I can't even imagine (altho I certainly can picture) what you were going thru, having to "sit your ground" in order to keep from getting hurt/injured/dragged down the street. People who have never been thru anything with a D/A dog just have no idea. I've had people say the dog shouldn't be allowed out of the yard, the dog should be put down, the dog shouldn't come out of the house, blah blah blah. Those are among the same people who point and laugh, like they're watching some kind of sitcom. Sad. Kudos to you and all your pups, you're ALL lucky to have found each other! I think we're lucky to have found them, as they make us better people and trainers, and well, yeah, they're lucky we found them too, cuz .... we won't talk about what may have happened otherwise.....
I love your pics! I have a few with my girl and her old "boyfriend" (not Alfie). She befriended a Choc Lab, Bear, in the neighborhood (how that happened, I have no idea!!) and they used to have frequent playdates (he's since moved). He was her only other friend, but they played and played so beautifully together, and it used to do my heart good to watch them. She LOVES to play, and Alfie isn't much of a player. Makena and Alf do have their games, but mostly don't involve running and chasing - but she and Bear would run til they dropped.
I had something interesting happen Fri night. I took them for a walk at the beach Fri night after work. The beach is very much Makena's "happy place". As we were working thru so many issues, I found her to relax more at the beach than anyplace else (and still true today after all these years -- and for any newcomes, yes, she's a rescue). As we were walking along, she kept switching from side to side, she and Alfie's leashes were getting tangled, it was driving me nuts - and of course, I told her so (cuz I talk to my dogs constantly). Usually, she walks beautifully, but holy cow, this constant switching sides, walking behind me to switch, back and forth, wth?? It was nuts! Then it hit me!!!!! She was .. on her own .. switching sides when we were coming towards another dog, passing a dog, etc - and she was putting me between her and the 'oncoming' dog. Something we worked on, trained, etc - but there's so much room at the beach, no need to even care about that.
But she cares!!!! I wanted to bend down, hug her, and tell her I was sorry for telling her she was driving me nuts! And it meant the world to know
that she knows and trusts that I'll always have her back and keep her safe, no need for her to worry anymore. She had a blast, there were loads of dogs, some running around off-leash (not supposed to be) which used to make her very alert but not aroused anymore - but Fri night she was relaxed and didn't seem to care.
I guess my point is -- to anyone with an aggressive, fearful, or any kind of dog with issues: keep up all the work, cuz things we may not think are making that much of an impact may be making a HUGE impact, and may mean more than we'll ever know to our fearful dogs.