When it comes to owning a dog, many dog owners say it’s the most fulfilling yet stressful part of their life. Owning a dog is both a joy and makes you want to pull your hair out at times. We’ve all either come home to find couch pillows ruined, food containers knocked over or other messes caused by our furry friends. But, most dog owners wouldn’t trade it for the world. In fact, owning a dog has been known to make people happier and have a positive impact on people’s health. The proof is in the pudding here — an overwhelming majority of U.S. households claim they have a dog. That’s probably due to dogs’ personalities. Dogs are naturally happy animals, eager to serve and live out their goodest-boy lives. They like to explore the world with their humans, sometimes getting into trouble along the way. If you’ve been wondering how you can travel more easily with your furry companion, we’ve put together this guide to train your dog off-leash so that you can make traveling together much easier, staying happy and content together. From deciding whether to choose a harness vs. collar and which commands they’ll need to know first, we’ll cover it all. Reasons You Should Train Your Dog Off-Leash Does your dog need to be off-leash? Not really. Is it helpful? Absolutely! When your dog knows how to be off-leash, they can travel with you, go on walks with you and even visit the dog park with less fanfare than usual. Of course, there are some places that will require your dog to be leashed, no matter how well trained they are. Here are some of the main reasons you should train your dog off-leash: Ease: When your dog is trained off-leash, it’s much easier for them and you. You don’t have to juggle holding their leash with anything else, and they are free to enjoy a nice walk or trot without you holding them back. Comfort: Dogs naturally walk at a faster pace than we do. It makes complete sense when you think about it, though — they’re on four legs instead of two! Some dog breeds were built for speed too. Because of this, your dog being trained off-leash means they can walk a bit ahead of you without you thinking they’re running away. When they’re trained off-leash, you know they’ll come back to you when you call them over. Trust: Training your dog off-leash is the ultimate symbol of trust between you and your dog. They trust that you won’t let them wander into danger, and you trust that they’ll return to you when you call for them. One of the best reasons to train your dog off-leash is to show how much trust you have in each other. Considering dogs are some of the most loyal companions humans have, this is a really big deal to accomplish together. Browse Our Silicone Pet Tags Preparing to Train Your Dog Off-Leash When you decide that you and your dog are ready to train off-leash, there are a few things you’ll need to do. Here are some of the first steps you should take when training your dog off-leash: Establish a schedule Off-leash training doesn’t happen overnight. Instead, it takes time. Establish a schedule for your off-leash training that gives you the opportunity to really work with your furry companion but doesn’t drain either of you. A couple of hours once a week is a good commitment to start with. This way, when you feel ready to take things to the next level, you can increase the frequency of your training but decrease the amount of time spent. Learn the commands you’ll need to know We’ll go over commands more in-depth in a bit, but before you start training you’ll want to learn the commands yourself and decide what type of positive reinforcement you want to use. Treats are always a good option, but some dog owners like to use head pats, belly rubs or other consistent tokens as a way to show their dog some positive reinforcement for learning or obeying the command. Your dog looks to you for guidance, so it’s important you go into their off-leash training with confidence. Invest in safety gear A good dog owner has all sorts of gear available to keep their pupper safe — no matter their age. A harness, collar, and our Tile for pets are all safety essentials you should have prior to starting off-leash training. Some dog owners are split on whether or not you should use a harness or collar, but we here at QALO believe that you can never be too safe, so having both the harness and collar on hand are good ideas. As you progress in your off-leash training, you may need the harness less and less, but you’ll always need the collar. Plus, there may be times where you’ll need a leash, and using a harness with a leash is always better than just a collar and a leash. Our TraQ tags are a unique first-ever trackable dog tag we created with our friends over at Tile — using state-of-the-art Bluetooth technology, you can track your dog within range using an app on your phone. This is perfect when off-leash training (and even beyond!) because if your dog runs away or gets lost, you can find them when you’re both within range of each other. Updating their microchip with your most accurate contact information is always a good idea before starting off-leash training too! Consult your vet Your dog’s vet holds a world of knowledge — they did go to vet school, after all. Consulting with them will help you better understand your dogs’ temperament, likely training timeline and even if your dog is built for off-leash training. Dogs bred for hunting are usually much better at off-leash training than those that are not, mainly because their sole purpose is to go fetch prey and bring it back to their human. However, all dogs are trainable, so your vet can walk you through some additional tips for working with your specific breed. Commands to Know to Train Your Dog Off-Leash Here are some of the most common commands you’ll want to memorize when training your dog off-leash. With these commands, your dog will be able to go with you to a variety of places without needing their leash: Sit A classic command, dogs both on-leash and off-leash should know this one. Mastering the sit command means that your dog is sitting on their bottom waiting for your next command. Stay Stay means that they don’t leave your side. This would usually be followed after the sit command so that your dog isn’t waiting for further instruction. If your dog can successfully learn to stay, then they’re ready to learn some of the more advanced commands for off-leash training. No Your dog should know the command “no” and also listen when you give the command. Usually they’ll look back at you expecting further command, which is where the “heel” command comes into play. Heel The heel command has two separate parts. No matter what, the heel command is the most important in off-leash training and, often, the last one learned. When you give the heel command, that’s you telling your dog to come by your side and stay there with you. However, there is a slight difference in your movement that impacts your dog’s behavior. If you’re moving and tell your dog to heel, then they’ll come by your side, stay by your side and walk with you. If you tell them to heel but you’re standing still, then they should come to your side, stay by it and sit. This is why building the successful mastery of the other commands is so important. If your dog doesn’t know the sit command, then how will they successfully learn to heel? Of course, there are lots of other commands you can teach your dog, but if you’re looking to off-leash train your dog efficiently and quickly, these are the most common they’ll need to know. Places You Can Take Your Dog Off-Leash Once your dog has learned to listen and honor off-leash commands, now they’re ready for some off-leashing with you! Here are some of the places you can take your dog off-leash to put your training into practice: The beach The beach is a popular destination for off-leashing with your dog. While many beaches have leashing requirements on boardwalks and during busy seasons, there are times or areas where you can take your dog off-leash. Smaller beaches and the winter season are usually the best times to visit the beach and take your dog off-leash. If you have a friend who lives in a beach neighborhood, they often have specific beach access points that are restricted for residents and are sometimes not under the same rules as public access beaches. Check with your beach-life friends to see if you’d be able to take your dog off-leash on their neighborhood beach! Camping While many national parks allow dogs these days, most still require your dog to be leashed on hiking trails. This is usually to keep other humans, dogs and wildlife safe. Even if your dog is well trained, that doesn’t mean others’ dogs are. However, many of the campsites allow dogs to be off-leash, especially if the park allows open camping in more desolate areas. A good rule when off-leashing is to pay attention to how densely populated is the area you’re at. The more people, the less likely it is that you should be off-leashing. Since camping with your dog can run some general risks and sometimes leads to poor cell service areas, investing in a pet ID tag QR code is a great idea. Our QR dog tags store all the necessary contact info and personal info on your pup that anyone can access just by scanning the code with the camera on their device. The dog park While dogs are always allowed off-leash at the dog park, you can have a less stressful experience at the dog park knowing your dog’s trained off-leash. Your dog will listen when you call them over to heel instead of you having to chase them down all over the park. It’ll make going to the dog park a breeze — and you’ll want to take them every weekend! Who knows? It might even encourage other dog owners to train their dogs off-leash as well. Seasonal fields There are often different seasonal field attractions throughout the year. Whether it’s sunflowers, pumpkin patches, cornfields or even strawberries, you might be able to take your dog off leash at any of those places when it’s during a less busy part of the day. Usually weekdays and the middle of the day are good times to try to bring your dog off-leash. It’s a good time to use the “no” command as well — they might want to sniff and bite at some of the things they see, but you can easily call them off. The Bottom Line Like we said earlier, you don’t always need to train your dog to be off-leash. If your dog has a habit of running away, has never done well with command training or just generally isn’t the kind of dog to do activities with you that could be off-leash, then trying to train them might be a waste of your time. However, if you think your dog would enjoy being off-leash with you on road trips or on walks around the neighborhood, then you can always give off-leashing a try. Image Credits Switlana Sonyashna/Shutterstock.com Darren William Hall/Shutterstock.com Grisha Bruev/Shutterstock.com veronchick_84/Shutterstock.com encierro/Shutterstock.com