Just after a bit of advice really, we have a Labrador who will be a year old in a few weeks, when he was a puppy his recall was brilliant, we used a whistle if he got distracted and just his name & come worked well otherwise.
He's a very energetic dog, very social, loves to go up to every single other dog he sees and have a sniff and try to play with them even if they don't want to. He can be very persistent and I sometimes have to put him on the lead and take him away. If I see other dogs on a lead I will put him on his lead so he doesn't run up to them in case they're nervous/temperamental etc.
Sometimes he will bolt across a large field when he sees certain dogs and he will not listen to my voice or the whistle. When I see these dogs I put him on his lead as I'm heavily pregnant and can't go running after him. But what can I do to improve his recall? Is it his 'adolescent phase' and will it just get better if I keep doing what I'm doing - saying his name and come, come in an excited voice & giving him a piece of sausage if he does, putting him on the lead if I think he might run off to another dog?
I worry that I'm getting it wrong, setting us up to fail and that we will have a dog with awful recall. Some days he's an angel and will come back even when distracted every time I call, others he will ignore me completely.