Am I expecting too much of my puppy?

I have a 5 month old black lab called Leo. We took him to the Dog's trust puppy training when he was 12 weeks old, and completed that at the end of May. If we take him out on a walk, I let him off the lead when there are no other dogs close by and he's great--walks with us and comes back when called. Any distractions, like kids, other dogs, people in general and there's no chance of getting him back. He also jumps up at everybody we meet.
Is this because he's still a puppy, or do we need to work more on his recall/behaviour?
Also, I want to take him to more training classes, but not sure whether to go for another class one, or try one-to-one training. I'd be grateful for any advice

 

Hi Becky, welcome to the Forum from myself and Cassie, who is just over 2 years old. I am not an expert, but have learnt a lot since joining this Forum.
Your puppy (what is his name btw?) is behaving like that because he is a young Labrador! Like most of them, he is finding that the world is an exciting place and he wants to be part of it all. And he is getting stronger and bolder.
The best thing you can do is buy the book Total Recall -- it guides you through the difficulties you may have. I still use it, although Cassie's recall is good I just like doing the exercises. I would get hold of it ASAP, so that you can get him into good habits.
I think it's up to you, classes versus 1.2.1. The advantage of classes is that they learn to work amongst other dogs, but 1.2.1 helps I think if you have a particular problem.

 

The latter, I'm afraid. We're stuck at this point too, but Coco is 4 years old

 

Hi @BeckyM, we have Kipper who's 9 months and we're definitely in the beginner/improver category! The main thing from what you've said is you're on the right track with training, it just needs developing - far better than rock bottom This has reminded me I must read Total Recall again...

 

Dim wit I am!

 

Another recommendation for Total Recall. Alfie is 4 months and his recall is excellent (yet to hit his teenage years) We also went to dogs trust puppy classes (finished last week) and they were useful but Alfies recall was so far in front of the other puppies in the class and all thanks to the work we put in following the program.
Sprints back as fast as his little legs can carry him even with other dogs/puppies kids about so far.

 

Thanks for all the advice guys. I’m going to go buy Totall Recall now. We’re all off to Cornwall in early August so hopefully we’ll see some improvement before then.