Caribear, I am so glad your boy is okay! Ripped toenails and road rash are bad, but I'm glad it wasn't worse.
My boys were trained not to dash out the door, but Teddy decided one day to jump out and chase the UPS truck.
Part of the problem was that my dad never gave him the 'stay" command when he opened the door. Thankfully I was coming home at the same time and Teddy came to me. We were also lucky that the pickup driver saw Teddy running and stopped.
The baby gates went up that day. My boys no longer have access to the doors. We have xpens lining our deck too. Max managed to slip past me one night and was outside on the deck without me knowing.
The baby gates can be a pain at times. I fell over one this weekend.
I would much rather have bruises than lose one of my boys though.
I continue to train for all of the commands in the house, which have come in handy for emergencies like dropped leashes.
The shock collar -- one of the many problems is that the dog might not know what the shock means. Even dogs who are trained for invisible fences with the shock collars will sometimes bolt. They learn that the shock is a momentary thing until they get to the other side. Then they are reluctant to return because they don't want to be shocked again.