I read another interesting article in the New York Times last Sunday. It's a topic of interest for dog lovers and to those poor souls that don't share our loveof shaggy beasts.

The article covered the conrtoversy around allowing dogs to run off leash in various city, county and state parks in the area around New York. This is not a regiounal issue, by the way. Even here, in my back water of New Mexico the "rights" of dog owners versus non dog owners is front and center.

You would think I'd be firmly in the dog owners camp on this one. After all, I walk Miles up on Boston Hill every chance I get and as soon as we hit the trail off goes the leash.

Unfortunately it's not as simple as that.

I have reservations about off leash dogs and they come from personal experience. In one case it involved Miles. We were taking an early morning walk in the Aldo Leopold Wilderness a couple of years ago. Miles was off leash and we were walking to a spring to get some water. Fortunately, I saw the Elk Calf lying flat in the grass seconds before Miles did. I jumped on him, grabbing his collar just as the calf got up and trotted off. I had a rodeo on my hands, but it would have been much worse for the calf if Miles had caught her.

Dogs will chase and kill wildlife if they get the chance and that's not good.

On another occasion I was riding my mountain bike up on Boston Hill and came across an aggressive dog off leash. It was scary and I'm a dog person and a Vet. Imagine if you weren't a dog person, an affliction shared by many people by the way.

There is nothing more fun for many of us than watching our dogs run free. Miles loves an unfettered romp as much as I do and I'm not sure what I'd do if local authorities clamped down on leash laws.

The artlcle in the Times mentioned that in Boulder Colorado dogs have to pass a recall and obedience test to be allowed off leash. That seems like a reasonable compromise to me. If you can document that you can control your dog and that he's not a danger to other dogs, wild animals or people you should be able to exercise off leash.

The keys here are good socialization and teaching reliable recall. Recall is what trainers call the "come" command.

Teaching recall is one of the most important lessons you can give your dog. It can be done if you do it right and if you practice. Not only can you teach your pooch to come from across the living room, you can teach them to come in the face of temptation like other dogs or even a running squirrel.

The key is to use properly timed rewards and repetition. For my money, clicker training is the way to go as with most obedience lessons.

To get started take a look at this teaser link from the clicker site. They go over the basics, including pitfalls to avoid and there is a good teaser video that shows the early behavior shaping process. The best bet is to enroll in a clicker class and to practice lots at home in between.

Recall can save your dog's life. If you teach one thing, teach good recall.