I'm changing her name

[Michael's Maggie May]

I'm changing her name from Maggie May to runsthruthewoods. I thought I could trust her after leading her to and from back door with a leash for over a year, but oh no first chance she gets its either a Zoomie in the house or a catch me if you can. After six or seven NO NOs she'll come close enough for me to catch her. I just have to make sure I have shoes and underwear on so the neighbors don't see me in my bathrobe.All in fun, I love it.

[CoraP.]

I know what you mean. I still don't even attempt to let Molly off leash. I just had too many instances with Bear when he wouldn't listen to try it with her. If there is something they want to do, they will do it no matter what.

[gebower]

Believe me, I know exacty what you are talking about. I chased my male Chow, Max for a half hour after he wriggled out of a flat webbed collar. This was 3 in the morning. I had to wave people down so they didn't run over him. It was a nightmare. Thanks very much to a litterbug, Max got a paper cup with a little milk shake left in it. He took that to the sidewalk and began licking it out and I grabbed him. The thing with Chows is they can stay just a head of you ALL DAY LONG and won't even be tired. I was 59 years old. And my other Chow Zeena, snapped her collar at a rest area, and it was another half hour to get her. She came very close to dieing. She went down the ditch there to the expressway, where they are traveling 80 miles an hour as you know, and I thought that was it. My wife called her again and she came back. We have nightmares about our Chows getting out. I have a large fenced in yard with the house in the center and we park our cars inside. Two driveway gates and one walk gate. This is ALWAYS on our mind, open the gate and the Chows better be in the house. Some Chows are adventerous and some aren't.
I had a male Chow that could care less about running. He'd sit on the porch with us with no fence or tie-out.

Gene.

[CoraP.]

I have yet to experience that, Gene!

[Michael's Maggie May]

One of the reasons I hit the gym a couple of times a week, take yoga lessons is to catch miss
runthruthewoods. I turned 70 last Oct and she made me run through neighbors back yards barefoot. finally caught her behind a house and did not know the neighbor. They came outside found me panting on my knees, got her by the scruff of the neck completely out of breath. I asked for a leash for I knew they were dog owners, cuts on my feet and still talking about it.

[chowpups]

I too have had those stories all of the above and my nightmare is the cars that might not see her. My neighbors have named her foxy.. They said she's so quick it looks like a fox running through the yards with the white tail waving.. but then they know its Nikki cause there is a little chubby lady running behind yelling grab that dog.. PLease.. We haven't had any escapes lately. Thank God cause my knees just won't do that kind of cross country anymore..

[LUV_a_CHOW_PUP]

I have read that Chows are very independent. They think they can take care of themselves and thats why they run away if off leash. I personally will not let mine off his leash ever!! ( when i get him)

[chowpups]

We too don't let Nikki off leash but be prepared for escapes.. They can happen no matter how careful everyone is if you have alot of traffic in your house.. And plus we found out this year Nikki likes to dig under the fence and get those pesty little chipmunks.. (her prey instinct kicked in this yr.) Shes fine in the fenced yard, doesn't bother digging until the critters are there teasing.. so we reinforced the ground with belgium blocks.. that stopped her ...

[Victory]

And a leash can fail as well, Firesong and Dreamdancer have both gotten off leash, when the J hook on their leashes has opened on branches or other things they brush against when we are out on walks, this happens more easily when they are walking nicely on a loose leash, the J hook tab catches on something, and slips off the ring on their harness and they are loose. Lucky for me, Dreamdancer only ever follows Firesong, and Firesong has actually learned a fair recall these days, (it only took 7 years!). But those are a few exceptions and when it happens to many times, (more than twice) with any leash I replace the leash. I live 1/2 a mile from Downtown Minneapolis and am surrounded by very busy streets, letting them off leash even if they walked at a perfect heel and had perfect recall, wouldn't be something I'd do. It would only take a split second for them to decide that going after the squirrel across the street would be worth the scolding they'd get from Mom. They'd never see the car coming and even if they did they wouldn't know it was dangerous.

Frankly in a city I don't think any canine should ever be off leash, even the best trained and responsive dog can get a notion to bolt, from fear or something like that. St. Paul, Minnesota has one of the top K-9 police units in the country and they will tell you that no dog even theirs can really be trusted off leash, that's why they use long leads with their dogs and only let them off when they are really chasing someone, they know the dog will stop once they've caught the person, but before then, nope not going to happen. They also warn that most canines have a short memory when they are chasing something, and once they get a certain distance from you, they forget all about you and concentrate solely on what they are chasing.