Ugh.

Bad day at the field today, and it was, as usual, due to my own mistake. I didn't have Abby on a long line, even though I've promised myself many many times that I'll keep her on one. I started class late today, though, so I went to the field at the usual time from last term, when I know most of the dogs that are there. Everything was great until the very end - Abby had gone up to greet all the dogs nicely, and there was nobody playing fetch. There was one newish dog - a tiny poodly thing that I've seen there once or twice.
My big mistake was trying to put Abby's leash on while close to the other dogs. I did my usual "Abby, ready to go?", and asked her to "place" so that I could put her leash on. I reached down to attach the leash, and as I was just about to buckle it Abby went lunging towards the poodle, who was a few feet away. I think she thought she was already on leash...and right now she is terrible at greeting dogs on leash. I can easily get distract her while we're walking, but I don't ever let her greet dogs while on leash because it never goes well anymore (and i don't think leashed dogs need to interact, too many things can go wrong). So anyway, she definitely has some barrier frustration/anxiety issues while on leash.
She jumped on the poodle dog, who was about a third of her size, and pinned the poor thing. The dog was screaming and trying to run away with Abby pinning it as it ran. The owner, a large guy, went running towards them to pull Abby off, but luckily she jumped away before he got there (don't even want to think about what would have happened it he'd tried to grab her, but I can't really blame him for wanting to pull her off his little dog). The dog was ok - Abby had some of its hair in her mouth, but I think that was the only damage done. I apologized profusely, and another man on the field said "wow, I didn't know she had that in her". I was obviously in no position to reply with a sarcastic comment like I wanted to (has WHAT in her? the ability to snarl and bite?), so I just kept apologizing and I left.

Ugh. That's about all there is to it. Another lesson learned: Don't put any stress on Abby while she's in close proximity to other dogs. She will find the smallest, weakest one, and bully it to the extreme. I mean...pinning and snarling when the dog did absolutely nothing to her? That's pretty bad. Long line every time from now on. I don't even think this is something I can "work on" - it's just a very low frustration and barrier tolerance on her part. It happened way too fast for me to call her, and I wish I could get her to a point where she could be called off immediately, but that seems close to impossible. Maybe I should bring the whistle to the field again, that might get through to her.

Gaaah! Things were going so well!

On the bright side, she and Mia continue to love each other...and today I taught Abby "pet" by shaping it with the clicker. She has to stick her head up under my hand herself. My last attempt to desensitize her to head touches ended up with her choosing to leave instead of take treats, and this way worked much better. Training is great with Abby when I don't push her too hard, and when I am very precise (that's why the clicker is wonderful). I think we're both perfectionists...

The foster dog is not learning that it's ok to dig, I swear.

Oh, and we go sheep eating on Saturday. Well, potential eating with Nut, and potential herding with Mia.

Annnd we got a Roomba! My dad is loaning it to us to try out for awhile - hopefully a long while. Yippee, robot vacuum!