hi
we only let him off the lead when we are far away from cars etc in woodland or fields, he has learnt when i say bye or good bye and start walking the other way he knows i am going with out him and he come running back , when we walk along the road he is always on the lead, as for squirrels rabbits he will chase them but with no luck in catch them not much of a hunting dog lol, i have a friend who has a 3yr old Siberian Husky (my malamute is 1 yr old) and hes the same he will run all over the place off the lead but never to far ,she is the one who showed me the treats trick. if we go for a walk together the dogs spend the entire walk bouncing off each other ( i dont know why there do that) but it really tires them out.
but if he does run off one day to the point that scares me that i am going to lose him he will be back on the lead for good.
so far he's been a very good dog :-)