But cyclists! Yay!!
I'll keep at the walks, doing pull-to's as soon as she starts to lock her eyes on someone, and this will be a learning experience for me also. The trick is getting her into a pull-to before her excitement is too high, and she's so quick to react that it's difficult to find that point.
The changes in her diet need time to have any impact also. I just made those changes with banana, chamomile, and fish oil yesterday. My mentor also recommends OptaGest. This is a probiotic for dogs and cats, and with her nervous stomach, it definitely can't hurt. I added this to her yogurt yesterday as well, and she didn't vomit today after the walk this morning. I call that a win.
We also need to work on play and toy holding in the front yard. Shasta loves to play, and her toy hold is getting better. However, once we're out the front door, she looses all interest. Why? One of the earliest things I learned in my dog trainer internship is that play is the first behavior to fall away when dogs are nervous. While she loves walks, she's still nervous outside her comfort zones of the house and backyard. So, we'll start playing outside the front door and gradually advance it to the driveway, then the side walk, and on. We'll need to have a good play session in the house first to get her revved up and excited about the toy, but I feel this will work.
Eventually, she'll walk with a toy in her mouth, and if her mouth is already occupied, she's less likely to bark at strangers. The toy hold will have some calming effects, too.
We're still working on all this, and it's good that our neighbors are understanding. One lady was very nice about it when I told her that we were training, and maybe she'll even work with us as Shasta improves.
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