My boys counter/bin surfing has reduced to only when he is alone in a room. When he hears us coming he jumps off and if we shout off from the living room he comes right in to show us he is down. Just need a bit of confirmation that this is progress. On a definate note, his recall is at about 90% with the only acception if he is playing with another dog and his lead walking is the same so thats fantastic. As i said before his biting has almost completely stopped apart from when people come around and he gets excited, any tips for this? i have been holding him on a lead and asking visitors to not talk to him until he is calm but he takes ages to calm down and bites me while we are waiting. This means that he is calm when he gets let off and doesnt even jump up to guests, but it hurts. Shall i just perservere?? We have dog training tomorrow so i will ask him also but i would like other suggestions as different things work on different days depending on his mood. He has been trying to rough play with me again, jumping up and mouthing which sometimes gets harder and i dont know how to nip this in the bud, distraction doesnt work on this occassion. Thanks all.

any takers please?

What breed/age is he?

beagle 6 months

I would just walk away when he's mouthing you - regardless of his mood, he must understand that it's unacceptable to you.

As for his moods - I'd pick one method for each problem and stick with it, keep at it through his mood swings - the consistency should help.  If you chop and change your methods you might well end up confusing him, which could lead to more problems.

On another note, I'm insanely jealous, I adore beagles :D

he's a beauty aswell, but obviously i am biased. Do you have any suggestions for calming him when visitors come as if i walk away he will jump all over them and mouth them with excitement. When i hold him on a lead he eventually calms down and then i let him off to greet them which is better for them. However he bites me and rolls around kicking while i hold him which hurts like mad. I dont know another way of calming him down so they dont get set apon. It's funny as if we meet people out he isnt so hectic and he doesnt do it to us when we get in from work, just visitors.

Have him in another room with a dog gate between him and the visitors but where he can see them. Let him out to greet them when he has calmed down (an alternative to what you are doing with the lead).

Teach him to down stay when visitors first arrive and train him to hold the position until you release him to greet them. By doing so, you are helping him keep his excitement levels down.

Get him used to the cues that excite him, ie knock at the door, opening the door etc. You can put make the knock at the door the cue for a sit or down stay. Takes a little time and patience to train in the cue, but it is a good one to stop excitement escalating.

You can also teach him to 'go to his bed' when visitors knock at the door and release him when they are settled.

There are many alternatives. Finding the one that you and your dog is comfortable with is the key :)

Thank you, i didnt think of putting him in another room is the down stay while he is in the other room? He already knows the command for going to his bed so i may try that first as he is familiar with it.

The key to good training is to find what is the most comfortable to you and your dog. Go to bed is an excellent way to help them to calm down when visitors come (it's the one I tend to use :) ). If you use the down stay and you have problems with it with your dog in the same room, then start it off behind a dog gate and, when your dog gets the idea, start leaving the gate open, then progress to having the down stay in the same room while visitors enter and get seated.

There are all sorts of training commands that can help you overcome excitability in any situation, but finding the one that suits you both best is the hardest part of training. Once you've found what's right for you :), you'll very quickly progress.

Hope that helps.