Leashin' the Smart Dog

When I go on hikes with my pup, if no one is around, I let Pixar off the leash to run around and explore. I know that is illegal, so sue me (please don't, I don't have money to pay lawyers or court fees). I let him off because is is fairly well behaved and will listen (for the most part) when I call him. I have done this in the Redmond Dry Canyon quite a bit, especially because you can see people coming at quite a distance. When we are alone, I make sure Pixar is semi-close but let him explore a bit. If he gets too far, I tell him to stop and he (usually) waits for me. He knows that if he gets too far and does not listen, he goes back on the leash for a while. He and I have gotten pretty good at this. Usually, I am the one that notices people first, before he does and I call him back and he walks/runs back to me and I put the leash on while we walk past others and then when we are at a good distance, I let him off again, if the path is clear of people.

Well, I was thinking this last hike day (last Saturday) that it would be awesome if Pix had learned this and just on instinct would see others on the trail when we was off the leash and would walk back to me without me saying anything... that happened this morning.

Pixar and I were walking nice and early around the neighborhood. In the summer, we would walk down to the High School back field grass and I would let him run free because it is fenced. This morning, I was worried that there were going to be HSers walking in the field because we were walking before school. We got away from most of the students that I saw and so I let Pix off the leash to run in the grass. I was watching him and not around us and he saw a young lady walking into the field and he looked back at me and started walking back to me. Then, instantly I knew something was different, looked up to see the young lady and quickly leashed him again. I was so impressed with my pup.

Right after I had thought how cool it would be if he just knew to do that, he did it. I have a smart dog. I just hope it was not a one time thing and he'll do it again. I think he will.