Smokey is the worst dog I've seen off leash (and boy do I love him). I've been training Smokey with a whistle and it's been working really well. First I started off working in our house. When he was completely focused on something else and on the opposite end of the house, I would blow the whistle, immediately followed by "Smokey, come!" and he sprints towards me, even after the first time I did it. Of course, I reward. Next I took it outside in our backyard and I waited until he was sprinting around in circles. He came to me right away. Next I'm going to take him to an open field and I have a 20' lead that I'm going to use. I'm hoping by the summer I can trust him off leash. I'd love to find a large fenced in field that I can test him in.
Here is a video of it.
MOV04573.flv video by elfzrkool2 - Photobucket
I'm also going to add on that I'm going to make him come and sit directly in front of me, then I'm going to grab him around his neck (not choking, you know what I mean), that way he doesn't think this is a game and run back off if I ever need to catch him, then reward him again.