How I Trained My Dog To Walk Off The Leash.. Copied Post From Nairaland.

Hello everyone.
A fellow petlover on nairaland recently asked me a question on how I was able to achieve walking my dogs off the leash. The question and my response were originally posted on another thread on this forum (Shadow The Destroyer), but by popular demand I was asked by a few other readers to open a separate thread and post it so that more people would be able to read it. Below is the response I gave to the question, copied and pasted here for everyone to see. I do hope you enjoy it and if possible learn from it. Hopefully I would make this worth everyone's while. I realize it is quite long, but I would like everyone to get some perspective on the problem to better appreciate the solution employed. (@uchpanila, the response to your question is even longer but still underway)
Before I begin, please I would like to say again that all dogs should be on the leash at all times when out in public. No doubt some would want to try out what I am about to describe in hopes of achieving the same results, please be very careful or better yet do not attempt it. I was able to achieve it because I totally understand my dogs. They live and sleep indoors with me (though they have their daily hours outside to be dogs) and I get to spend a large amount of time with them interacting with and observing them. And as anyone who knows me would tell you, my love for my dogs is out of this world. Total dedication.
So here goes.....
Of all the boerboels I have owned, I trained only two to walk off the leash in public. The first one, a female, which was the first pup I ever imported was pretty much a breeze to train. By nature, she had that totally calm, submissive and obedient nature most people wish for in their dogs and so it was quite easy. So much so, I probably should not take full credit for teaching her. It was simply her nature and SHE inspired me to attempt walking her off the leash in the first place.
The second boerboel, also an imported female pup was a totally different ball game entirely. Very dominant, very hyper, eager to please, madly confident, utterly fearless, unflinchingly protective, highly territorial and with a tendency to become aggressive if not managed properly as a pup. She arrived at 13 weeks old and as is my custom, I started training her on everything I needed to immediately. She learned to walk with the leash quite fast and easily. But then when she was about 4 or 4 and half months old, she suddenly started attacking and harassing people whenever we were out on walks. Anybody and everybody, she did not care, she would attack. Nobody could come anywhere near me. At first it seemed like a joke and I thought the behaviour would go away soon. But no. It got worse. Plus, she was quite big for a 4 month old pup so the terror she inspired in people was quite palpable. This certainly was not what I wanted out of any of my dogs as I set out to make them very sociable companion dogs that would still guard and protect when the need arose. And I knew that if something was not done about it quickly, I would have a very big problem on my hands sooner or later. The kind of problem that the Nigerian police force would love to entertain.
So I called the breeders in SA I bought her from and told them about it (I always maintain a good relationship with them), asking if it was normal and how to curb the behaviour. You have to hand it to the South Africans, they really understand their dog. He told me it was not normal behaviour at all and that the problem could be as a result of one of two things; either I am usually scared or tensed up during our walks and she can feel the negative energy from me, or there must be something I did or encouraged in her in the recent past that started the behaviour. Well, as I told him, I am the epitome of cool, calm and collected at all times (except when angry) and so it could not be that I was scared or tensed up. Besides, they were fully aware of my bond and relationship with the first dog and so it could not be that. And so we began to look at the second probable cause. Going down memory lane, I remembered two incidents which we eventually pinpointed as the root causes of her new behaviour.
The first was one occasion when we were out walking and we came upon a stray dog. Now I hate stray dogs coming around me or my dogs because you never know what disease they may be carrying and yet are immune to. So as usual I proceeded to shoo the dog away. My girl usually does not pay them any mind and so she was not bothered. But this particular stray was really pesky and would not quit. At a point I got angry, stamped my foot on the ground and shouted at it. At that exact same moment, my girl pounced on the dog viciously (to my amazement and eventual pride) and the thing took off without looking back. All the while my girl was barking after it. When the dog was gone I PRAISED my girl. Big mistake, I learned from the breeder. And so the next time we came upon another dog on another day, this time a 2 year old rottweiler (twice her size) that was being walked by her owner, my girl attacked it with a ferocity that left both the rottweiler and her owner stunned and me shocked. I practically had to run off dragging my dog away with the leash to end the attack.
The second incident and by far the main cause happened over the a few weeks after I started taking her for walks. Usually, I do not begin taking my dogs for walks outside my compound until a week after their third vaccination shot. But from the day they are given the third shot, I take them just outside the gate on the leash in the evenings and sit on my car and let them watch and get used to pedestrians, cars, trucks and other sights and sounds of city life. Now there was this guy I disliked because he was usually very rude and disrespectful to people. His aunt owned a pizza shop right beside my house and the chap had to pass by me and the dog anytime he needed to go to and fro the shop. At some point much later after I started walking my girl with the leash, I discovered that the chap was scared of dogs. And so I made a hobby out of terrorizing him with my pup. (Very irresponsible of me, I know, but then it was a pup that was involved and I would never have guessed what it would lead to). So everyday after our walks I would just sit on my car and let my girl rest while we wait for the guy to come / go to and fro the shop. And then I would let my girl have fun harassing the guy to the extent the leash would allow her (while feigning trying to pull her back). Of course the guy was always terrified and after each encounter I would SMILE AND LAUGH it off. Second big mistake as I learnt later.
Having identified these incidents as the causes of my girls behaviour, the breeder made me understand that in a bid to always make me happy, my girl was now always trying to replicate those incidents with everyone in order to keep on gaining my approval. (People of nairaland, do not underestimate the power of a dog's reasoning. These things are smarter than we usually give them credit for). So guess the solution the breeder proffered? You would not believe it as neither did I. He said I ought walk the dog off the leash in public and verbally make her understand acceptable and unacceptable social behaviour. He also said because I had her on the leash, she only expected to be restrained by my pulling her back on the leash.
Naturally I though the breeder was joking. I mean here was a dog that was attacking anyone and everyone indiscriminately during walks when on the leash and you are telling me I need to walk her off leash publicly to solve the problem. Absurd. Alas, he was not joking and maintained that that was the only way. Well, obviously I had a big problem with my dog that was getting worse everyday, I had to do something about it and so I had to try his advice. So here's how I went about it:
Sometimes you have to think outside the box and creatively find a solution to problems with your dog. What would seem very easy with one dog could be near impossible and even dangerous with another dog, as can be seen between the two dogs of mine described here. Thus, with this second dog, I resolved to start our leashless walks late at night with little or no one on the streets and gradually work our way towards walking earlier with more and more people on the streets. So for every night for the first week, at exactly midnight when there would be no one and no cars on the roads, we would set off on our walk and walk round the entire estate, no leash. (I live in a gated estate so I was not really bothered about personal security being out at that time, and besides I was out with a dog that was looking for who to attack so it was more of a risk to any would-be mugger). Each nightly session was for 2 hours (12 midnight to 2am). My emphasis for the first hour was on ensuring she was right by my left side at all times during the walk. Absolutely no straying, no lagging behind, no going ahead, no sniffing or inspecting stuff. Nothing. Just remain beside me, no matter what I do. The emphasis for the second hour was on working on the recall (getting her to come to me at once when I call no matter what is happening around or what she is doing). It was all challenging at first but gradually we began to get the hang of it. It is instructive to note that at that time of night, we had to be quiet so as not to raise unnecessary attention or alarm, but fortunately, for every verbal command I teach my dogs, I also teach a corresponding sign or sound for the same command so either of the 3 could be used alone and interchangeably any time, and so I used the signs and sounds. We did the first week, midnights, no incident, then we graduated to 11pm everyday for the second week. Same 2 hours, same emphasis for both hours.
There was an incident during the second week. One night we were out, we suddenly came face to face at a junction with one of the estate security guards making his rounds. In the blink of an eye, my girl moved on him at full charge snarling with full intent to maul the guy. It happened so fast that I did not even remember anything about my recall commands, be it verbal, sign or sound. Fortunately I moved equally quickly and put myself between dog and the guard before she got to him and quickly got her under control. The guy was totally freaked out, screaming and yelling so frantically that the entire thing woke quite a few residents up. So because of that incident, I resolved to do the 11pm walks for 2 weeks to try to get better all round control over her with the commands in situations like that. No incident after that for the 11pm week.
Then we moved to 10pm; same distance, same length of time, same emphasis and all. This time we began to come across trickles and small groups of people, but by then I had gotten more confident and had a lot more control over the dog. In fact by this time I had begun to recognize the tell-tale signs of when she was getting ready to make a move and so I was now able to distract and recall her even before she got so focused as to make a move on someone.
Then came the 9pm week, more people same everything else, no incident. Then the 8pm week, even more people but by then I was becoming a pro. 7pm week, so many people, no incident. 6pm week, crowds, but by now we had gotten so good together and confident that we were now walking silently through unsuspecting groups / crowds who would only notice and scream in shock AFTER we had passed between them. I really enjoyed the success of the 6pm week that I decided we do a 5pm week. (Normally, the earliest time I walk my dogs is 6pm). So by the 5pm week, I was show boating. After that we decided to do Saturday and some Sunday mornings.
By the end of the 5pm week, we had completed 8 weeks of daily walks off the leash. Then I decided to up the ante by simulating high energy, eventful and distracting situations. So we started again from 12 midnight but for 2 or 3 days each and this time for an hour each night. This time around I would let her wander, we would play, jog, walk, run, play fetch and do some other exciting things, but by now we were perfecting the recall and so at any point in time I would suddenly recall her to me and she would obey and remain beside me. We did this over a few days from midnight down to 5pm again and perfected every area we worked on and then I knew that the indiscriminate attacks problem was solved. Hurray!!!
Soon we began to go on leashless walks outside the estate, on busy roads with so many cars, people and events without any incident occuring. In fact I began to enjoy walking her off the leash much more than with the leash because truthfully, it was easier and more fun. Whereas with the leash, communication between us is done via the link with little verbal commands, off the leash there is no such liberty and so she is forced to pay attention to me at all times. I enjoyed it so much that I started walking her offleash full time. Even when out with more than one dog, she alone would be offleash. I walked her offleash everyday until shortly after she clocked 2 years old and then stopped because by then she had grown so big that everyone was now so uncomfortable and running away whenever they saw us coming.
Though she is still very hyper and protective and all that, I can fully control her without stressing myself. She always listens and obeys me.
I could easily teach my boy (and the other females) how to walk off leash because he is a fast learner, very good and well behaved with the leash, but I will not do that as I cannot always vouch for his reaction whenever he sees another dog or some other animal. Plus the fact that he is also in the young adolescent phase of development, the risks are higher. I remember the first time we came upon another dog. I was walking 3 dogs at the time and a lady appeared walking her GSD across the road. My boy took off immediately, singlehandedly dragged me and the other two dogs halfway across the road in an attempt to meet the other dog before I could regain control. He was 8 months old at the time, yet imagine his strength then let alone now that he is 20 months old. Even though I am currently working on his reaction to other animals and he is getting much better in that regard, still I will not go offleash with him. Big, black, dominant with new animals and terrifying to pedestrians; I would rather be safe than sorry.
NB. @Seun @lacicrips and @pmadise, here you have it, your requests granted.
And for anyone and everyone looking to learn how to properly raise their dog and build a lasting bond with it, I would recommend that you read and follow blasiangurl85's thread, the diary of Shadow the Destroyer. A very interesting and enlightening read it is.
Thank you.