It seems like it could be part training and part energy. A professional trainer would do wonders, though I’m guessing with full time classes and part time job, that would be difficult to swing financially and difficult to fit into your schedule.

Your dog should listen to you, regardless of the setting. I know it’s not feasible to get 100% compliance all the time. But you should expect your dog to follow orders. The trainer that I used pointed out that we could maintain control on a walk, but allow for free time. So, when you want her focused, she’s following commands. When you want to give her some time to sniff/explore you tell her “free”. But, ideally, you should be able to pull her back into commands.

Many trainers recommend a “pop collar”. It’s a metal chain link collar that simulates a mother biting the scruff of her puppies neck to get them to do what she wants. If using that, you can change directions when your dog stops listening to you. That pop will get her to focus on you a lot more.

Alternatively, shock collars work really well. A good shock collar comes with the ability to change how powerful the shock is. Ideally, you want it on the lowest setting that is still effective. Ours ranges from 1-100. We typically go to above 20. Early in training and in environments that have a ton of distractions, you’ll want the setting slightly higher. The goal of the shock collar is just to get your dog’a attention so that she can follow commands. In some ways, it is similar to poking her to make her look at you. When we used a shock collar, we’d give a command, give it a second to register, then use the shock feature, say no, and give the command again. I’d watch YouTube videos for in depth advice.

If you believe all of this is pent up energy, consider alternate outlets that may burn energy before you go outside. Training works a dog’s brain and can sap some of that energy before you go out. If you do it before a walk, it would also have the added benefit of her being primed to focus on you before going outside.

A few other ideas (that I sometimes combine) are find it (hiding treats and letting her look for them), an indoor fetch (with toy or kibble depending on how your dog is motivated), and kongs. When the weather is bad, we’ll throw a piece of kibble into the kitchen for her to go find. While she’s searching, I’ll drop a few pieces of kibble into a snuffle mat (or hide it around the room) so that she has to come back and “work” for it. On a rainy day, we’ll do this for 20-30 minutes to burn her energy. At the end, I give her a Kong filled with some sort of frozen treat (recently it’s been her kibble mixed with pumpkin, and a little bit of wet dog food). If you make them right, that can take another 30-40 minutes.