aaargh!

Ugh, can't believe that! I can see why you're frustrated!! Squeegee is 6 months old and started obedience classes this month. In my opinion, he is one of the best in the class!! I agree that the organization you contacted must not be experienced b/c I have found that Squeegee does awesome and is totally focused if I just bring treats that he likes

One thing that our obedience class has taught us to help with the over-excitability is the focus command. You take your treat and hold it right between your eyes and tell him to focus, look, or whatever command you want to use. Once he gives you eye contact (or is looking at the treat, haha) and sits then you reward. This command works great as a start and gets them calm before you start more tricks.

If he is excitable and jumping and trying to get the treat then you simply wait until he sits and then treat him. Our trainer says that this type of training is called shaping meaning that the dog finds the desired behavior on his own rather than luring which is where you use a treat to make them do what you want (ex. holding it over their head for sit, etc). They say that shaping is a much more effective way for the dog to learn. We have seen this work really well with jumping up. In class the trainers walk up to the puppy, if the puppy jumps then they say uh oh and walk away. They would come back and try again and after jumping up twice and the trainer walking away most of the dogs tried sitting and recieved a treat. Ever since that first day there has been very little jumping up.

Ours does the nose on the table thing too and we have been waiting for him to sit and then treating him. He is making some progress there. The other thing that may be helpful is trying clicker training. Our trainer says to use a treat to lure the dog for the first 3 times and then use your fingers only. So the first 3 times that you want him to lay down you lure him with the treat, once his elbows hit the floor you click and treat. After the first 3 times you hold your fingers as though you have a treat and when he lays down you click and then get the treat out of your pocket. I have found that this helps when training Squeegee because when I have a treat in my hand he just licks and nips and tries to get it. Once I've gotten past the first 3 times and he realizes that the treat isn't in my hand he will do the trick and wait for the treat.

Sorry for the long post!