Just wanted to say thanks so much for the excellent advice I received a few weeks ago regarding my now (nearly) 1 year old labradoodle and his adolescent naughtiness.
A very helpful poster, whose name has escaped me for the moment, made some excellent suggestions about making DH and me more exciting than the thing we are trying to call him away from.
She suggested doing this with a 'Holiest of Holies' toy. We kind of adapted this as he has been very interested in playing football (pawball?) with us.
Our walks now consist of DH and me basically 'dribbling' a football as we walk along and occasionally 'passing' it to each other with him trying to intercept. He LOVES it and is completely focused on us rather than constantly being on the lookout for mischief with other dogs/children/cyclists/joggers (I could go on...).
Recall is now so much better as when we call him to us, he might get to play another game of pawball!
Thanks so much to everyone who replied to my thread - your advice has made such a difference. 