I'm still giving myself a break because because Seasonal Affective Disorder. I did do laundry, mostly because Athena's sweatshirt was covered in fur. She sheds so much more than I expected for a short-haired dog!
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I did do some research (again) on how to make a pit bull release once they've latched on. One of the videos I watched last time I did this research mentioned a gag reflex one can activate by pressing a certain point on their throat, but I haven't been able to find anything showing me where that point is. Of course I hope never to use it, but the fact is Athena's been in three fights already where's she's latched on to another dog.
I'm trying to determine if she's responding to other dogs' body language. It's difficult to see ears, tail, stance, and scruff on two dogs at the same time, before they react to each other. However, I'm leaning toward she's reacting to them, which tracks with hers being a fear response.
There's the Terrier across the street and the Pug down the street, both of whom go berserk every time we walk by. There's also a Yorkie who barks when we walk by her house but ignores us when we're all out walking. Athena ignores them all. On the other hand, we walked by a Yorkie last night who was so small I didn't even see him at first, and when I did I thought he was a puppy. He started yelling at us, and Athena was fine for a minute. I don't know what he said to her, but all of a sudden she lunged.
There's the Great Dane who barks at us every time we walk past his house. We used to see him and his brother walking with a man, and they both behaved just fine. Athena was attentive but we always walked by each other without issue. Now we see them walking with a woman and a teenager. The woman walks the one who now barks and lunges at us every time we see them. Athena will have her ears up but won't lunge until he does.
If the other dog ignores us, Athena ignores them. She doesn't even perk up her ears, which I now understand can be a sign of aggression. If the other dog obviously wants to play, she'll have her ears up but we'll walk by without issue. Sometimes the other dog also has their ears up, and neither bark or lunge.
We always cross the street when we see another dog coming, if we can. We've been in situations where we cross to avoid one dog, only to encounter another coming directly up the other side of the street. Sometimes we can cross over again. Sometimes we can't. If we can't, Athena and I will walk on people's lawns to put distance between us. I get annoyed at people who force us into this, like the couple walking their dogs up to the light on Ridgebury. They could have crossed at the light, but instead chose to turn the corner toward us not 3 houses away. We needed to turn at that corner, and could not cross a busy street with oncoming traffic. I know they saw me stop for a moment before they made that decision, too.
I bought the shock collar, but I don't think I'll use it. I've begun pre-emptively telling her "ah-ah-ah" when we get close to a potential problem, and praising her as soon as we start to pass without a reaction. I think this will be more effective as I learn how to determine which dogs are going to be a problem. We did actually walk past deer on the other side of the street last night with no more than raised ears and a desire to keep them in sight, so progress is being made.
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