First Day Working: Good Progress, Stupid People!
I decided to try a Halti Headcollar with Sally to keep better control on walks.
I put it on her without much protest, and gave her treats, however she started scratching at it afterward. We went for a walk to distract her, and after a few minutes she started being more interested in the outdoors and forgot about the Halti feeling funny. I would have used a muzzle but at that point I didn't have the money for one. We went to the nearby park, as I knew that there was a tennis court there whose doors shut tightly so I could work with her without worry of people approaching who mean well but don't know how to address a fear aggressive dog.
I put it on her without much protest, and gave her treats, however she started scratching at it afterward. We went for a walk to distract her, and after a few minutes she started being more interested in the outdoors and forgot about the Halti feeling funny. I would have used a muzzle but at that point I didn't have the money for one. We went to the nearby park, as I knew that there was a tennis court there whose doors shut tightly so I could work with her without worry of people approaching who mean well but don't know how to address a fear aggressive dog.
She listened well, and although she usually had bad leash manners, the Halti had almost instantly improved this without distractions. Whenever a jogger or someone with a dog went by, she would bark, but with a simple turn around and walk away, she calmed down after a few minutes. She was responding very well, and was proving how smart she was. We practiced loose leash walking, stop-sits like at street corners, and any time she wouldn't sit right away, I would have her walk in a small circle and then try again.
Just when everything was going great, a small group of people wanting to play tennis showed up. As soon as they were in shouting distance, I announced that I was currently using the court and they would need to come back later. One of the group, an older man, was very rude in saying that I had no right to use the court for training, and it was a public court and he was going to play tennis (I won't directly quote him, there were a lot of obscenities and I'm pretty sure he thought I was a kid, because of my stature and looks). Had he asked nicely, I may have left nicely, but since he was being rude, I insisted that he needed to come back later. I then told him that he needed to back up because he was approaching us and Sally had started barking and growling. He refused to listen, and even went so far as to accuse me of training Sally to be mean just to bully tennis players. At that point, I left the court for the less secure baseball field.
Once I and Sally calmed down from the ordeal, she and I settled into pacing the diamond. After about an hour, a few neighborhood kids showed up and, curious, started asking questions. Taking the opportunity to teach kids about dogs and aggressive dogs in particular, I told them about how to handle a strange dog that rushes you by standing still without moving, what body language dogs give when they are scared, stressed, or agitated, and answered a lot of other questions all while leading Sally around in a big figure eight. The kids were in Sally's trigger age, but with constant motion and a few gentle "leave it" commands with guiding her head away from looking at them, she was comfortable as they were behind the home plate fence and well over 30 feet away.
After an hour or two of Q&A, one of the girls asked if they could help. I suggested that she stand on home plate, and any time in our walking Sally barked, she turn away but not move. Eager and willing, the girl did as I asked, and by that simple act, honest-to-goodness forward progress was made. A foot or two at a time, after walking the figure eight at least twice each time we moved closer, Sally learned that the girl was not a threat from a distance, and every time she barked, the girl turned and we backed up to our original 8 again, to move forward slowly. Before the girl needed to go home, we got within 20 feet of the girl with only five or six barks throughout the 4 hour session.
When we got back to the apartment, Sally ate, drank, and fell fast asleep in her crate. A mostly successful day, despite some setbacks. At this point I knew I needed to figure out a way to get a muzzle for her though, because had Sally gotten loose from me when that man came in, it could have ended very badly. I couldn't continue taking risks like that.
