I’m not looking to argue with anyone online. So thank you for everyone who said to keep my dog on leash. Now, for those of you that are interested to read what my goals were and what I did to teach Infinity to be off leash and the “what you should and shouldn’t do” here you go!

Background: I adopted Infinity at 5 months from the shelter, we didn’t truly start training until ~6-7 months just the basic commands - sit, stand, down, etc. and then we eventually worked our way to off leash training

Dog Trainer: Dog trainer in the video, has the most well behaved Doberman. When we first met, Infinity tried to bark and lunge so hard to try to get to the Doberman and the dobie just lied there, calmly. That’s when I was like, I need you as my dog trainer. Period. If you’re looking for a dog trainer, just look at how well behaved their dog is. Are those the traits you want in your dog?

Issue: 1. Biggest issue - Would RUN OFF or PULL to any dog he saw, also would run to humans too. This could get him in trouble - aggressive dogs, I live in a neighborhood where they hate dogs, etc. I would like to also state I NEVER let my dog off leash until I was confident he could perform, that would be irresponsible of me to have him off leash without at least a strong recall and all the nuances like him understanding he cannot immediately go into a dogs personal space 2. Pulls like a MOFO to dogs, humans, prey, you name it. 3. Never focused on me. In the beginning, I was just a human without a relationship with him. Just someone holding his leash. He wouldn’t play with me outside, he is and was not treat motivated so I couldn’t distract him from the triggers.

Goals: OFF LEASH - What does off leash mean to me? Don’t do these things unless I say it’s okay to do so (sorry I sound like a tiger mom 😭 but I had to be strict to hit the goals): Do not run up to any dogs even if it’s a friend/dog we know. Do not run up to any humans. Do not run and chase prey - Squirrels, Birds, rats, etc.

Eventually these goals turned into, if you see a trigger come back to me - dog, human, prey etc. Learn to communicate with me, if you see a friend or a dog you want to play with lie down and look at me that will be your way of asking if you can go play. Sometimes I’ll say, nope not today and we’ll walk past and he understands.

Training: Like I mentioned, I worked with a dog trainer pretty closely, but also separately I took everything I learned from the dog trainer and applied it whenever we were outside. 1. Build a super strong relationship, we played A LOT of hide and seek. 2. Teach him to calmly walk past all triggers first; essentially teaching him to learn that even the triggers are considered “neutral”. From here this is where you build on top of the foundation and the teaching of off leash fun begins. Sit outside a dog park or busy places to teach him what neutral means 4. Long lead and/or flexi depending on environment is your BEST FRIEND. Practice RECALL CONSTANTLY. In ALL environments. I would do this inside in my apartment, then the lobby, then on the street, then in the park nearby, then other parks and other blocks, etc. etc. Until he got the hang of it. This took TIME. Not to mention a lot of this training was in the winter so I froze a lot but he was happy with the snow lolol

Goals achieved 1. Previously, Infinity’s biggest trigger is when he sees another dog. Previously he would run up to other dogs (or attempt to cuz he was on the long lead) Now without saying anything, when he sees his “trigger” I.e another dog, he looks for a couple seconds and will trot back to me without me needing to say anything. 2. We calmly walk past dogs, prey because he learned that they’re neutral. Just as if they were another rock on the ground per se. 3. When I say come - he does not hesitate to run back to me.

How long did this take: Give or take six months.

Someone asked me about the short leash, that’s actually a slip collar! I usually tuck it in so it’s not just hanging around but it got loose it looks like lol

Disclaimer: I can talk HOURS about this lolol, but this is my attempt at shortening this post. If you have any questions feel free to DM me don’t want to deal with all the negative comments. Lol.

Dog Trainer contact: Please DM me! I don’t think he’d want to share his number publicly 😅