Not sure what else I can do right now
So I got an amazing pit bull mix. We've had her maybe about a month at this point (got her via animal control). She's extremely smart, quick to learn, and has a great foundation for being in progress with learning to be a service dog.
Honestly the worst part is people around her. She's got a bright neon pink vest with black patches. The black patches have in all white caps in arial large font "DO NOT PET. SERVICE DOG IN TRAINING".
Strangers see her and immediately want to interact with her. It's mentally exhausting to keep having to say "please stop distracting her, she's working" and even with "go away, she's working". Child, adult, parent of kids, doesn't matter. She's well mannered in public and with her being 1 year and 4-5 months old she's still learning to stay neutral in public.
I'm half tempted to muzzle train her (it wouldn't interrupt task training) just to further discourage people from interacting with her.
✨ Update for clarity ✨
By “public training,” I mean very brief, 5–10 minute outings where we practice familiar cues, work on calm behavior, and gradually expose her to different sights, sounds, surfaces, and other sensory experiences. We are not expecting her to function like a fully trained service dog or doing long public-access outings.
We keep these training sessions as controlled and low-pressure as possible. We deliberately go out at quieter, unusual hours when there are fewer people around—for example, when most people are at work, church, or between typical meal/shopping times.
We’re building her skills gradually. She learns and becomes comfortable with new cues at home first, and once those are familiar, we slowly begin practicing them outside in increasingly distracting environments. The goal is to give her a strong foundation without overwhelming or rushing her.