How to Keep Your Dog Safe Outdoors Without a Leash

A leash restrains your dog, but restricts him as well — to a 6 foot orbit, to running at full speed — to exploring the way dogs want to explore. Most owners accept this compromise as the norm because otherwise it seems like too much trouble. Safety off leash isn’t a matter of whether to use a leash or pray.

It’s a system: training in recall, communication tools, and technology to connect them. This article addresses all three and introduces the new MimofPet, a 2-in-1 device that can be used as a wireless safety fence as well as a remote training collar, all with just one collar and remote.

The Importance of Recall in the Wild

The most critical safety skill that an off-leash dog needs to have is recall. It’s also the one that most owners think about until they need it when there is a lot of distraction. 

According to the American Kennel Club Recall Guide, Reliable recall means your dog responds to your enthusiastic call and comes to you nearly every single time you call him – with a consistency and reliability close to 99.99%, even with distractions. 

Why Backyard Recall Doesn’t Transfer Automatically

Recall in a low distraction setting is what you have taught your dog when called in your backyard. The same dog in a forest, near a creek or at a campground with other dogs will have a totally different level of competing stimuli. Recall training in familiar circumstances is impaired as a function of how unusual the situation is, not because the dog is misbehaving, but because the cue was not trained to compete in that situation.

How to Build Recall That Holds Under Pressure

Progressive distraction training: It is essential that dogs recall reliably well when they are in low distraction settings – with a lot of reinforcement – then it is important to systematically introduce high levels of distraction in a controlled environment, so that they can be exposed in real life. Several guidelines that can make a difference:

• Do not link recall to negative consequences. When saying your dog’s name to make them do something that they don’t like (bath, end of play, crate), your dog learns that responding results in things ending. Ensure positive recall consistently in outdoor settings.
• Learn to use it when you don’t need it. When off-leash, call your dog back, reward lots and let them go right back out. This reminds us that remembrance does not lead to loss of liberty.
• Recall training using tools that will be used in the field. If your dog is only responding to verbal cues, there’s a chance that he won’t hear or feel the tone or vibration when you need him to. Use all of your devices from the beginning.

Gentle Behavioral Feedback: Communicating Without Intimidating 

If your voice doesn’t reach your dog — or verbal cues aren’t effective against a high distraction moment — a feedback collar provides you with a method to communicate at a distance with your dog. The aim is to communicate, not to punish.

see GPS Dog Fences vs. Wireless RF Fences: Which is Better for Off-Grid Hiking?.

Tone and Vibration First

Modern training collars have a graduated progression of correction beginning well before static stimulation. One such tool with adjustable static correction is Mimofpet GT1 which is an advanced 2-in-1 wireless electric dog fence and remote training collar. 

The MimofPet GT1 is based on the same principle:

• Beep / Ultrasonic: An audible tone or ultrasonic frequency that the dog learns to relate to a certain command – return, stop, boundary warning. After regular training many dogs will respond solely to tone.
• Vibration (0-9): The perception of vibration at the collar level, accompanying the audio cue. Can be set on nine different levels depending on the size and sensitivity of the dog: a small, gentle dog and a big working dog have a different sensitivity level that requires an adjustment of the setting to achieve the same signal.

Tone and vibration are all that’s necessary for a great many dogs. There is never a need for static correction at all if these modes are used regularly in training.

Adjustable Static Correction: Minimum Effective Level

Tone and vibrations are not always caught — when it gets to the boundary, a dog in prey drive will be going at full speed, which is where the GT1’s adjustable static correction kicks in, ranging from 0-30 levels; the owner can also choose to turn it off altogether, in a non-shock mode. It’s simple, always begin at the lowest effective level, not a default middle level. Each breed may differ on their responses, a sensitive breed might require level 2 and a high-drive working dog might require level 8. Both aim for the lowest level which clearly communicates — not the level that makes a dog uncomfortable.

Important: the correction sequence is always the same: 3 beep automatic warnings, followed by 5 beep and vibration warnings, and only if the dog continues, then the static warning. That sequence is predictable, that’s how it’s learnable. When a dog learns the pattern, it will react to the first beep, before any other cue is given.

2-in-1 Systems for Maximum Freedom: The MimofPet GT1

Most containment systems address the passive safety issue: They automatically respond when your dog gets near a boundary. The active communication problem is addressed by most remote training collars: They allow you to send a direct signal at any time. Very few do both from a single device.

The MimofPet GT1 does. It combines a wireless safety fence and a remote training collar into a single collar-and-remote device, so there is no need to carry and control a wireless safety fence as well as a training collar in the field.

Wireless Fence Mode

The GT1 forms a circular RF barrier around a base transmitter in fence mode, to which the radius of the fence can be set from 25 feet to 3,500 feet. There’s a containment circle that’s a mile wide at max range – so even at the camp site, trail junction or country property, most dogs can roam about without ever feeling like they’re backed up. The fence automatically activates: if your dog is getting near the set boundary, the collar will activate a graduated warning sequence without you having to do anything.

This is the passive, protective layer. It works with or without the eyes, which is important when preparing meals at the camp stove, when on the trail and when simply not looking in the right direction at the right time.

Training Collar Mode

When in training, the collar can be activated directly from the handheld remote with a beep, ultrasonic tone, vibration or static correction (which can be adjusted) at any time, regardless of where the dog is located in relation to the fence. This is the active communication layer: You can see a situation arising before the dog gets to the boundary and intervene before the automatic response can be triggered.

The two modes run simultaneously. Neither fence nor remote is chosen, one is always there tracking the boundary while the other is there to give you direct control whenever you need it. In practice this would mean the difference between single and double safety nets.

Note that many national parks and federal recreation areas require dogs to remain on a leash of six feet or shorter on trails; the National Park Service pet regulations are worth reviewing before any backcountry visit.

GT1 Specifications at a Glance

Multi-Dog and Household Versatility

The GT1 caters for multiple pets and multiple dog travel. One remote will work with up to four different collars at once — which can be helpful when traveling with two or more dogs who don’t want to deal with two or more systems. The collar is designed to accommodate dogs ranging from 10 to 130 pounds—from small companion breeds to large working dogs all on one product line.

The Bottom Line

When it comes to off leash safety outdoors, it’s not just a matter of choosing the correct product and expecting it to save you whenever you need it, it’s also about learning how to use it properly. It’s about creating multiple layers of reliability, one dog that is trained to recall reliably even in distraction, a feedback system that can convey what you want, without being too much or too little, and technology that fills in what the training doesn’t do and what the environment does.

The technology is well suited to the GT1: passive fence monitoring, remote control that is active, graduated correction from a beep to a stern warning and finally a correction that will take place only if it is needed, and hardware that can take you into the world with your dog. . If you’re planning to use it at a rental property or campsite, our guide on How to Set Up a Temporary Dog Fence in a Rental Cabin or Campsite covers placement and radius settings that apply directly to the GT1. 

Learn more about the MimofPet GT1 at mimofpet.net.