what should I do?

[nicolamag]

Our 6 month old dog is a stray that we took in about 3 months ago. I've tried to read up on dog behaviour but there are still so many things I'm unsure about. Firstly, I recently read that you shouldn't call your dog if you want it to come for an unpleasant reason eg:giving it a bath, or taking her into the garden so you can leave, but there was no explanation of how to get her from A to B without calling.
Secondly, there are problems when we are sitting on the sofa. When she wants our attention and we ignore her she starts by jumping up on us or the sofa. We try not to make a fuss and firmly push her off, say "down" and then try not reinforce her behaviour by ignoring her or showing her one of her toys. A few seconds later she jumps on us again, and again, until she gets annoyed and then tries the tactic of nipping at our feet or snapping the air. How should we handle her when she gets like this? The problem with the sofa is really tiring and I'm afraid that the habit of nipping and snapping, which she does at other times when she is told "No", will only get worse.
Please help!!

Many thanks

[Mrs Ba]

It took us a while to train our pup not to jump onto the sofa, we made sure we spent lots of time down on the floor playing with her, when she tried to jump up,we just said NO and put her down but DIDN'T attempt to play or talk to her,when she was down we would then have a little play, so she slowly learn jumping up meant no fun, if she started nipping or being persistant we would put her in her crate for 'time out'
We were told at puppy training NOT to use her name when telling her off eg 'FRANKIE you naughty girl', just say 'YOU NAUGHTY GIRL', but I've always called her if I want her to do something,try to make baths fun too if you can.
Good luck

[nicolamag]

Thanks for your help.