Adventures in Dogwalking: Myra and Thunder

Ahhh, I was so happy to finally have Myra to walk again! Of course, I had to make sure I was the first one to get there this morning which meant getting up extra early, but I love this dog so much, she's worth it!
As soon as she got the hint that she was going for a walk, Myra got really, really excited and started jumping around in her kennel. I put her in a 'sit' a few times, but she was so excited she just jumped right up afterwards. The coordinator and I finally managed to snap her leash on, and off we went. She seemed to have gained extra strength or something from the last time we walked, because I don't remember her pulling so hard before. But then again, the last time we walked together was when we were having our heatwave, and todays weather was very far from hot and sunny. I tried working with her heeling, but I don't think I really made that much progress...I would say she limited her strength at times while walking with me, but still pulled the leash tight.
I put her in one of the pens to play with her, and boy was she ever happy about that! As soon as I took her leash off, she zoomed around the pen happily, then picked up one of the big balls in her mouth and ran with it some more. I soon learned that she looooved playing fetch, although she needs some work with the 'bringing it back to me' part. Surprisingly, while we were in there, a little pit bull walked by and Myra reacted a little agressively towards her; with almost all the other dogs she's been pretty friendly, she can be pushy with some dogs but never any growling or barking. I think the other dog was also a young female similar in age, so maybe it's some sort of territory or position thing.
I worked on recall with her, which she responded to really well; soon I was able to call her back to me even with the distraction of other dogs around. Yes! We also worked on 'stay' and 'down,' although she always wants to get up to get her treat instead of laying down for it. We'll have to work on that some more.
Later, I took a new dog who had been an owner surrender: a BEE-U-TIFUL German Shepherd/Husky mix. He was sooooooo cute: he looked like a smaller, classic German Shepherd with his markings, except for the traditional curved Husky tail and a streak of pure white across the back of his neck. At first, he was a little shy, but then as all the smells and sounds decended upon him, he got really, really excited. As always, I wonder how people can just give up their dogs like that, but with Thunder, although he was super adorable, I kind of got an idea of why he was surrendered: his excitability was really out of control!
Of course, that's no excuse, but as we were walking I wanted to test his obedience so I asked him to 'sit.' He sat, then promptly when on to jump all over me! I literally had to fend him off because he was jumping up in front of me, jumping up beside me, jumping up behind me, and although I said "Off!" and "No!" sternly and loudly while trying to push him down, he didn't really get it until I was practically chanting it, while trying to ignore him with my body language. To add to the problem, he was very mouthy; obviously his owners before did not enforce this as a big no-no, and not only did he jump up and try to mouth me on my arms while I tried pushing him down, he would try to nip me on the back of my legs too. I know he was only trying to play with me because he would crouch down in the classic "play with me!" position before jumping all over me, but it was still not very pleasant.
To help him burn off some energy, I let him off leash in one of the pens. Once he was free, he started running around the pen at top speed, in gigantic circles. Maybe I'm overreacting a little, but it looked a little neurotic. Sometimes high energy dogs that don't get enough exercise and stimulation find other ways to vent their energy, and then they become fixated on that one thing and repeat it over and over again, kind of like a canine OCD. Well, Thunder kind of fit the bill as a high energy, understimulated dog, so I hope that's not the case. He did slow down to sniff out a few things that interested him though, but didn't know how to play fetch or anything (or maybe he just didn't want to).
We walked around a few more times, where Thunder's excitability would pop up at the most random times: when we were running together, he would keep looking back at me (good) but then would stop and jump all over me (bad). I would ask him to sit and he would comply (good) but when I reached down to pet him he'd get all excited and the frenzy would start again (bad). When I sat down on the bench to rest he'd come over and nuzzle his head into my lap (good) but then he'd jump up all over me again (very bad)!
When I left, I was literally covered in fur and mud from Thunder's frenzies. He is a nice dog, but very puppy-like, and just needs someone to show him the way to good manners!