I want to teach our old dog new tricks

As Blake and I were leaving for our late-afternoon walk, we found a stray dog in our yard. She wasn't very old, and was very friendly. We walked to our nearest neighbors to see if they were missing a dog, but no one was home. Since we didn't want it to run again, we made her a mock collar, put her on Sophie's tie-out in the backyard, and gave her some food and water. Blake was already so attached, but we eventually ended up calling the police, and they came out to take her for the weekend. On Monday, she will be brought to the humane society. I hope her owners are looking for her and find her soon.

It's weird that we met this dog today because prior to our walk, we had been watching The Dog Whisperer. I noticed that Blake was using some of the tips from the show as the stray dog approached. Cesar Milan is seriously awesome with dogs, and watching him makes me want to work some more on Sophie's behavior. Sophie is generally a really well-behaved dog, and she knows a ton of tricks. There are, however, a few things that I want to fix:

1. When someone rings our doorbell, I don't mind if she barks a bit, but I don't want her to be so excited that she tries to run out of the door when I open it. I want her to be calm-submissive and observe as we open the door.

2. When we take her for walks, I want to walk her instead of her walking me. I tried it out today, and felt that she was starting to get better, but we still have a long way to go. She doesn't walk with her head up as though she's out for a walk...she always wants to sniff. This is a problem.

3. When at my parents' house, I want her to be less annoying in general. I love Sophie at our own house, but at my parents' house, she is beyond annoying. I've tried to discipline her there, but I think she knows its not our house and she doesn't listen. I may try some of the touches that Cesar recommends, and if that fails, I'll have to ask my dad to try to be the "pack leader." He's such a softie for dogs though, I'm afraid it'll never happen!

4. She needs to learn to be quiet when the garage door opens. We're still working on this one. She needs to understand that whomever comes into our house through the garage clearly belongs here.