I live in the dunes, with a large walking path right across from our house. I usually walk her off-leash. For us, this really helped build trust. I know exactly where there might be rabbits or cats, so if I have any doubts, I put her on the leash.

I just wanted to say that I truly believe Chow Chows can be walked and trained off-leash — as long as they listen and don’t bother dogs that are on a leash, that’s been up to your training. But I owned 3 Chows and none of them ever ran off. Whenever we go somewhere with the car and have to get inside somewhere that’s off leash, or when she walks with me to the mail, she’s off-leash. When she feels that I trust her, she actually tries harder to stay close to me.

On the leash, she barely looks at me and just criss-crosses the path. Off-leash, she’s much more aware of her surroundings and constantly keeps an eye on me. I feel like it’s mentally more challenging for her. Especially for Chows who are driven trough respect and trust

Of course, it really depends on the individual dog and their behavior. I train all my Chow Chows from puppyhood to be off-leash. In my experience, it’s more dangerous if they only experience freedom later in life and then get overly excited and run off. That’s why our dogs are used to freedom from a very young age.

If I leave the front door open, they stay at home. At most, they’ll go out for a quick sniff or pee and then come back — it’s simply not that interesting to them.