Shama is a 4 year old Shepherd mix. She is about the size of a Border Collie. She was an 8 week old stray puppy when we found her. She has been a very good dog, obedient, gets along with cats, seldom if ever barks. She does have one problem. She runs off. We moved onto 40 acres out in the country about 3 years ago. We don't put her on a leash when we have her out of the kennel. Unless we keep a constant eye on her, she will slowly wonder away. If we catch her, she will come when we call her but if we don't notice then she will slowly wonder off and be gone for an hour or longer. If she sees a wild animal (deer, rabbit, coyote) and we don't react fast or loud enough then she is gone. When we first moved out here she showed up at nearby homes, sometimes on the other side of roads. More recently she hasn't showed up at neighbors but will still be gone for a long time. We are mostly scared of the coyote that come around in packs about every night. We want her to enjoy the country but we feel like we have to keep her locked up (in her kennel) most of the time for her safety. Last night was the biggest scare so far. She ran off and stayed out until 5am. We found her in her kennel(left it open for her) wet, tired and hungry.
Do we worry too much? Is there a way to accept this behavior but train her to at least always come home?

I know exactly what your going through my dog Chip is a good one for that, but we are getting much better I've worked really hard on getting him to respond to coming back to me. The trick is always to have treats with you and take her for a walk around the land. When she responds and comes back reward her. I found with my dog I could not disapline him for taking off(apart from putting him away when he did take off) but always reward the good behaviour!
Maybe take her into a paddock(field) that is dog proof and encourage her good behaviour of coming back. But apart from that I'm not much help Chip just started to figure out if he took off it meant more time in his kennel and if he listens it means more time out with me.