[Patricia Dianne]

I keep Ruckus on the leash in the city, he is now 2 years old, but I have to admit that we have ravines and walking trails in our neighborhood and I let him loose in those areas. You can see other people for quite a distance and we don't have porcupines (I don't even want to think what kind of damage one of those could do) or such creatures in our woods as we are still on the edge of a city (we do have beaver, deer, squirrels, racoons etc.). Both Ruckus and I enjoy our walks "in the country" - he gets the zoomies and can't stop smiling all the time we're exploring in our little piece of 'wilderness'. I really feel like it helps us bond as we are both relaxed and enjoying our surroundings - we do the training (as in heeling, sitting at cross-walks etc.) once we get back to civilization and we only go into the woods on weekends the rest of the time he has to be on his best "leash behaviour".