My male rottie is comming up 2 and half, he has always been interested in other dogs, just wanting to play with them etc, i don't mind this but when i want him to work for example obedience,agility, why does his behaviour change when another dog is around, we can train anywhere and everywhere and he is so attentive ,  then a dog will come into view and he ignores me, have tried food, toys,calling him to me, he will come but he will put his head around my legs trying to see where the other dog has gone to, sometimes he will just lie down and stare at the other dogs wether they are close or just a dot on the horizon, he is so focusd on the other dogs that he shuts down his hearing and just wants the other dog,what am i doing wrong, sometimes i just feel like giving up but we have made such progress over the last year,but i just feel like i am letting him down as i don't know how to overcome this, would going to a private trainer be any help to me do you think?
Carol

I have a young rescue collie who is exactly the same and it can be very frustrating.  I am clicker training her and with no other dogs around she is 100% attentive and will do her agility etc.  I can get attention from her at a distance from moving dogs (doing agility) or fairly close to dogs that are still and boring (with the cooperation of other dog owners putting their dogs in a stay).  I am now working on keeping her attention whilst getting gradually closer to moving dogs and the still and boring dogs gradually becoming more animated.  It is slow progress but it is progress. :)  She is clicked and treated for choosing to give me attention initially and then working towards her responding to her name and then adding a sit or a down, in each new situation or at each different stage.  Her treat can be food or a ball. 

Perhaps you should just move away until you get his attention back and then have a game.  I wouldn't try too hard to get him to want the toy or food, I have found that to work against me. 

If your dog has lots of fun playing with other dogs then it is very hard for us to compete with that with some dogs.  You have to make the 'work' as much fun as the 'play'.  I like to think that my dogs can't differentiate between the two. ;)

Sally he is clicker trained will bring the washing out of the machine,bring me the tv dial,bring the papers etc and that was all learned with the clicker, the thing is, even if the other dogs are lying down and ignoring him he will still rush over and flick them over to sniff, it is worse when the dogs are moving as he will do this funny stand and stare, so when we go to club how should i go about this, stand on the outskirts of the group and when he looks over at the other dogs do not say anything but as soon as he gives me eye contact click and reward, he knows what the clicker is so that is the easy part, if i go closer to the dogs and he goes into what i call his stalk mode will i just pull back a couple of paces so he learns that when he ignores me he gets taken away from the group, the thing is we all stand in a group to wait for our turn with agility, or obedience, so will i just stand away from everyone, if i have to will this make people think that he is nasty, when he is not, he has been very well socialised since the age of 8 weeks.
Carol

Well if he just does it when you are standing around waiting your turn then I would try and keep him occupied.  I'm sure the people at your class will realise that you are just trying to get him to be attentive as opposed to you moving away for other reasons.   Some dogs are fine just standing and waiting for their turn and others are workacholics and need to be kept occupied or they'll look for something to do.  We have plenty of room and lots of spare equipment set up at our training so that people can do just that.  Of course you'll get into trouble for not knowing the course when it comes to your turn. :D

Wish Id known you 2 a year ago when Morse arrived! He is much better at focusing on me now but we still have issues - toady it was chasing butterflies instead of coming straight to me as we practised waits. Teaching him to play and even look at me in the beginning has been hard work but so worth it. Still at it and wondering some days if his distractibility will ever improve. Hey some day Ill even be brave enough to do agility and see if he hi hos over the horizon in search of game instead of waiting with me for his turn on the jumps :)

BtW at our training class most handlers do tricks like hi 5s to keep their dogs looking at them instead of staring out the other dogs and new people usually start doing this too after a week - you may start a fashiion at agility.