self rewarding goof ball!

[arader]

We have an 18 month golden retriever male. He is unbelievably smart as he sailed through obedience classes and became a CGC and Therapy dog by the time he was 15 months. The problem comes in during his agility classes. He is phenomenol on the course when he listens and follows the cues. However, he becomes a clown because he is so confident in himself and LOVES to do the pieces. When we run through a course one time, he does great then acts as if he is bored and "makes up his own! The trainer has told us he problem with him is that he is self rewarding but we are having no luck deterring it. I have pulled him off the course if he chooses not to follow, I have made him continue my way and i have ignored him...not working yet! Any thoughts, suggestions would be greatly appreciated. I know part of this is his 18 month old boy golden puppy brain but...

[KOPsarah]

Hi aradar thanks for your post.
We ran into a similar problem with our male golden retriever when he hit is teenage time! We found the only way to stop this behavior was as soon as he stopped following the correct course and went off on his home we went to him and within talking to him put him on his lead and put him back in the station wagon. This meant not only was he getting no attention from us but he was removed from the area where all the dogs were and he could see them all enjoying themselves but not get to them: basically a 5 minute time out. This was repeated as necessary and seemed to work a treat after the first 3 time outs he was much more keen to follow instructions and participate properly.

Hope this words for you, let me know how you get on.