Advice needed : walking off lead

As a lot of you know I have Georgie, he's 12wks old now and he's a staffy x american bulldog. He is loving every minute of his walks and is game at any time of the day and night for a walk! So far so good with him on the lead. He has taken to it like a duck to water!
HOWEVER...
I would love to start walking him off the lead soon. BUT...I'm too scared incase he runs away and doesnt come back. Ive never had problems with my cavvy, but georgie loves people and other dogs - as most pups do - but i have a feeling he will bolt and not come back when i call him.

Please can anyone give me some advice on how i can start to train him off the lead??? Any advice or good tips will welcomed

Maybe start off with a long training lead or one of those extending/retractable leads.. get his recall up to speed with that... then go from there?

I'd go with Ian's advice and start with a long training leash. You can purchase 30' and 50' ones from EBay, dirt cheap.

We always bite the bullet and have them off lead right from the start, but we do lots of recall practise at home both indoors and out first. Practise indoors by going into another room and calling him, once he perfects that make it more difficult hide in a cupboard or the downstairs loo or whatever and call. If you have kids get them involved, make a big game of it, the dog will love it, do the same thing in the garden. Once he comes every time do it in the park with a trailing lead, preferably with two of you, and call him backwards and forwards between you, make your voice sound exciting and make a big fuss when he gets to you, sit on your knees with your arms out wide when calling his name, he should come running. Start off not too far apart and once he succeeds make the distance a bit larger. Usually a young dog will stay close anyway when out in the open, if you walk in the woods duck behind trees and call him, you should soon find you won't need to call, he will just come and find you. Also if in an open field, while he is with you keep changing direction as soon as he follows change direction again, I frequently must look like a wandering drunk when puppy training but you will find the dog will keep an eye on you at all times. Once perfected keep practising at random times, just build it into your walks.

Being so young they are unlkey to stray far which i find an ideal time to instill basics, i have let all mine off at this age and built on that, any problems that arise are promptly dealt with.

I agree with what's already been said, bite the bullet and go for it, don't follow a set path, keep swapping routes, make it fun, if there are 2 of you out call him between the 2 of you, if he legs it to another dog and doesn't come back after you shout...stop shouting, go get him, pop him on the lead, take him away....once at a safe distance and when yuo have his attention back, pop him off and try again.
Good luck!!! It's nervewracking but fun!

Hi teeny, I asked this question not so long ago myself, and the only thing that worked for us was sucking up my courage and just letting her off. Because of her age she will not want to be that far away from you anyhow.

I will warn you though, you may still have a few scares, but with time you will become more confident. Bite the bullet

Here is the post: With Poll

http://www.dogsey.com/showthread.php?t=35448

Just thought Id let you know.....aaaaaaaarrrrrrrggggghhhh

Went to the park today and walked Georgie up through the woods - the way we always go - i got over the bridge at the entrance to the woods and that was it....I went for it....I let him off.

OMG what a big mistake. At home he excellent, comes the min he is called. Outside my house he is great - always comes when he is called. Well today was a different story. He sat for his lead to be taken off, and that was it, he bolted like a bat out of hell. I didnt get all in a fluster, i just kept calling ( I took treats with me to use incase he didnt come when called ) so i called him for treats.....still no georgie. He had legged it into the trees and long grass, he then continued on and was approx 50ft away and probably couldnt hear me any longer. At this point I wanted to cry, I thought he was gone and id lost him. He had followed all the passers by and other dogs. It was only coz a man had stopped to stroke georgie and he realised i was trying to get georgie back that he stayed with georgie so i could catch up. The minute i got back to georgie i gave him no praise, i didnt even say his name. I put him straight back on his lead.

Now im terrified to let him off again incase he does the same thing to me again.

Oh dear, poor you. Thank goodness the man had the good sense to hang onto him for you!

I'd go get a long line to walk him on and practice recall if I was you. This way he can't mess up. Then perhaps give it a go again once recall in different places is good on the long line.

Good Luck!

I think that is exactly what would happen if I let Oscar off - seriously - he is a great wee pup, but when he is in the garden off lead, he only comes to recall when it suits him - he gets so involved with the other things he wants to do. My heart went out to you teenytny when I read your post! Hope you have got your breath back - poor you.