A bit of friendly advice would be very useful.
Milo is a lovely very friendly 16 month old GR, he is a big dog, soppy and thinks everyone should love him and want to play with him ! :-D Why wouldn't you I say :-D

He has always been very good off the lead, but recently he has been very testing. He only has to see another dog at the moment and he is gone, there is no getting him back (until he is good and ready) all he wants to do is play but it is becoming a real issue, we used to be able to take him anywhere but now its just awful :-( This morning he chased a dog that we didn't know which was a rescue dog and it was terrified. Her owner was lovely but we were mortified, imagine having 6 and a half stone of GR chasing you barking at you to play with him when you are scared of other dogs!! Last night I was out with him and spotted some people (with a muzzled dog) the other side of the fence, luckily I got him on his lead fast but the minute he saw them he tried to run to them, I am not the strongest but there was no way he was going to get the better of me !! Bloody hurt though :-) Anyway they were now in front of us and he was literally champing at the bit all the way down the path, i kept stopping when he pulled and making him heel but he is just so wilful.

Now I know he is at that age - I have a 13 year old son who is the same (any sympathy greatly received) and we are pretty patient with him but this is beyond a joke. We attend obedience class every week and he is as good as gold round the other dogs - strange - anyway if anyone has any suggestions for what to do I would love to hear them. I am loathe to have to keep him on a lead all the time, we never have done since the first day we took him out , and also I don't want to have to use the lead as punishment by keep putting him back on it when he is naughty but we don't have any alternative at the moment if that makes sense.

Anyway thank you for reading this if you have managed to get this far, sorry it was a bit long winded
Rx

Have you tried training him to a whistle as the response to recall is much better especially if you whistle as soon as you can and reward when he comes back.

That's worth a try , although apparently he is deaf to any noise whatsoever when he has something better to do :-D

Can i make a suggestion to you which was advised to me..

Don't let him off the lead at all for a good few weeks, lead walk him, he will get good exercise from doing this and you yourself. Let him know you have control and he is not going off saying hello to all and sundry when he so chooses.
I then had to go back to a long lead after this for recall work in quiet areas and worked on this for a few weeks.
He will come out of this but you need to make sure you are on top of it and he is listening.

When you do go back to the stages of letting him off, recall him, give him a treat and let him go again. If they think they are going on a lead each time you recall then they won't want to return..
Not sure if this is what you are doing or not, but its a thought we often forget.

Well suejaw..couldnt have written it better myself ....just what I was going to put...totally agree

roni

apparently Yes maybe but but it will work if you commit to it make him be the only person he wants that is the key

totally agree with everything people have advised you. one of my dogs gets very nervous with other dogs and although she would never be aggressive if left alone sometimes you get over excited dogs rushing up and she just can't handle it. she runs away and thats fine but if the other dog keeps at her then she will snap and it always worries me there could be a fight.
I'm always very careful about my dogs not running up to other dogs or people as you don't know how their dog will react and not everyone wants to be bothered when their out for their walk.
Not having a go at you by the way just saying about my experience.
Your doing alot of the right things ie with training etc, keep it up and go back to basics and i'm sure your boy will soon be sorted.   

I agree with all the advice others have given, my male ridgeback was a nightmare during his 'kevin' stage so, as much as he'd been an angel beforehand with being off lead I put him on a long lead immediately.  I too have another dog who is nervous of other dogs bounding up to her and tells them off in no uncertain terms if they don't go away - so as much for your own dogs safety get him on a long line and go back to basics.  It does pass, honest and he'll come out the other side no worse for wear, just hang in there!

Sympathise too, does Milo enjoy playing with toys?  My 2-and-a-bit year old colliex is now much better about recalling from other dogs but while he was a teenager we discovered that a ball/ring was the answer - basically we were boring without a toy so who could blame him for charging off to other dogs for a play, and not wanting to come back?  It changed our lives as it got to the stage where we didn't like walking him where there were other dogs (tried all the long lines etc, didn't make much difference).  Now if he has a frisbee in his mouth he'd often rather play with us than other dogs - which can actually be a bit sad when the other dog clearly wants to play with him!  As the others say, he will grow out of it but it can be embarassing :)

Thanx all for all your help, some great advice. :-)