Is It Possible To Train Your Puppy Off-Leash? (Part 2)
The best way to train your puppy to work off-leash is to do it in a safe location. You are giving him practice at being a grown up while protecting him as the vulnerable baby he is. Within the safety and quiet of your own living room and with your puppy's collar on but no leash, ask your puppy to Sit and then, using the hand signal, tell him to Stay. Now step back and wait no more than one minute. Bend down, extend your arms to the side and warmly call your puppy into them. Praise. Your little puppy has just worked off leash!
After you play with your puppy for a minute or so, ask him to Sit again. This time, pat the floor and say Down. When he lies down, tell him Good dog-Stay using a pleasant tone. Back up just a few feet and wait. After two minutes, bend, extend your arms and call him to you. Pet and praise. End your first off-leash lesson by playing his favorite game.
This sort of low key, safe, gentle off-leash training can be done with puppies under five months of age. You will begin the puppy with his grounding of basic commands on leash, and, as you are going forward with his on-leash outdoor work, you can begin his off-leash indoor work on top of your outdoor sessions. Here is a sample lesson:
Put a leash and a collar on your puppy and take him out for a walk. Let him pull, sniff, and relieve himself. Praise. Put him in heel position, sitting straight at your left side. Tell him to heel and practice heeling with the automatic sit for ten minutes. Now, on a quiet side street, practice the sit stay, the come and sit front, and the stand stay. If your puppy is good at the down stay indoors, try a short one outdoors. Heel another five minutes. Say Ok, good dog and let him sniff, pull and maybe relieve himself again. Now you can take your puppy home.
When you get indoors, don't take off his collar and leash just yet. First, put him on a sit stay. While he's staying, unsnap the leash and remind him once more to Stay. Back up and wait a minute. Release him with an Ok. Crouch and extend your arms and hug and praise him. Now walk your puppy to another spot or another room and try a down stay. This time you can work him for two minutes. If he should break, take him back to the spot by holding his collar, repeat Down-stay and leave him. Then break him and praise. Never break him because he is starting to break anyway. He will know that you did that and your training program will be badly harmed. That is not what is meant by working until just before he breaks.
Working until before he breaks means that you are watching and aware. It means that you can, as time goes by, see the difference between faking and genuine loss of the ability to concentrate and work. Then you will do one last fun game and quit for the day. But any dog can do a two or three-minute down stay. So if you quickly mutter Ok as your dog starts to pop up from the down or lift his rump when he's supposed to be on a sit stay, you are fooling no one, least of all your dog. Unfortunately, he'll be the one to eventually pay for your mistake. His training will not be reliable if you "cheat" so that he "looks good." And then when you need the training to be absolutely reliable so that you can use it to save your dog's life, it won't be there, so do not cheat.