Hi All, I've got a border terrier thats 6mths old now. She's very good for her age except for two things, her recall is not good when distractions are around and everyone she meets, she jumps up at and is too excited. She loves people ! I try my best to make her have all 4 feet on the ground but people just say "oh its all right, she's just so sweet"  in spite of my telling them im trying to train her.
Am I expecting too much of her at this age ? I just want to end up with a well trained, polite dog.

Your problem is with the people who say it's OK.  Without their co-operation you have a battle on your hands and they are being very selfish and unfair to your dog.  I had the same problem when my papillons were puppies.  Now I am able to tell people to ignore the dogs when they first enter or to tell them "no" or "back", all of which work.  People who ignore me just have to accept dog scratches on their legs, especially in summer.  People soon learn.

> I try my best to make her have all 4 feet on the ground but people just say "oh its all right, she's just so sweet"  in spite of my telling them im trying to train her.

I will hang my head in shame now as I should know better, but I am one of these people. I keep telling myself to ignore peoples dogs unless they are behaving 'nicely', but I just get carried away and don't think about what I'm doing untill the dog has jumped up Only this evening, as I was coming out of a shop there was a bloke with a great dane, the dane pulled towards me (in a friendly, 'I just want to say hi' sort of way), so I couldn't help myself saying 'ahhhhh, hello baby, you izzzzz lovely' in a squeecky voice as I tickled his chin (LOL, to the dog, NOT the bloke!!), it was only when I saw the owners face, who was desperately trying to stay on his feet, that I had been naughty and encouraged 'bad' behaviour again

I also see this from the other side of things though as Buster (Mastiff) used to get VERY excited when meeting people, to the point he would stand on his back legs and pull me towards them Some people honestly don't mind being jumped on/slobbered/muddied by a dog and don't mean to be a pain in the bum (like me) as they understand dogs will be dogs. The fact that people do this DOES help your training in the long-run as you will have to teach her manners even with people stroking her when jumping up. It can be done

With Buster I would make sure I had treats (cheese) at the ready and keep feeding him bits of cheese & giving verbal re-enforcement as long as he stayed focused on me or sitting nicely. If he was really getting stupid I would ask the person, politely, to step back and 'don't touch him again until he sat down as I'm trying to teach him good manners'. 

It's not a problem meeting people now, allthough sometimes he still needs reminding if he gets excited, but I'm amazed at the difference compared to what he used to be like

I am I the only one who walks around with my pockets bulging with treats lol I am tring to stop mia from barking at every noise. Jumping is the next thing to sort but that tends to be less of a problem as she is busy barking at everyone who comes near her unless she is piked up and at their height.
Other people including the family realy dont help because they all think she is so cute. it would n't be so funny if it was my gsd who was barking and jumping at them .
The next toy breed I have I shall be more vigilant with her training from the beginning never realised it would be so different in that little ones get away with all sorts before you know where you are..   

It would seem you have to be prepared to be very strict and firm...with the people more than the puppy!
I'm having to contend with alot of these sort of situations atm too.

My 4 month old Leo loves everyone, which is great, but I'm very aware of how fast she's growing and am working hard to get those manners in place. Some people can be such a pain and I can't believe how short sighted they can be. The only thing you can do is tell them firmly that they are only allowed to say hello to her if her feet are on the floor. She's your dog after all, so it's your rules.

When my old Irish Setter was young she used to lose the plot in the middle of a walk sometimes. She'd get a glint in her eye, then dash madly round in circles. All good fun, except when she was in this 'zone' she'd be completely out of control and wouldn't respond to any commands. They only way to deal with it was to stand completely still and avoid any eye contact with her, eventually she'd snap out of it and sit quietly beside me. But so many times other people would pass and even when asked to "please ignore her" they couldn't resist chasing her and winding her up even more!  Ahhhhh!

Dogs are so much easier to deal with than people!

Its even more frustrating when it is people who own dogs and horses various creature and still dont respect your requests
Somehow you do tend to expect a little more.
Karen

People feeding and rewarding other peoples dogs/pups for bad behaviour are a nightmare - I gave up trying in the end cos people will not listen no matter what reason they are given.  Even if they do listen they still reward the dogs cos they fuss them and say all lovingly "oh no sorry darling your mummy says I can't give you any" fuss, fuss, fuss

I don't think there is a way to control other people - other then to keep young dogs on a lead and prevent them developing bad habbits. Then people are all grumpy about doing that too.