Puppy with poor recall, can I have your advice and reassurance please?

[Hayliebells]

I don't know if I'm stressing out unnecessarily, but I'm really concerned about our puppy's recall. He really isn't very consistent at all, when he gets excited (usually when playing with another dog), he just will not come back when called. He just runs around like a lunatic ignoring us. He's an 8 month old Labrador, and we've done all the recommended puppy training/training classes. This isn't my first rodeo, I've had a Lab before, but unless I've blocked it out, I don't remember my previous Lab being that difficult to train! He loves to run free, I just can't imagine keeping him on a long lead, it's unfair on a dog like him imo. Does anyone have any advice on a plan of action? Or words of reassurance that he'll get better as he gets older? We do try and train off the lead in quiet places where there aren't many people about, sometimes he's quite good, sometimes he's terrible! And he's so bouncy! He jumps up, usually when playing with another dog, and he starts jumping around the owner. He doesn't actually make contact, just bounces around them, whilst ignoring my commands to come back. Everyone he's done it to has assured me it's fine, what with them being dog owners too, but I don't think it is, and it's mortifying! Should we be keeping him on the long lead at all times? We try to train off lead sometimes, in the belief he has to learn eventually, but is that the wrong thing to do? Our dog walker says his recall is good, but maybe he's just following what the other dogs do. I keep seeing adverts for Absolute Dogs Sexier than a Kitten course, is that worth purchasing? Is it likely to have ideas that we haven't yet tried? Should we go back to training classes? We got a Lab because I love them, I've had one before and I thought they were easy to train. Have we likely been doing something wrong? Are there any common mistakes that people make, that we might be making? I really feel like I need a plan of action, I dream of long country walks with a bounding, wet, muddy dog. I see other dogs running through the woods so happy, and I'm quite sad for him that ours is still on a lead, he has so much energy. He's a lovely dog really, so good natured and gentle, with people and other dogs. I just want him to be able to run free!

Turn your back on him and walk in the opposite direction

You can do both. I'd train the whistle first as it's more consistent and everyone in the family can use it. Then pick a word for a recall cue that makes sense, but you're not going to use in non-recall situations. Say you choose 'sausages'. Then you say 'sausages', immediately blow the whistle, dog returns because he knows that one. After a few repetitions of this he will click that 'sausages' is always followed by the whistle and treat so he may as well get on his way when he hears 'sausages'. Then you can do 'sausages' ... pause... whistle' and gradually increase the length of the pause. Then you can drop using the two together. However I'd always regularly practice each of them.

You probably know this already, but be aware that just because he knows whistle = treat in the house doesn't mean he knows it in the garden, the park or somewhere else exciting. You need to go through the whistle/treat immediately in each new location. After a few of these he'll probably be able to generalise it but you have to help him because dogs don't automatically think like that.