Right, so I've had Henry on the long line for a few months now. He is paying much more attention to me (or rather my treat pocket) and rarely bolts to the end of the line. I can drop the line while we play ball - he has FINALLY decided that playing fetch is fun and rockets back to me with the ball pretty much every time. I have started working on proofing his recall when there are other dogs to play with, squirrels in bushes, birds on the ground. I've also started just dropping his lead (just for a few minutes) and letting him dander beside me but only later in the walk when he's calm and settled and in a fairly unchallenging environment. Not unclipping the lead as I think that used to be a signal to him that running off was about to be possible. Going pretty well. Until...
OH was off work on Monday and offered to take Henry out for his walk. As I walk the dog seven days a week I readily agreed. OH comes with me and Henry on the weekends so he's been trained along with the dog.
He knows the drill. He was swapping Henry from the long line to the standard lead and accidentally dropped both. Henry wandered on but not far so OH decided to leave him off lead. Only five minutes into the walk. In a place where Henry has a history of chasing squirrels. Guess what? Yup, within a few minutes Henry was but a dot in the distance.
The next day when I took Henry out and put him on the long line he immediately charged away and I had to step on it and hold on for dear life. It took twenty minutes to get him focussed on me and not every passing bird or squirrel. He refused to play fetch, running after the ball then running on past it. He's been better today, but still on the lookout in case he gets a chance to leg it.
So, my question is: would any court in the world convict me if I kill him (OH, not the dog)?