I sometimes let Callie walk loose, but have trained her to go immediately in a down position if I yell "car". If we're power-walking - it's always on the leash.

Has your heart-rate come back to normal??

Oh no! How scary!

We walk our dog off-leash, but only on the trails thru the woods on our property (25 acres). Whenever she is off our property, she's on the leash all the time.

Here is a link that might be useful: our dog walking circuit

never!!! I think they would come to me if I called them, but mine aren't well behaved enough to completely trust them. There is one man who walks his little princess and whenever a car is coming anywhere near the man says halt and Pretzel gets on the curb and sits still until he tells her to go.

I would have had a heart attack on the spot! I let my dog run free in our fenced yard, but when she is beyond the gate she has to be on a leash.
Clare

The part Jack Russel that I've been dogsitting loves it here on the farm, as she can run all over the place, at whatever speed suits her.

Running through the drifts on the field, with snow flying from each side when her chest hits a drift.

She thought that this was a great place - they have cats to chase!

Her owner came out today and took her home.

ole joyful

I would never let my dogs out of the yard off leash.
And our city has a very strict leash law. The first offense is a $100 fine!
It only takes a few seconds for something to happen if you don't have total control. I'm not willing to take that chance.

Heck no. They don't listen at all. They've gotten loose on a few occasions and it is miserable chasing them around trying to catch them. They think it's a game and it
pi^%es me off beyond belief.

The first half of our walk is off leash. We live on the outskirts of town with little or no traffic. When we have to cross the highway and on part of the second half of the walk thru town, yes it's on leash. I trust my dog, it's the drivers and the loose dogs I don't trust. The "catty-corner" neighbor called the cops on me TWICE for having my dog off leash. Says my dog does her business in HER yard. Sorry, not true. It helps to be on a first name basis with the chief of police. We had a really good chat,(she was watching the whole time and fuming!!!) I showed him my poop bags and showed him how reliable my dog is on recalls, and the jist of the conversation was: "just get out of her sight". We have shown in agility for almost 8 years and her response time in incredible. I can call her off cats. Our loop is a good 3 miles and I only have to have her on leash for about a mile. It's nice living in a small town!!

No way!!! That's as scary as letting Grant walk across the street by himself.

Dakota is a good dog but she has major selective hearing at times. Aside from it being very unsafe, I cannot trust that she would come to me if I called for her. She's way too curious.

The thought of her being off leash scares me. I was even nervous to take her off the leash at a dog park!! And it's totally confined. LOL

We live in the country and Molly walks on our property..She has a big fenced yard but we let her out onto our 5 acres She romps and runs and chases anything and everything from buzzards in the sky to rabbit and deer in our fields...she can only go so far because the property is fenced...on the side where the drive way is, there used to be an old fence and gate. we taught Molly to sit and wait for permission to go any farther...so she never goes out into the street...she has no gate or fence but she knows where she has to stop and she will not go any further...She does the same thing at the house...we have a door from the house that goes to a screened porch...we like to open it to let air flow through, she isn't allowed to come in the house without permission....she is an inside dog now but we taught her this back in the day when we had a lot of mud in the new yard when our house was new. Now she just knows she can't cross certain boundaries without permission...Australian Shepherds are the worlds smartest dogs...ok we think so.

Jaggs is only off leash in our yard or in a space that is large, open and no where near traffic. He is very good on a leash, but off leash if he were to see a cat or squirrel he'd be gone in a flash and would immediately forget all commands including COME!
Cars and dogs that are prey driven? Not a good idea!

Our town has a very strict leash law so Jake is never off leash. Hopefully, the dog park will open by fall. Some kind person donated $40,000, we raised $10,000 and the City put in $50,000.

Alway off the leash, living out in the sticks has its benifits. The listen to us except like today when dh and I are trying to get a calf to suck on her mom. I'm telling Abbie to go home and of course her little ears go down and she sits by the barn like she can't leave me near a cow without her.

I did learn my lesson last fall when I took her into town. I went into the eye doctor for about three mins. My van was parked out front in clear view of the front desk. I left the window open 1/3 the way thinking she will get a breeze but she won't jump out. I was wrong.
She cries when I leave her even for a minute out in the car. Now she only goes if someone else is along for the ride. No use in making her unhappy and unsafe.

Heck, even my CATS are not allowed outside without a leash!

No never and my dogs are well behaved off leash. I don't leash them just to go for a ride and they will follow me outside when I go to the mailbox or something like that but that's it.