise.

And how?

Yes, I always do some lead work before a free run and after.

yip i dont drive so its leadwork to and fro

Yes, I do and I wrote about the importance of it in another thread.

I think it is very inconsiderate of owners that just open the door and let their dogs run, without taking the trouble to do for them what they would do themselves or for horses etc.

I make sure that I walk my dogs on the lead for a minimum of 500 yards, usually more first. Once they are warmed up I then do some stretches with them eg they bow, the put their nose to their tail on both sides and they also stand on their hind legs.

This warms up the muscles etc BEFORE stretching (never stretch cold muscles) and means that when they are let off they are less likely to injure themselves.

I always put dog on lead when getting out of the car on our morning walk, two reasons(in the main), don't know, cannot always see who's coming along, n dogs and the car park is prime left over takeaway, scavenging material. However (right or wrong) if off lead dog approaches will let mine off too. I always have, try to 'have a scout round' first.

me too!

I attempt lead work. Sometimes we drive so don't have time too - depends where we go and who we come across.

We walk from the house the vast majority of the time, so they get warmed up from the 5-10 minutes of lead walking.

If we drive (I've cut WAY back on this, to save money) I generally do a bit of lead walking first.

Same as labradork we mostly lead walk for at least 15mins from home before we get to somewhere he can go off. I've also cut back on driving due to the cost but even when i do we mostly have to lead walk for at least a few minutes before he can be let off anyway.

Yes, always. Especially before they run in harness.

Take care.

Seoniad.