Puppy never checks in at dog park or beach

Hi,
I have a 7 month old puppy, a mix of australian shepherd, siberian husky, swiss shepherd, and bichon frise. He's about 50 lbs and getting neutered tomorrow, actually.

Overall, he is well trained. I've had him since 7 weeks and work from home so we are well bonded and I train consistently. He knows the basics (sit stay down), some 'fun' tricks (roll over, play dead), and will come when not too distracted. He did not 'come' at the dog park, so I stopped trying so he wouldn't learn he could just ignore me (was that a good idea?)

He is a overly friendly and loves everybody and everything. Which is great! But, at the dog park and at the dog beach he NEVER checks in. Once he is off the leash, he just says hi to EVERYBODY. Literally going from person to person and dog to dog. He won't ever come check in with me.

At the dog beach today it was very busy, and it was only his 2nd time there, so he was definitely overstimulated. When we let him off the leash, he started making his way down the beach and never looked back at us. Eventually, he got out of sight and I had to go get him and bring him back. He kept doing this every time.

I wanted to let him go to see if he would eventually return, but once he is out of sight I get nervous. Also, it just saddens me that he doesn't want to check in!!

Is this normal for a 7 month puppy? He is ridiculously friend which is great, but I feel like he loves everybody else just as much as he loves me!

Any advice?

sorry for the essay...

It's definately the right thing to not call him so he doesn't have the option to ignore you!! And what an interesting mix of breeds!

My advice would be to start building up distractions if he already comes when called at home. Does he recall well in the backyard or front yard? What if neighbors are outside? What if a guest is at your house and the dog is excited? How about at a store like petco around other dogs? (Obviously on leash).

Try to attend the dog park during the quietest times (even if no one else is there) to practice.

To get him to check in more, I suggest looking up something called the premack principle - a concept of rewarding a desired behavior with less desired behavior - essentially, if he does pay attention to you in public, reward/praise him, and then encourage him to run off and explore again.

You might also want to teach commands such as "watch me" and to keep rewards with you whenever you're in an even slightly distracting environment, do you can reward him for checking in or focusing on you even if he isn't asked to.

That said, dog parks are A LOT of stimulation for any dog, especially a young dog, and huskies especially aren't known for being too interested in what their handler is doing when there's exploration to be had. Many dog trainers and dog people dislike dog parks for a variety of reasons, personally I think some dogs are suited for them and some aren't. I think with further training your dog can surely have a solid dog park recall.