tie-out

I prefer a harness myself but they are not good for being tied out or even dogs that pull a lot as they easily loosen and then the dog can get their legs out. 
 
I think if he's going to be out for awhile the best thing would be the collars that are made for tie out.  They have a metal, not plastic clasp, that is strong enough to handle the tension. 

thanks for the reply.

do you have a link to the type of collar you're talking about? is a tie-out collar just a stronger version of a regular collar? like this one -http://shopping.msn.com/prices/shp/?itemId=147548084 ?

I've never had a collar that he couldn't pull out of if he turned around and pulled backward, which he can easily do on a tie-out. I think this is because his neck is bigger than his head.

That's the one I was thinking of??  Have you tried those?  Are they fitting snuggly enough? 
 
Could you crate him inside??

I've never tried that particular one, and I've never tried any collar with the tie-out, but on a lead he has a very easy time backing out of any collar he's ever worn so I'm a bit skeptical. I've been searching around online and found a couple of no-slip collars that tighten with pressure, so maybe that's my best bet? here's one -http://canineauto.com/SVC-XXX.htm

we've tried so many different ways of confining him it's just getting ridiculous...inside with run of the house, inside locked in a room, crate, invisible fence, various forms of training, drugs (paxil)...he either does a lot of damage or escapes. I think the only next step will be a fully enclosed chain-link run, but that's expensive and takes up space on our property.

I've had the dog since he was born (he's 10) and leaving him alone has always been a problem, but I always managed to find a way to overcome it in the past.

any other suggestions are appreciated, thanks!

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harness for escape artists.

I just ordered an escape artist harness. thanks for the tip!

fingers crossed...

I am looking after my parents Pitbull / Lab cross right now.  He is the most amazing dog, so well behaved!  BUT.... he has to be tied outside.  He HATES being inside for more than 1 hr.  He was rescued from some place up North (Way up North) where for the first two years of his life he was left for 4 months at a time to fend in the wild on his own.  So needless to say, he doesn't like to be indoors. 
 
Anyways, he has to be outside and we have created a really neat lead for him.  But he is an escape artist.  At first we thought that there was no way that he could get out of a harness.  We tested it out and left for about 15 min's.  Came back and he was off.  We have tried to just watch him through a window to see how he does it, but he is too smart and knows that we are still there.  So we went and bought one of those escape artist harnesses.  The pet store said that there is no possible way that he could get out of it.  Even after putting it on him, we tested and pulled to see if there was any way it could come off.  Nope!  So we watched through the window, (even pretended to drive away), but he didn't try to get off.  So we told our neighbors that we were going out for a few min's and to just keep an eye on the back yard in case he got loose.  Sure enough 10 min's later we got a call from the neighbor and he was off!  We can not figure out for the life of us how the heck he got off!!!!  Well now while we are gone we have set up a room for him in the house... there is no way I am going to take any more chances!
 
We are thinking about starting up a magic show!!!! []
 
Good luck, hopefully your dog isn't as sneaky as ours!