Backwards training issue.

Hi,
I'm struggling with a training issue that I'm unsure of how to avoid. I'm sure it's something many of you have come across and conquered before so I'm hoping someone can offer me some advice.

My mum's pup is 14 weeks old (at the time of writing) and on the whole he is very responsive to our training so far. His recall is fantastic, he's amazing on the lead and all the usual stuff is going well. However, sometimes he seems almost too clever, particularly when trying to train him out of unwanted behaviours.

Say for example we want to train him to 'leave it' ie; not pick up shoes, he has worked out that if he picks up the shoes and you tell him to 'leave it', he can drop them and get a reward. However, instead of learning to just leave them alone, he will return to the shoes, pick them up so he can be told 'leave it' again. Everything I've read suggests that rewarding the act of leaving said item should prevent him from scuttling off with it. The same applies for 'off', ie; when he jumps on a sofa. We tell him 'off', he jumps off, gets a reward, jumps back on again.

Can anyone shed some light on a way around this?

By the sounds you are doing fine, perhaps when he jumps off the sofa don't treat him straight away leave a couple of seconds and gradually increase the time before treating. That way he will realise the longer he stays down the treat will come. They do try and test us so keep at it and it will click. Well done so far. 

Sounds like everything is going well, as inez says extend the times before you treat, patience and persistence are the key