Could use some training tips

My wife and I got our first dog about 14 months ago now. He is an Amstaff male fixed. Generally he is a great dog, but there are a few things I have not been able to stop him from doing. I live in Vermont, so there are many occasions for me to let him run off leash, and swim. The first problem is every time another dog comes any were around, he takes off for that dog. He doen't hurt the, he just wants to play, but he absolutely does not listen when other dogs are around. The other thing is, when he is on a leash, and sees other dogs, he starts pulling, and I litteraly have to drag him away. Does anyone know of a fix, or some training method to work on this?

Well I think you should invest in an airhorn or someother lud noise maker so that when you holler at your dog you use that also and get his attention. Maybe a clicker for when you are walking him and once his attention back focused on you you tell him NO and to heal or whatever you want to say to him. Hope this helps.

Something that works on some dogs is to go in the opposite direction of where he wants to go if pulls foward go backwards, goes left you go right. This works in some dogs others think it is a game. My big blue male acts like that some times and there is almost nothing I can do except make him sit down beside me and then his tail is wagging so hard I think he might break it off. LOL I also use a lot of treat reinforce with him. You might be like me is getting better around other dogs as he matures in age and I do as a handler.

Nothing worse than a dog that ignores you. A lot of people use treats or clickers but I myself have always used good old fashioned respect as the foundation for everything. I taught all my pups that I could outrun them (before it was no longer possible) and that seems to stick with them forever. Maybe too late for that method with this dog but you might try it with your next.