Tried out a new training class the other evening which specialises in recall and is taken outdoors in a large field. We have a pretty good recall if I spot the other dogs/people before he does so thought this would be a good opportunity to encounter distractions in a controlled environment. Harley couldn't quite get the hang of why he was in a field  still on a lead when he should be running around having fun so it took a while to get total focus.
After almost an hour of walking around in a rain sodden mud bath we got round to doing a recall from a fairly long distance but weren't allowed to take leads off. He sat and waited perfectly while I walked away from him and turned to face him - again waiting for me to call him. When I finally gave the command to come he took off like a bullet with the lead dragging through the mud behind him which made him run even faster. He looked as though he was suffering the effects of G-force as he hurtled towards me with his ears and eyes pinned back by gravity, and a huge pink tongue whipped back beside his ears.
As he got close to me he went into the sit but there was no way he was going to stop in time on the mud and he slid along on his bum in the sit position and knocked me flying backwards into liquid ooze. "This looks like a great game" was his next thought and so he jumped on top of me plastering the front of me in mud as well. My daughter and I were in fits of laughter by this time and I looked like a mud wrestler.
At the end of the session the trainer said that it was nice of us to join them for a "one-off" session so gathered that his enthusiasm was a bit too much for that particular class.
We laughed all the way home and it still makes me smile thinking about it now. He might not be perfectly trained but he has bags of enthusiasm!

ROFLOL

Perhaps the trainer was jealous of such a good recall!!!!!!

Fabulous :D

With all that enthusiasim have you considered agility training for him?

He's only 8 months old and as he is a rescue Golden Retriever with no knowledge of parentage the jumping involved might be a concern. Now if there were swimming trials available he would be a definite for that. He will swim in anything - sea, rivers, streams, puddles, the fish ponds in the garden but he's not too keen on the speedo goggles. :)

When he gets to 12 months or so you can have him hip scored, good to know what the hip status is as it will halp you manage him to minimise any problem a poor pair might cause.

ROFL :-D Good for him.

>At the end of the session the trainer said that it was nice of us to join them for a "one-off" session so gathered that his enthusiasm was a bit too much for that particular class.<

How boring. :rolleyes: We love things like this in my training club. It's supposed to be fun as well as instructive. I'd have been rolling on the ground in fits myself. We did a group recall this week in an evening fun session. All the dogs were lined up together in a sit. Then we all recalled at once. My 13 month old GR was running towards me then you could see his eyes go sideways when it dawned on him that 10 other dogs were running with him. I could just see those wheels turning "should I keep going to mom or jump on someone". He made it but I was laughing at the inner turmoil. I think you should be proud of him.

Oh we were definitely proud of him - his general behaviour was better than the other dogs which was a nice surprise. I sometimes think I get too caught up in what he can't yet do and forget about all the things he can do well - and he is only a pup still, albeit a rather large one. Within 5 minutes of arriving at this class we had already  decided it was not for us so being "expelled" wasn't a problem - my daughter was amazed that we stayed at all but, having made the journey, I looked upon it as just another socialisation opportunity. He certainly showed us how fun training can be!