How do you get them to pay attention?

Alfie is 7 months old and is really clever. He picks things up so fast.
We do "training" everynight, but he doesn't listen to what I am saying to him

He knows:
Sit
Lie down
Shake
Stand
Play dead
Spin

And I will say "sit" and he will lie down, or I will say "stand" and he will play dead

Normally I have to just make him sit and give me eye contact for maybe 5 seconds, and then say the next command which can sometimes help - but doesn't always work lol.

Is there a reason he does this?

We always keep training short and sweet, but he just seems to do whichever ones he feels like rather than what I am saying

It sounds like he is listening to you but not understanding the command so is giving you what he thinks will please you, and get him the reward!

I would go back a few steps and do some focus training such as recall games, and just getting his attention in the middle of other things so that he knows he has to focus on you. Then I would start with the basic sit and make sure that is solid.....do you use voice and/or hand commands. Many dogs respond to the visual clues more than the auditory one. It would be worth introducing a strong signal for each command to help him differentiate each one.

Good luck, he will soon get there, it just sounds like he needs some consolidation......

Some days he does it all perfectly, others he just seems to want what is in my hand so just tries out a few things

I have got solid hand gestures aswell, as he does seem to prefer them, but that doesn't always seem to matter to him lol.

He knows all the commands (apart from play dead where he gets 90-95% of the time as that is still new), and does them all perfectly, and if I just get him to do some in the morning he just does them perfectly, but its only when I sit down to do some "proper" training that he seems to just play about Haha :P

He does listen and do it, but he sometimes just goes through this routine where I will say "sit" and he will spin.. etc etc, wasn't sure if he was just over excited, or just because he was a puppy or something

It isn't like he ignores me or isn't paying attention at all, but he certainly doesn't always listen

Do you tend to do the same commands everyday and/or in a similar order? Could it be he is learning the routine/guessing what is coming up instead of actually learning the commands?

I made the mistake of doing that with Molly when we first started training so instead of learning the command, she just learned the order I did things in and repeated it Maybe you could try doing different tricks in different orders and in different situations so that he doesn't know what is coming and has to pay close attention?

Also, if Molly isn't quite focusing I'll play some recall games for a while to get her attention on me or use the 'watch me' command.

Nope, I mix it up!

I made that mistake at the start, so now when he does "shake", we have "shake" for the right paw, and "other one" for the left

But it all gets mixed up now!

I do recall aswell, like I will move and be like "come, sit" so he will come and lie down.. etc

He does seem like he is just trying to please me, but it's so funny that sometimes he does it all so perfectly, and other times he just does his own thing and still looks for a reward which I must say he does not get lol.

I am sure he will get better as he is a good boy - its just sometimes i watch him and like... what ARE you doing?

Ohh quick thing about the "lie down".
For some reason this took him quite a while to get the hang of (and he got some other more complicated ones really fast lol), so we did a LOT of work on lie down, so I think that could be why he lies down a lot when told to come/sit etc, still not an excuse , but maybe a reason?

lol Luke gets like that sometimes...I'll say sit, he lays down. I say stay, he comes. When he's in one of those moods I know that training time is over and we'll start again later....That being said, if it's a situation where he HAS to do it, for whatever reason, I don't let up until he does it. He does not get a treat for doing a bunch of things, and he only gets the treat at all, if he obeys on the first command. I think alot of dogs catch on too, that they still get a treat if they take a while to do the command, or they'll mess around before doing it, then still get rewarded. I've stopped allowing that. U don't listen the first time? No praise, no reward.

Ooo I may try that!
I only say it once, but if he does a bunch of things and stops on the one he is SUPPOSED to be on (not a passing movement), I sometimes give the treat for that.
Maybe I should just do it that if he doesn't do the correct thing first time then no treat - thanks!

You're most welcome..I hope it works for you

Put the food away in a tub, After doing a command, tell him goodSiot/whatever break off & go to the tub. Once hes doing this , start to link two or three commands/behaviours together, praise after each one & feed at end.

Hes trained you well!