You'd be surprised I thought that until I tried it. I've done early morning walks. there's nearly always someone around here. I've taken him out at gone midnight too and there's still people around. Not necessarily walking dogs, often just people in the park doing jogging or something but I won't let him off around strangers either.

If you find some tennis courts, best thing to do is check them out. Maybe dusk would be a great time too, I doubt people will play tennis in that kind of light??!!

Good luck with it

Hmm, I suppose that is to be expected in a big city.

Shame you can't escape to the country sometime!

Aah I see, that is a problem then I could understand why you wouldn't want to walk there in this weather either, it's so hot it just isn't fair on them especially if you don't know whether they'll be able to go off lead or not!

I really do like the tennis courts idea that was suggested though, I hope it works out for you

Shady cannot be let off the lead in a public place anymore and Kyiro my greyhound I wouldn't let off the lead in an open space as i would probably never see him again.
I approached a greyhound kennels who had a lovely 4.5acre field all fully fenced to see if I could hire it. They agreed and I can let my dogs off to run and play in there.
It may be worth you seeing if you could do similar.
I do have to drive a 20 mile round trip to use it though but done it daily until Shady had leg problems.

Sorry to hear about your bad experience, but don't let it put you off

Teagan is dog agressive, and got that bad, that I actually couldn't walk her anymore. She could easily drag 2 people across a road to get to a dog minding it's own business.
I went to training classes (until I got to ill) - we started away from all the dogs, and wearing a red bandada, so the other owners knew to give her a wide berth.
She made some 'friends' there, and even layed down with them (was still not offlead).

Now, even though she's a lot calmer, she still hates dogs, and I think she always will! (Plus her recall is rubbish)
She is on a lead every walk - the ony time she gets off is when we go to the beach and the tide is out - I walk about 1/2 mile out, where there are no people and dogs, and even then I still have to keep her attention with toys/food, as if she hears another dog she would be off!

She's perfectly happy, and has 'good days' (like the Dogathon day, where she walked amongst about 20 other dogs!), but she's still on her lead

I too like my flexi - I have the biggest one they do, with a 'comfy' handle, and it's all made out of tape.
She's rubbish on a long line, but is great on a flexi

Hi,

so sorry you're having these problems.... and I totally agree with you... if a dog has a problem (any major problem such as dog/people aggression or bad recall), a flexi-lead is a good solution for most of the time.

However, I also think off-lead time is very important.... not only so that a dog has free running space etc etc, but also to teach the dog to follow your commands even if not attached to you...

The tennis court is a great idea... over here we also have fenced in hockey and football fields (I guess kids nowadays are no longer willing to actually have to run a bit to get a ball ), but it would give a dog more space to run..... maybe that's the case in the UK too....

I'm very much involved in our own local hockey club, and I know that if someone were to come to me with your question, I would have no problems with it as long as they cleared up the mess immediately... and if they left a mess... I would know who to hold responsible.... I would however have a problem with it if we weren't asked first... therefore I would advise you to talk to the owners of the court of field before using it....

A dog that cannot go off-lead is simply a dog that cannot go off-lead.... as long as you have good safety-related reasons for keeping him on lead that is fine....

However, I do have a problem with people who have never allowed their dogs off-lead.... and there are plenty of them around.... when you ask them about it they say "well, I've never tried.... I'm just scared he won't come back"..... these people get me really angry... but a dog with issues? Better off on-lead then never going out at all IMO!!!!

I had a collie who never came off the flexi on a walk. I rescued him at a year old and the only exercise his previous owners had given him was to put him in a field with their sheep and collect him later when he was tired. As you can guess he was a terrible chaser and never got a recall. However the upside was after lots of training he did do agility at club and in competition with no problems as his brain was focused on the course. Keep up the good work !

Personnaly I'd never not let a dog off, I have active breeds and I doubt I could walk far enough to satisfy them on lead. Even if I could the behavioural stuff they miss out on would be an issue.

My dogs are high prey drive breeds and rescues. My jrt is super high drive and the collie is a failed farm dog (too chasey). The jrt had a history of people/dog aggression and the collie had never been off the chain (except to work, which was probably why he was mental) But within a short period both were 100% off lead. Both now work as stooge dogs.

I've had clients with dogs with mega prey drive (killed sheep) that with the right training are now fine off lead and totally ignore sheep. One of these was a malamute.

I wouldn't home a dog to someone who wasn't going to off lead it.

Adam

It's not as if I want to keep him on lead! if I had the choice he'd be off lead and running for miles every day, I'd dearly love it. We are working very hard toward getting him off however I need to be responsible and ensure that Cain, others dogs and people are also kept safe.

And I don't mean to be rude but don't you train dogs to keep off sheep using an e-collar?Cain's issues are due to being under socialised, his aggression is fear based and there's noway zapping him everytime he goes near a stranger is going to help I struggle to believe it's as simple as a matter of a few weeks to 'cure' an aggressive dog and as much as I want Cain to run, I won't let him off until he's ready.