Do Not Let Your Dog Off Leash If They Have Terrible Recall
Introduction
As summer approaches, I get more and more worried about being able to take Levi to parks. There are so many off leash dogs with terrible recall. In the past week I’ve had two off leash dog issues that could have easily been prevented. Today I wanted to talk about both of those experiences and discuss what could have been done differently.
The First Off Leash Dog
The first time I’ve ever had an off leash dog run at Levi and I was earlier this past week. We were at a large sports park with multiple baseball fields. There were two guys with their two dogs taking up a field and the entire pathway. The dogs were off leash and playing together. Levi and I chose the adjacent field and I brought him all the way to the corner. We were playing fetch and I was throwing the frisbee away from the other dogs, further into the corner. We were more than one baseball field length away from them, which should have easily been enough. The guys were not watching their dogs carefully and one of the dogs spotted Levi and I. He ran to Levi and I and I immediately grabbed Levi by the collar. The dog came up to Levi and I as I yelled to the owner “Recall your dog! Mine’s not friendly!”. After repeatedly calling his dog and the dog ignoring him, it finally turned away from us and trotted back to his owner, however not before stealing Levi’s frisbee toy. The dog’s owner had to throw the frisbee back toward Levi and I but he couldn’t get it close enough to us. I decided to put Levi in a down and retrieve the fribee toy on my own. Levi stayed in his down until I released him and we went back to playing. The dog owner clearly couldn’t control his dog and he decided to leash the dog and tie it to the equipment he left on the pathway. They all left about 10 minutes later.
It was lucky that the dog was friendly and Levi didn’t freak out as much as he could have. Levi lunged and growled at the dog once but I was able to put myself between him and the dog. This situation could have easily been avoided. In my case, I should have picked a field farther away, I thought I had created enough distance but it clearly wasn’t enough. In the dog owners case, he never should have had his dog off leash if it didn’t listen to recall. It doesn’t matter that his dog was friendly, you never know if the other dog is and what could happen.
Yesterday with a Friend
My second off leash dog experience was definitely worse than the first. Levi and I were at the park with a friend and her dog who is also reactive. We were in the corner of a field bigger than a soccer field minding our own business and we were the on my ones on the field. A lady arrived with her dog and she dropped the leash as soon as she arrived on the field. Rather than going to an open area, she decides to stop right near us and then proceeded to throw her dog’s ball at us. The dog seemed to ignore us so my friend and I decided to just walk elsewhere so give our dogs space. As we were walking away, the lady’s dog spotted us and ran over to us. This dog’s owner just let it happen and slowly began walking over to grab her dog. It wasn’t until my friend yelled “Get your dog! Ours are not friendly!” that she picked up the pace to a speedy walk. My friend unfortunately slipped so she was holding her dog by his harness as the lady’s dog circled them. While the dog seemed to be trying to play, my friend’s dog was barking and lunging at the dog. This went on for seemingly forever before the dog turned to come to Levi and I. I had Levi leashed by this point and I was holding him by his collar to keep him behind me out of the dog’s reach. Finally the lady came to grab her dog. My friend told her not to let her dog off leash if it had bad recall and the lady simply walked away. She actually left the park after this. My friend and I were of course upset but mostly upset for our dogs. They had been having a great time in the park and were both not reacting to anything. After this happened, both of our dogs were extremely frazzled and continue to be a day later.
This entire situation could have easily been avoided and it’s really a shame it had to happen. My friend and I were very responsible with our dogs and had been there for hours before. Levi was off leash but he has very good recall and wears an e-collar in case while my friend had her dog on a long line because he doesn’t have good recall. Both of us were making responsible choices, meanwhile this lady could have easily avoided this issue by not letting her dog off leash, deciding to pick right next to us to play, and not throwing a ball at us. Her sense of urgency was so slow and there is so much that could have happened in that short time. Her dog could have easily been bitten by one of our dogs and it could have turned into a dog fight. We were also in a public park where she would have been held liable for letting her dog loose if anything had happened. It was so easily preventable and my friend and I found it so frustrating that this happened.
Conclusion
This is a bit more of a story time and rant but in conclusion, don’t let your dog off leash if they have terrible recall. Even if your dog is friendly, you have no idea if the other dogs are. Having your dog leashed or training them with reliable recall could save your dog from a nasty bite wound or even a full on dog fight.
