Oscar's progress

Well I've officially had Oscar about a month. I cannot begin to explain how fantastic this little dog is. I am a very lucky dog owner!
Let's recap:
When I first got him I tested out all the basic commands and got absolutely no indication of any understanding. Not a flick of an ear or a thought directed towards me. Even small changes in my voice led to little response from him unless it was very harsh or very excited. He would crawl into my lap at any chance and slept the majority of the first week. Vet cleared him health wise just said he as a very exhausted terrier. Approx. 1-2 years.
He pulled at the leash a lot and scratched at the door. Lots of jumping and play-biting. Some playful snaps at the face, which was quickly reprimanded.
He throws himself around and generally ends up in a twisty pretzel while I'm attempting to snap his leash on. He flails and submits and wiggles and thrashes instead of standing on his two feet. Also likes to lay down at the bottom of the stairs and give the sad eyes.

A month later:
Commands:
Come is 100% at home. 90% at the dog park. We're still working on come while in the middle of dog play time. I usually can get him to at a minimum look at me, but actually overcoming the excitement of playtime is still a work in progress.
Down: Unless food is involved there is usually a stare-down involved. But generally if I wait it out for about 5-10 seconds he flops down quickly.
I've slacked of extremely too much in sit and stay, but he's done well in the little we've worked with it.
We had a week long stint of dumpster diving (aka getting into my trashcan and spreading it all over the apartment) but I caught him in the act twice and I very firm no and mean looks seem to have stopped that behavior.
Stopping the jumping/scratching/flailing at the door is a major work in progress, but I'm doing a couple fake-outs a day and today he sat almost long enough for me to snap the leash on and got HUGE pats for that.
He has a big dog bone that seems to have helped limit his enjoyment of dragging my clothes all over the house.
95% of the time on the leash he doesn't pull. Still working on this around other dogs and going down the stairs, but he's figuring out pulling means we just stand still or move backwards and that's definitely not what he wants.
Overall he's been super easy. Another 5 minutes a day actively training and I'm certain I'd have an exceptionally trained dog. But I'm lazy and I'm pretty happy with adequately trained dog.

Philosophy on dog training

I'm not a dog trainer. I don't have the patience, or really the big problem is my attention span.

Wait, what was I talking about again? Oh...

I've been thinking a lot about dog training (and horse training) and pet peeves.

This is what I have to say about dog training, and my dogs.

I love dogs because they are DOGS. Dogs are not children. I am not Oscar's mom, and I do not want to be. If I wanted children I would have them, but as you know I do not. I got a dog because dogs are NOT children, and I do not want to treat them that way.

Dogs (and children, but this post is not about children) need LEADERS not parents. Dogs need to be dogs and have a pack. Even a two member pack. Dogs need to NOT be the leader of the pack. So far I think oscar gets it. I can say no firmly and give him a look and 99% of the time he'll stop what he's doing and give me the "sorry" sad face.

We're up to 99% for "come" when we're inside, and about 50% outside with distraction. If I get his attention and crouch down at the dog park MOST of the time he'll come running and barrel into my lap for pats and "good boys" but if he's playing or making his initial rounds about the perimeter to "mark" his territory, he's not going to come for anything. However he usually will look up if I say his name, and check himself if I say no.

The only issue we've really had in the dog parks so far is really due to his youth and size. He's too exuberant and large to play with the small dogs (even though he's only 20lbs and fits in the small dog category), but usually bites off more than he can chew with the big dogs and gets scared and snappy.

I love being able to take him to the dog parks (there's one about 40 min away but it's 14 ACRES and offers a huge area for him to sniff around), and he LOVES playing with the other dogs, and he really needs the space for exercise), but he likes to play REALLY rough and it usually leads to him getting scared and snappy. He will usually just try and put them in their place but several times they don't back off or give him room and I'm worried it's going to get ugly.

I think I just need to stop worrying. Like I said before they're dogs. Dogs will be dogs and sometimes dogs scuffle.