My dog is more interested in other dogs than me. How can I fix this?

Hi, our Border Collie is a 10-month-old male. We were doing well with him, reliable recall, etc. until the last month or two. Now off leash, while playing with other dogs he will not return. He is super interested in other dogs. Likes to play, but if the other dogs are not so interested, he will do some "herding" behaviors. Previously he did. Also, now while walking him he "loses it" if near a playground, seeing a rabbit etc. He really needs the off-leash to get his running and exercise in.

So we're kind of stuck. We had him at an engagement session at our local trainer last week and he "lost it" when the other dogs started running. We are in agility training with him and we can only with continuous rewards keep his attention (most of the time) until generally he again, lunges away when he sees the motion of other dogs. We now only let him off to exercise in the fenced off-leash areas, but need a "plan" for this. He's clearly got his male hormones in full bloom!

Leerburg's Answer:

I get this kind of message a lot from folks that have high drive dogs. I would take some big steps back and look at the areas that are problematic for you at this point in his development.

I would NOT allow this dog to play with other dogs anymore and I would not be taking him to agility training where he can fixate and obsess about the other dogs running. You need to back up and work on engagement & focus with you and make interaction, play, and games with you the way for him to get his mental and physical exercise. Relying on off-leash running may work for a dog that isn't showing these kinds of behaviors but if you continue allowing him to practice ignoring you, herding other dogs and becoming reactive this is going to continue to get worse.

May I ask what an engagement session that you have with your local trainer consists of? Read the full Q and A here.