Hello Sandy and list, Yes, I've always let my dogs play off leash. I've never had any bad experiences up to now (and on December 23 I'll celebrate forty years since I got my first guide dog). The best dog as far as recall goes was Nice, the first of my two GSD's, but then she was the best guide dog I've ever had anyway... The most difficult were Nittie (another GSD) and Pretty, but they improved with time. Pretty learned recall with C/T, and now she's really fantastic. We have a place at Lake Maggiore, where we spend parto f our summer holidays, and Pretty is really free to come and go whenever she wants. She goes out to call her other four-legged friends, and together they go swimming in a small stream that surrounds our back garden - which looks like a small peninsula -, and then she runs free in the woods on the other side ofthe stream. But whenever I call, she comes running, never mind where she is. It took acouple of years to get there, but now she's really reliable... I kow the place is safe though, and that nothing can happen to her and the other dogs, as it is a private area and it's enclosed. When we go to the mountains, in areas where dogs can be left of leash, I always let my dogs run freely. They never lose sight of me, and I don't have to worry. I suppose the more used they are to it, the less dangers they get themselves into. Hugs and wags, Ollie & Pretty