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Hey Allie,
I have been having very similar thoughts lately when it comes to freedom, welfare and “let the dog be a dog”. I live in the countryside and in my close neighborhood there are plenty of places where we can go for walks without a leash and we don’t meet anyone then. I love to give my dogs freedom, but my thoughts always revolve around safety, and even though KJ has a great time running through the woods with Koka, I still don’t get as much pleasure from these walks as I should (or as much as I do from being on a walk only with Koka) (I let them loose every day on a walk anyway but I choose my spots carefully 😀 ) Why? Precisely because of safety. During walks I have eyes all around my head and constantly check if someone is walking along the same path or if a deer runs out from behind a tree. Of course, this is a transitional period until KJ is reliable with recall (I am currently starting conditioning punisher with her). Do you go for walks in the neighborhood with Vetra without a leash or not yet? I mean rather quiet places where there is no competitive motivation, distractions, etc.
I have clients who are already quite far along in their training (e.g., avoidance conditioning in phase 2) and they never let their dogs loose even in quiet places (customers from the “countryside” more often let their dogs run loose, because it is “normal” for them to have a dog running loose, such a mentality). I myself also never advise them to do so until they finish phase 3, even though I often see that a dog would “not run away” from its owner when let loose – I don’t advise it precisely because of safety and the unfortunate consequences of my “advice.
