Home behaviour still improving

The boys are still getting better at home when we have visitors. Over the past few weeks we've had more people coming and going in the house than usual, between friends visiting and a new estate agent popping in for photos, updates etc..
The boys are still very excited when someone comes in, but they do respond to our commands to not jump up, and the excitement dies down after perhaps 2 minutes now, where as it was 10 minutes originally, then down to 5 mintues as we tried to put our new procedures into action. Once their initial excitement has worn off, they are fine.
They still go mental when the doorbell goes, but we've still not spent any concerted time trying to fix this, we need to devote a couple of hours over a weekend to it. I saw some progress months ago when I tried for just a few minutes, so I'm sure we can sort this too.

Fun in the Snow

We finally had some decent snow in High Wycombe in early February, and I love taking the boys out to play in it. On this occasion we went along a walk through some local woods to a large park area, where I knew the chances of us meeting other dogs were pretty high. On the way to and from the park we didn't meet anyone though, and I was happy to let them off for a runaround, and as is the way with them, so long as there are no other dogs around to distract them, their recall is good. When we were at the park I did let them off the lead, and neither of them went more than 30 metres away without checking to see where I was. After 5 minutes or so a chubby brown labrador appeared with his owner; the dog was quite old and seemed very relaxed. I had already recalled Mishka before he saw this other dog, and got him on the lead. I was happy for Jackson to stay off the lead and go and say hello. Mishka was straining to go and say hello too, so I asked the owner if it was OK for Mishka to go over, and he had no problem. Mishka went for a good sniff, and did his usual thing of rearing up, though there was no barking. He then tried humping this dog (definitely not a bitch!) and I was too slow to try and deter this behaviour, I should have been quicker really. After a minute or so the owner started to wander off and his dog followed, with Jackson in close proximity. Mishka was less certain about where to go, and after looking at those two dogs, and then at me, he came to me when I called, which I was very pleased with. Jackson and this lab had found a Rotty to play with, about 50 metres away, but after two or three stong calls, even Jackson decided he was better off with me and came over. I was relieved and pleasantly surprised, I had thought I would have to go and get him, but I tried having some faith in him and in myself, and it seemed to work. Perhaps having confidence that he will come if I stand my ground and call him works. I am the pack leader, after all :-)