I've bought the dvd's and read the posts but I can't seem to find an answer for this problem.
Won't go into the details but I rescued a pup that was abandoned in the woods with his litter mates and mother. Got him through parvo and he is a really sweet pup.
My problem; I take the pup to the yard twice a day to run and play ball. He is only around 14 weeks and is a little timid on walks that go very far from the house. Following the addage that a tired pup is a good pup, playing ball really tires him out. As he has gotten more comfortable and not so reliant on being right by my side (confidence is good, right?)he is easily distracted by bugs or anything else the moves. When he gets distracted he might as well be deaf. He is great in learning the basics, come, sit, down but is completely unresponsive when distracted.
I think he is trying to eradicate the yard of all insect activity which could be ok but it is definately not helping the training. How do I balance the play time where he is dragging a lead and the time when I have control. My concern is that if I maintain control at all times he won't get enough exercise and the times in the yard won't be as big a perk for him. Any advise?

Your pup sounds perfectly normal. If I read your post correctly (it's almost my bedtime so no promises) you always have a long line on the pup even during supervised play times with you. This would be the correct thing to do. So, if the pup is too distracted during his bug hunts to pay attention to you, just pick up the long line and "help" him to comply with your wishes. You don't want to inadvertently teach him that not complying with your wishes is an option. Dragging a long line shouldn't interfere with your play/exercise time with the pup. Just keep a close eye to make sure it doesn't get tangled up in anything.

I play fetch with the pup for the fun and exercise benefit and its when he's gone after the ball and especially on his return that the distraction occurs most often. The problem is that he is a fair distance from me as my back yard is a good 1/2 acre. So after calling him, getting ignored and watching him hunt something with 6 legs I walk to him to get control again. If he does it a couple of times in a row we end the game which I don't like because I want to end the game with him wanting more and on an upnote. I also don't want to send the message that when I approach free time is over. I've also thought I could let him earn free time by working him on basic commands for 10 minutes or so. He performs perfectly any time I've got the leash in hand but then once released eventually he will ignore any requests to come and start the grazing/hunting behavior.

Suggestions are appreciated, I have little doubt we will get through this but any training tips to make the process easier are great.

Actually when he is in this mode he is cute as can be. His head is tilting side to side looking and once something is found he points and then does a puppy pounce on the target. I'm not encouraging him to do this but he makes me laugh at first before his ignoring me is annoying.

Ed suggested I teach him to "find it" and once done teach "leave it" or "yuck" by giving a correction. He isn't within reach to give a correction unless I walk to him and I'm not going to associate me arriving with a correction. Besides, he will about 80% of the time stop the behavior when I get within 10 ft so I'm doubtful he would connect the behavior with the correction. Darn, a dilemma. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused.gif" alt="" />

I would never give him any command if the end of a leash is NOT in your hand, because you never want to give him ANY chance to imagine that he can ever disobey the !Come! command -- Personally speaking, I don't combine exercise/play time with training time OR with elimination time either (and since he's still a little baby, I'd keep the training sessions down to less than 5 minutes, a few times per day)...

If you don't already have the DVD, "Your Puppy 8 Weeks to 8 Months", I'd get it right now, because it's really worth it <:-)

http://leerburg.com/120.htm

Also, to make coming to you more rewarding than chasing bugs, you might use a VERY high-value treat (food or toy) that he ONLY gets whenever he obeys the recall command voluntarily (and just remember, never give him any opportunity to disobey it by calling him when he's offlead, at this early stage of motivational training, IMHO)...

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I would never give him any command if the end of a leash is NOT in your hand, because you never want to give him ANY chance to imagine that he can ever disobey the !Come! command......

I'm with you! <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

And the Basic Obedience DVD explains this very clearly and visually.

I've got the DVD but I don't recall this being addressed. Gonna have to watch it again. I appreciate the advise and I'm going to take it, makes sense. I haven't had a puppy in 14 years. We just lost our male who was 17 years old and our female is 14. Because of this I've been trying to educate myself with info from Ed's videos, several books, Cesars Way, The other end of the leash, latchkey dogs, to name a few. Must say that I wish this info was readily available when I had puppies before, it would have been helpful. I managed to get it done before it's just much easier this time. Thanks again.

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I've got the DVD but I don't recall this being addressed. Gonna have to watch it again. .......

It is, on both Your Puppy and Basic Obedience. Also, here's a good bunch of Q&A on the "come" command:
http://www.leerburg.com/qarecall.htm

I'm so sorry about the senior dogs you recently lost. I think most of us here have known that pain. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/frown.gif" alt="" />

You've collected some good material, IMO. If you don't have the Basic Obedience DVD set yet, I think you'll find that it's much more than what the title says, and really worth adding to your library.

Isn't it great that we have the superabundance of books, videos, and forums to turn to these days? For me, it just makes training dogs even more engrossing, compelling.........and FUN. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />