04/09/2026
🐾 Why I’m not rushing Dottie’s freedom… 🐾
Dottie is now 5 months old, and although she’s doing brilliantly with her training, I’m deliberately going to keep using a longline while we continue building her reliability.
A longline isn’t a punishment and it certainly doesn’t mean a dog is “bad at recall”. It’s a training and management tool that allows a dog to explore, sniff and experience freedom while still giving us a safety net.
One of the biggest mistakes I see with young dogs is giving them too much freedom too soon.
A puppy may have a lovely recall at 4–5 months because they naturally want to stay close to you. Then adolescence arrives… 👀
Their confidence grows. Their independence grows. Their interest in the environment grows.
Suddenly the dog discovers that:
🐶 Other dogs are REALLY exciting
🌿 That smell over there is far more interesting
🐿️ Wildlife exists!
🏃♀️ Running is brilliant fun
👃 There are apparently 47,000 smells worth investigating
😂 And sometimes listening to me isn’t quite as exciting as it used to be!
This is where previously reliable puppies can appear to “lose” their recall.
They haven’t necessarily forgotten their training the environment has simply become more rewarding and their developmental stage has changed.
That’s why I want Dottie’s freedom to increase alongside her training and maturity, rather than expecting her to cope with situations she isn’t ready for yet.
Using a longline means I can practise recall around distractions, reward the behaviours I want, allow her to explore and gradually increase her freedom without allowing her to rehearse ignoring me or running off.
Because every time a dog successfully ignores their recall and gets to carry on doing something incredibly rewarding, they’re learning that ignoring the cue works.
Instead, I want Dottie to learn that coming back to me never means the fun has to end and that checking in with me is always worthwhile.
There will absolutely be plenty of off-lead freedom in Dottie’s future. ❤️
But I’m in no rush.
Freedom should be built on reliability, not age.
Sometimes the most responsible thing we can do for a young dog is give them less freedom now, so they can safely enjoy more freedom later.
