My nervous cocker.. Please help!

Question
We got Mocha from a breeder when he was 8 weeks old. He was the most adorable loveable puppy ever! He loved meeting anyone and everyone. When people would come home he would go happy ballistic. If someone greets him with a lot of excitement, he will pee. We always warn people about this, so that they can be more low key in their greeting. This is still not really the problem. We moved from Colorado to California and his 'happy to meet everyone' behavior completely changed! (We stayed at home till he got comfortable with is new environment)He constantly barks at my next door neighbor. When I take him out for a walk, he will behave like he wants to say hi but when the person reaches out to him, he will try and run. Sometimes he will just bark and random strangers. He has never barked at any of our friends (only friends) that come home, but he just gets too excited and for friends who are not pet friendly, it's a nightmare! We can't make him meet strangers, we try and avoid calling our friends because of his behavior. Mocha is extremely hyper... if a friend is leaving he will sit and cry for hours!!! I think I can go on and on. It just amazes me that he is super friendly with people who come home (just friends though) but outside he is not. And he used to be the perfect dog while growing up. More than being frustrated, I hate seeing him this way. Mocha is 18 months old and neutered. Also, he loves playing with other dogs, although if they jump on me he doesn't like it.

Please help!

Answer
I need to know how long this has been happening - and most importantly tell me precisely what you do when it does happen.

The latter is important because sometimes (a lot of times) owners in trying to comfort or soothe or be cross reinforce the behavior.

So let's take one thing at a time.  When a person on his walk tries to pet him and he tries to run - what do you do?

What you should do is ask any approaching person to ignore Mocha for a moment or two before even making eye contact.  Ask Mocha to sit andthen ignore him.  The stranger should then just say "Hi Mocha" without touching him.  Then you & Mocha move on.

Anyone who comes into your house should completely ignore Mocha - no chat, no eye contact and walk right by him.  When he calms down, then he can have some attention.

For friends who aren't pet friendly, have Mocha on leash and again - ignore him.

He's only 18 months - this is all correctable but I'd like to know the extent of his training.  What commands does he know?  Does he walk on leash properly?

Now none of this behavior happened overnight and it won't go away overnight but it WILL taper off reasonably quickly if you react the right way.

So answer my questions and we'll take one issue at a time.  Don't lose patience - he's like a toddler going through a phase and it's your job to teach him there are better ways.
Delores