New to off-leash life, how to approach it?
TL;DR my question is this: what do people who allow their dogs off leash illegally do to mitigate risks and ensure others don't feel uncomfortable?
Now the details:
We've done a ton of work with our dog-reactive/frutrated cockapoo mix. He is doing outstanding, with a huge reduction in dog reactivity, and we layered in an ecollar a few months ago for off-leash reliability. I can recall him off squirrels, other dogs, etc. Recently, we've started going out to large fields in the early hours for some fetch, which he's really enjoying. Honestly, having this new outlet is doing wonders for his reactivity. Yesterday, after about 15 minutes of fetch, we passed like 6 dogs, and he couldn't have given less of a shit.
I did a quick search to figure out where else locally might be good for some off-leash enjoyment, and really, the only legal place to do that is dog parks unless I want to drive an hour into some wilderness areas that allow off-leash.
I also quickly discovered that many people in my city are furious about the amount of off-leash dogs. It seems that mostly the problem is that the dogs off leash don't have recall, which ours 100% does.
I share this frustration too: yesterday we had a big friendly goof of a dog lumber up to us, while its owner called its name over and over behind it to no avail. It was fine, but I had to use a pet corrector to get the dog to fuck off. I really don't want my dog socializing with other dogs unless it's in a controlled environment, because he's come a long way, and I want baby steps. He's doing so much better, but we don't do dog parks, and I won't be allowing him to socialize with random dogs we encounter on the trail or at the beach, etc.
It kind of doesn't sit well with me that I'm doing something "illegal" that may be making others feel unsafe. So I'm trying to find what a happy medium is, knowing that I'm taking a risk (of getting a citation), having my dog off-leash. My ground rules for this are:
No off-leash when other dogs are close enough for an interaction to occur. I carry pet corrector to let any approaching, ill-trained dogs know that they are not welcome, and I also carry pepper spray in case it's ever needed.
No off-leash with kids or people nearby (e.g., we're not playing fetch near children running around or people enjoying a picnic).
No off-leash close to streets.
If other people, dogs, etc approach, recall and leash. (Good training opportunity anyway!)
How do others responsibly mitigate risks from enjoying off-leash time in areas they're not supposed to be doing it in?
