Long Awaited Sadie Update - Success!
I've been so absorbed with Toby that I keep forgetting to update this thread.
Sadie is still a work in progress and may always be, but I've been successful with breaking her habit of lunging and people and she no longer requires the Gentle Leader.
The GL was a VERY helpful and definitely gave me the control over her that I needed and also calmed her so that she was less likely to try and lunge.
I had to work hard at acclimatizing her to the GL and teach her that it was a positive thing and not a punishment. Thankfully she's very food motivated and loved her walks so eventually she allowed me to put it on her with only a minimal fuss. She clearly never liked it though, even though she accepted it with coaxing.
On walks I started paying her more attention. I started randomly asking her to look and gave her praise and a very high value treat for doing so. I did this whether there was a trigger near by or not. I also moved further away from potential triggers, like people standing by the side walk or walking by. I'd either keep walking and give more space or move over a few feet to a grassy and making everyone sit and pay attention while the dog or person walked by. Depending on how big the trigger was, I'd give more or less space, change the direction I was walking and/or walking backwards and ask for a sit, then do some tricks with them like stays or down stays and working attention.
Slowly I was able to stop Sadie when she started fixating on people and eventually she started ignoring people completely and automatically looking at me when we walked past them.
I think its also important to mention that I had stopped forcing her to allow people touch her (Had actually stopped this a long time ago). She's never been fond of strangers, though never really acted afraid, just reserved. She also never liked having her head touched. If someone really wanted to touch her we would turn her around and let them touch her back and bum, which she never liked but tolerated. I realize now that I never should have done this when she was clearly uncomfortable and that I probably just made things worse, but at the time I thought it was an ok way of allowing her to interact with people.
Its been 2-3 months I think, since she last had a lunging incident, I'm not sure I can even remember the last time one occured. She hasn't been wearing her GL in at least 1-2 months and has had no relapses. I still give her treats for paying attention to me and not people we pass, but only half the time. She ALWAYS gets praise though.
Skate boards and small animals like squirrels I'm sure will always be a bit of a challenge, but I don't really care all that much, its a normal dog/sheltie behavior and something that can be managed since its not actual fear or aggression.
I'm so happy that she's feeling more comfortable and that she no longer looks like the sheltie version of Cujo when people pass by, she now acts like the Princess she knows she is.
