How to teach a lab puppy not do things before being told?

Our lab puppy is way worse of a puppy than our previous two labs. She's very loving, but man. doesn't have a slow speed. We've done training, and she knows commands. The problem is it's exhausting to constantly have to tell her to get off the counters, or not to tear through the house with the doormats. The jumping and biting has improved drastically. If we could get her to do those two things, life would be good.

I hate the prospect of using an ecollar, but am willing to consider it if it'd work.

Keep a check cord on her.

Electricity.

Why would you hate the prospect of using something that works? It’s much better than beating the sht out of her, which is probably what you should have done the first time she jumped on the counter.

Id put the collar on her and turn it up high. You shouldn’t have to say anything to her. Every time she jumps on the counter or picks up a floor mat burn her good. Once she figures out it hurts to jump on the counter or tear up floor mats she’ll stop it.

Crate or check cord.

Here's the problem and answer to your question. Make sure everybody in your house is being consistent in the way you're are handling these issues with her. Teach her a "off" or "no" command and reinforce it with strict discipline after you tell the pup ONCE. Ecollars freak some people out because its "electricity", but really, they are a fantastic training tool when used properly. Just always make sure the correction is associated with something the dog is doing or after a strong command is given and not followed.
Be consistent and be firm. working dogs thrive in a "structured environment" where they know their job and their limits.

How old is the puppy? If it is old enough solid obedience as advised will help. More advice, is if it is old enough, is to work the snot out of it daily. Sporting breeds with juice can be a problem when they don't have a regular outlet for their athleticism and energy. Tired dogs are good dogs.

Do you mean telling her only once each time she does it, or once per day etc? That's what we do.

She's 6 months.

At six months your pup is old enough for daily obedience sessions. Keep them to a maximum of 10 minutes. Work on one command at a time. Refrain from giving the command unless you are in position to ensure compliance first time every time. Teach first, then be consistent. The command you need ASAP is "no". At six months a good portion of puppy's are little terrors. Somewhere around a year and a half to two years it will most likely grow out of some of the puppy behavior. As far as the counter surfing goes, if it has the intelligence, it will likely become more covert....

I use ecollars for training retrievers. They are a wonderful tool. And I don't have a problem using them inside for bad behavior.

However, in my opinion, the above advice is not a good approach for a puppy that has not had any collar conditioning. If you burn her with the collar on day one, most likely she will hate the collar going forward and you could really screw her up. I know dogs that run and hide when an owner brings out the collar because of this scenario or they breakdown when the collar is on because they are in fear of what may happen next. My dog is PUMPED UP and EXCITED when I get the collar out because he knows we are going training. As stated, it's a wonderful tool, but needs to be taught and then used appropriately.

He means tell the dog once and follow up with discipline. In other words - don't say no or off 15 times then discipline the dog. That way - the dog learns no means no.

This is how I break my dogs from bad behavior, and I’ve never seen a dog run and hide because someone pulled out an electric Collar. This is different from teaching them commands with the collar. I use a lot of juice when teaching a dog not to do something I don’t ever want them to do, (chasing rabbits, deer, cows or messing with skunks ect.) The pain teaches them they don’t want to do that anymore. I do collar condition all of my dogs and they all like it when the collar goes on because it means they are going to get out to run or some training. I’ve only had one dog that acted pissed off when you put a collar on her but she acted pissed when you attached a leash to her as well. All dogs are different and everyone has an opinion but this is the quickest way to break a dog from bad behavior.