Hey sorry for the late reply, haven't really been online the last few days.
What we did with her was when I walked her, I was very strict with her.. Made her sit when we were to cross the street or any time I stopped and I'd give her a treat. She was allowed to get up and walk again when I told her "ok". I also made sure I was consistent at home and kept routine with her. (not allowed her food until told ok, had about 20 mins or so each night where we'd go through commands like sit, wait, etc. just to keep her engaged, then we'd play)
When people came by, I'd make her sit or lie down and try to distract her by trying to get her to give me a paw, etc. People usually figured out right away that she was nervous so wouldn't bother us and I'd give her treats for listening to me. .. Other times if she started growling or freaking out I'd take a treat out and hold it in front of her face or me and get her to focus on me and not what was freaking her out. Once she did.. I'd give her the treat. What I was basically trying to do was get her to see a situation she thought of as negative in a positive light. She started associating treats with other people and dogs. It took a lot of work and a lot of frustration. The payoff was worth it though.
I'm not a fan of muzzles normally but found it helped me feel better about walking her. When I had it on I wasn't worried about her trying to go at another dog, etc. because she wouldn't be able to through the muzzle. As I felt more confident, she wasn't able to pick up on any anxiety from me so would become easier to walk. Then as I became confident that I could control her enough, I started using the muzzle less and less with success.
DH was against a muzzle as well because he never seemed to have a problem walking her. If she got upset, he could just pull on the leash a bit and tell her enough and that was it. He's also a foot taller than me and has about 35 extra lbs on him which may have had something to do with it as well
.. I think it was that she wanted to protect me and she could sense my unease when we walked by other people and dogs so she would feed off of it and then add to it that she was scared herself. (she was attacked as a little puppy by a bigger dog and wasn't socialized as much as she should have been which didn't help either.. so some of her reactions were purely fear based)
I also had the muzzle and started using it when he wasn't around so he didn't even know I had it on her and by the time he did, he realized it was helping me out quite a bit..
Mainly we just kept being consistent.. it was hard, but it eventually paid off.
How did the training classes go by the way? Having her around other dogs and people might be good as it'll help her socialize and get used to being around other people and dogs. She may learn how to be better at ignoring them and focusing only on you. .. Maybe ask the trainer at her class about some of your concerns and see if they have any insight as well.
If you have any questions, feel free to send me a private message, I'd be more than happy to lend you an ear and some support with this as I know how frustrating it can be..
The crazy thing is that whenever I tell her to sit, she only does it for a few seconds at a time, and she will only sit in the house. She absolutely refuses to sit anywhere else in public, outside, or even in other people's homes. I don't know if she gets over-stimulated or distracted, or a combination of both.
However, this training class last night helped immensely (or so it seemed), so I will be working with her often to see if I can change her behavior. She is food-motivated and did very well with the trainer having her sit and not growl at the other dog in the class.
The trainer suggested this thing called Sentry Stop That!, which is a spray can with pheromones in it. Whenever she has a bad behavior, I have spray it about 12 inches way from her face. The loud noise scares her enough to make her stop, and the pheromones help her to calm down. That's what the trainer used to get her to stop growling at the other dog, and it worked immediately.
She also suggested getting this plug-in thing when pheromones, and it apparently creates a calming effect so they don't go haywire in their crate when left alone. It was really expensive, though, so we'll see how this Stop That! thing works first. She said to put her in the crate, step outside and pretend that we are leaving, and as soon as she starts to chew at the crate to run in and spray it.
According to the trainer, the dogs are always looking for a pack leader, or are the pack leader themselves, and it seems in our situations that both our dogs view our men as the leader. The trainer said that's fine, but she needs to realize that she is still "lower in the pack" than me, and she still needs to listen. She said women are usually the "mothering type" and are the ones that are more lenient. I do not allow her to jump on the furniture, to jump on people, to bite when we are playing, etc., and the trainer seemed shocked when I told her that I was more firm and give more discipline than my hubby.
The other girl in the class with us actually lives in the same apartment complex, but when I asked her if we could socialize our dogs together, she didn't seem keen on the idea. She didn't come right out and say no, but I could just tell she didn't want to, you know? I was disappointed, as it would have been very easy to socialize her with another person and dog since they live so close.
We definitely learned a lot last night. I feel like I might have more control over this situation now, but only time will tell. I have to keep reminding myself to have patience with her because of her puppy mindset. I keep telling myself that this is good training for a child.
Holy crap, I wrote a novel. Sorry.
My dog is practically the spawn of Satan
... she has only regressed since I originally posted that. She is a black lab mix; some people say she looks like part Pit, others say Boxer or Chow... And the vet didn't know. She's about 60 pounds right now, and the vet said she should stay this size.
