Hi guys. I have had Meka for over a month now. We love our morning and late night walks before I head into work. Our walking pattern is that we walk through about an acre of grass to get to a low traffic street that we walk up and down (about a mile altogether) and then come back home. As soon as we hit the field on our way back home Meka is off to the races and wants to run home. Recently I have been letting her off her leash when we hit the field and she sprints about 20 yards ahead of me then sits and waits for me to get closer and repeats this until we get all the way home. When we hit our back yard she sprints to the back door and patiently waits for me to let her in. She has not once bolted or gone anywhere else but home. Am I stupid for letting her off her leash for a little free running? I would like to think that she knows where home is and would not run off especially since she always sits and patiently waits until I am at a reasonably close distance before running off again! Any comments are appreciated as you won't hurt my feelings

You're playing with fire. Any dog off leash can bolt, and if she spots a squirrel one day, you might just have a lost dog on your hands. Consider an extendable leash if you want her to run further but minimize the risk. We only ever let ours off in fenced in areas or if they have very obviously 1 escape route and we are blocking it. We also reinforced strongly when they returned at our call.

I second. She may only run ahead and stop for now but as she gets older, braver, and more curious that will probably not be the case.

I third especially if you do not have recall down pat. She is a puppy and she will eventually test her boundaries so ......

They come back every time until they don't... I trust my boy off-leash, but he is 2, and I did extensive training starting at about 8 months of age, and I used an e-collar, long line leash and many other tools before I trusted him. I still don't trust him 100%. I don't care who you're talking about, no dog is 100%. As she matures she'll start to wander and could possibly bolt. You'll have to see what she is like. My first husky could never be trusted, she would bolt every time, even at 14!

Edit - what I mean is, at some point, it's going to dawn on her that there is a big interesting world out there to explore and although they are attached to you, they are also independent and will follow their curiosity. They also really do find a huge joy in running and can get very far very fast before they even know it.

Huskies are a hard breed to trust off leash. They just don't have that loyalty to stick right with you that other breeds do. My parents sheltie never strays from heel position even off leash. He is glued to them. But my parents husky mix I have never trusted off leash - and she was very well trained (I showed her in obedience for six years). I feel that huskies just get too caught up in the moment and take off. I agree with wpskier that they come back until they don't. And that would be a terrible day!

I would say they have that loyalty in them, it is just that leveraging that loyalty (drive, really) and keeping it directed onto you is more challenging than with most breeds.

It's more difficult to earn and keep. But it's there.