[Cirlonde]

Because each dog can be so different, I'm not sure if I'll be any help but here's my similar situation! When our Yorkie was a puppy and we'd take her out to a nearby walking track, she did that same thing you're talking about with Daisy. She'd try frantically to get at all the people walking by. This made it absolutely impossible for my husband and I to walk for exercise as we were constantly having to stop and wait on the "distractions" to get by us. My solution was to ignore the people, because unfortunately the sit/stay/focus on me idea just wouldn't work for my overly hyper dog. She'd do sit and stay at home just fine, but you get her outside and she forgets everything she knows. Even food doesn't work with her outside, so I'm having to teach her solely by repetition.

So, instead, I'm teaching Chloe "By me" and I keep her pulled in very close to me on a short leash with her on the opposite side of me from the other people. I also usually speed up as we go by people. If Chloe is having to concentrate on moving quicker, she tends to not have as much time to do anything else. Chloe's "no" word is a sharp "uh-uh" sound, so if she barks or pulls, I tell her "uh-uh!" and that usually distracts her from the people as well. This is a much slower method, but the more often we encounter people, the better Chloe does as she gets used to the situation and learns what I expect of her. Dogs are creatures of habit, so I just try to get Chloe into good habits before she can develop bad ones!

Also, I definitely second the harness idea. We use a step-in harness b/c it is a lot easier to put on her and it gives you SO much more control over the dog without having to worry about hurting her. It's also great for getting her out of danger quickly. You don't have to worry about choking her if you need to snatch her back to you really fast.

Good luck with Daisy!!
-C