honestly there are VERY FEW dogs that I would consider 100% reliable off leash. there are plenty of dogs who are close to it, but in my opinion if you cant call your dog off a squirrel, or away from another dog, it has to stay leashed- PERIOD (unless in a dog park). I worked for over a year with Alki before I would let her off leash, and even then I can only do it in certain places, and at certain times. I know there are times when she is in a certain mood and is not going to reliably come to me from a dog.

when I lived in the city more, I took my dogs to the big park across the street often, one leashed & one not. this park was not an offleash dog area but most people let their dogs off leash there anyway, and *most* were good. but there were plenty of times when other dogs whose owners were clueless, came up to my dogs- who are NOT friendly with other dogs when onleash or playing fetch, and Ive had to literally yell to owners yards away, to call their dogs! to people like myself that have dogs who arent always dog friendly, its really stressful and annoying to have an unleashed dog rush up to your leashed (or 100% under voice control) dogs. so anyway, thats just my little pet peeve/rant!

that said! I agree with everyone else- get a long nylon leash, they sell them from 20-50 feet at most petstores. you could also get a flexi since they you wont have leash dragging around to trip on. but even with long leashes, only use it in pretty unpopulated places, and after youve worked up to a pretty decent recall, because a non-friendly person or dog could come within your long-line's reach. (AWESOME article on training a reliable recall: http://pets.aol.com/articles/petfind...12102509990003 written by a top person in the animal learning theory world of dog training)

as for the pulling- buy this: http://www.premier.com/pages.cfm?id=74 or this: http://www.premier.com/pages.cfm?id=17

They are humane (unlike prong & choke collars), and they WORK instantly. You can find them at petsmart & I believe petco as well, and most other pet stores I imagine.

GOOD LUCK!