Help with over playful boy needed!

Hi. I'm new to forum and hoping someone out there can give me some advice.
I have a 14th month old staffy x old tyme bulldog boy. He is a lovely dog, loves everybody, very friendly not at all aggressive. He's been to puppy classes and obedience school so knows his basic commands and will follow them when we're out until..... he meets other dogs!
he loves to play and is very enthusiastic with any dog he meets off the lead, but the problem is that he is over enthusiastic and won't come back when he's called, we've tried walking away as we've been advised but he just keeps going and the other dog owners will stop walking ( prob getting fed up with our Ozzy running round them) so we have to go and collect him. He then thinks this is a great game and runs round in circles when we try to catch him. We end up looking like complete idiots. I'm fed up of apologising for him because how ever often to you say ' yes he's fine he just wants to play, he's not aggressive' I know what people are thinking. But he does just want to play, but doesn't seem very good at reading other dogs signals and even if they snap at him he still goes back for more. Its doesnt help that most of the dogs he meets are small fluffy oodley doodley things or well-behaved labradors!
So if anybody has any advice or tips I would be really grateful, Don't want him to always have to be on the lead he loves to run but getting a bit frustrated.
Thank you in anticipation.
ps great forum!

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Hi from me & Katy, the best advice I can give is to perfect recall before letting Ozzy rip. There is nothing worse than a mad dog hurtling towards Katy, she hates it. Get a very special treat & practice his recall, a long line might help to start with. You need to be more interesting than the other dog that he wants to meet.
Puppy pics are compulsory here

I'm with Jen, lots and lots of recall training with high value rewards, using a long line and very safe situations to start off with, then building up to more testing situations when Ozzy's ready for it. Practice recall in all sorts of situations - in the house and garden, on walks, in the middle of playing, whenever.

One really important thing to remember when you're doing recall work is to only ever call when you think your dog will come. If he's not paying the blindest bit of attention, if he's in full flight towards something more exciting or in the middle of eating a particularly delicious decomposing rabbit and you know he's not going to come, not only will calling not work, it will also teach him he can ignore you. It sounds like he's work that out now but you can bring it back with consistency.

If you do need to call him at any point, assess the situation first. If you've not got a hope, then don't call. It won't change whether he comes or not if he wasn't going to anyway. You can try doing something that he does find interesting enough to give you his attention - a squeaky toy or something - but if there's nothing then you just have to accept that he's not right for calling yet and clock it as one of those situations where he shouldn't have been off the line for future reference.

Wait till he looks at you, then call. As you call, walk backwards away from him to draw him towards you and reward as if he's just done the most amazing thing ever. The go back to easier recall and line work. It might take time as he's getting one huge reinforcement each time he bombs another dog, so a long line's probably going to be a mid term investment. It'll be worth it's weight in gold, though.

Yes completely agree with what others have said.Perfect the recall with a training lead,that is your safety net,that way you are always in control.

Id also perfect your dogs recall using a long line they can be distracted so easily . its a guaranteed safety net. its good you are starting recall training as sometimes it can be a long process you will get there takes times and not something to perfect overnight.

Hi, thanks everyone for your advice. I had thought about using the long line with Ozzy again, but I suppose it seemed like a step backwards. His recall has been really good, that's the annoying thing and if there are no dogs around to distract him he will come back when called and sit for a treat beautifully. But as soon as he decides he's found a playmate he seems to shut his ears off and pretend he can't hear me! I like to see him play with other dogs, but he needs to know when playtime is over he has to come back. So think I will get the long line out again and reinforce the recall, and try and find something that he likes better than playing to come back for (altho with Ozzy there is nothing that he loves better the playing at the moment!).
Do you think that things may improve as he matures, he is still only 14th months?
Thanks for taking the time to answer, its much appreciated and I'll post some pics when I've worked out how to do it!
Cheers Everyone.

the only thing I would add to what has already been said is don't allow him to make up his own mind about who he's going to play with.

you should always ask someone first if they are happy with your dogs playing as not everyone wants a free-for-all which is how staffords play! Be especially careful with dogs that are on lead - NEVER let him approach an on lead dog without you gaining permission first. there are many reasons why a dog is kept on a lead, and it's polite to ask first!

The thing to remember even when Ozzy turns a deaf ear to your recall,on a long lead you are always in control.Just keep at it he will learn in the end.

That 'step backwards' feeling is frustrating but it happens. I think training goes pear shaped when we fight it and push on regardless. It is ok to take a step back, regroup, and start again.

He may calm down meeting others, he may not. We're waiting for Nola to calm down too. She's 10 tomorrow.

Liz