Hi I agree, until you get recall sorted i wouldnt let off the lead - for his own safety more than anything. I would start with small steps .....

ask him to sit and 'wait' then take 3 or 4 steps away from him - then call him and make a big deal about him coming to his name - give him loads of praise...

Slowly increase the distance you leave him and always reward him when he comes to his name so he knows when you call he needs to come.

This will also help you ensure you have the wait command as well (I use this when we pass other dogs, i get mine to sit and look at me and wait until they have passed - mine just pups so its part of the training to ignore other dogs when we are walking so eventually they will naturally know)

once you have this mastered i would practice walking to heal off the lead ... so the dog stays with you - if he wanders away say his name so he comes back to you and praise and reward when he does(this is where i would use a long line if needed) - eventually you should be able to get them to sit and wait instead of fleeing and if they do you should be able recall ...

hope that helps
becky

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My goal in life is to be as good of a person my dog already thinks I am

In a perfect world every dog would have a home and every home would have a dog[/color]