My dog is all around a good boy he won't even come when called by someone else without my permission, I take him to the field by my house in the mornings to poop which isn't by the road but near an alley.. this morning, he was doing his business when two loose dogs were playing in the field, he took off full speed after them (he is friendly) and one of them ran away so he cut through a bunch of yards and took off down the alley. Once he's stopped chasing, he comes right back, tail wagging and all. I can't get it through his thick lab head that this is inappropriate behavior. I don't want to hear to put him on a leash because without dogs to distract him he is by my side always, he is put on his leash in town but not when we're hiking in trails. He doesn't chase large game, just dogs and cats, drives me up the wall. Does anyone have any KNOWLEDGEABLE advice or can relate to this issue, if so, how did you deal with it?

No amount of training completely overides instinct. My shephard is trained in search and rescue and obedience but a deer or coyote will have him running. At least when he was younger. For walking off leash in our open acreage I used a shock collar. Set on a lower setting seemed to work. It did not take more than a couple times of use .Anytime he had the collar on he never chased any deer or coyote. Even if it was no on. I know a lot of people will be oppsed to the collar but it was on a low setting and before I zapped him I zapped myself. No pain just an attention getter. Good luck.

My dog is all around a good boy he won't even come when called by someone else without my permission, I take him to the field by my house in the mornings to poop which isn't by the road but near an alley.. this morning, he was doin his business when two loose dogs were playing in the field, he took off full speed after them (he is friendly) and one of them ran away so he cut through a bunch of yards and took off down the alley. Once he's stopped chasing, he comes right back, tail wagging and all. I can't get it through his thick lab head that this is inappropriate behavior.

The problem is, it's not inappropriate behaviour for the dog. It's behaviour you don't like. All I can suggest is work on a stronger recall. Make coming back to you the best thing in the world for this dog. And that won't stop him leaving, just make it likelier that he comes back sooner. The other, entirely counter-intuitive advice I have seen, is to train him to do what he is currently doing. This was recommended for dogs that pull on leash, because that's very hard to get a dog to stop. Something about pulling is rewarding to the dog (maybe they are into autoasphyxiation?), or else they would stop doing it. So, in those cases you teach your dog to walk nicely on a leash, and teach him a command for pulling on the leash, and then when you are in a situation where you know he is likely to pull (say when you are stopped and talking to someone), give him that command, so that he knows it's OK to do so. You might try the same thing... that way the dog knows when you say "go play" it's OK for him to run off after the other dogs.

Yes, it is about stronger recall. I've just been reading a book that recommends establishing two kinds of recall - one for regular stuff, i.e.. Come and we'll go for a walk, come and get in the car - and then creating a separate, stronger recall for emergencies and dire situations.

This particular book is called Good Dog 101. There are parts of it that I'm not thrilled with, but there are good parts, too - specifically advice like for this type of situation. Maybe your library has a copy, or see if there's another training book you like better that covers special recalls.