Mabel Week 2

Below is an update from Michelle at the start of Mabel's second week with her. Mabel was having some behavioural issues at this point and we were all worried that she was going to end up being both human and dog aggressive.

"So it's not really week 2 yet, as it's only Sunday and week 2 technically begins on Wednesday, but I needed a marker to label these photos. I guess you could call them "Day 6" photos. She is definitely putting on weight! It's impossible to get good shots of her face because she's always in motion and my fastest shutter speed is waaaay too slow.

"Mabel is doing great physically- she's eating, playing with us, being goofy, and her abscess is almost completely gone!! Her leg wound, I'm not sure, but she has a follow-up appointment this week and her surgical consult.

Psychologically, though, I'm not sure. She growled at me Friday morning- my routine has been to hand feed her and to pet her while eating from the bowl, and while petting her in the AM, she growled and curled her lip at me. I just kept petting her, and she got over it. We're only hand feeding from now on, I will absolutely not tolerate food aggression. We're still strictly crating and rotating with the dogs and she has so far ignored the cats in the house. I'm not sure how to explain it, but I've been getting the feeling that as Mabel gets stronger and more used to the house, the more possessive of it she's getting.
So yesterday I took her for a super short walk, maybe 100 feet, if that, and we came across two guys who were walking to a neighbor's house (we live in a great neighborhood, lots of young couples and stuff). She started growling and lunging at them. I explained she was a rescue but the guy reached out his hand (we were still four feet away) and she kept growling and lunging, I tried to calm her and was able to pet her and to hold her while she was growling and until they left, but I'm worried that I maybe reinforced the behavior by doing so.
I think it's important to keep trying to socialize her but I've never had experience with aggressive dogs and want to make sure I am helping more than hurting. She is in love with Andrew and I and snuggles and plays with us and has not growled at me once, even with food involved, except for yesterday morning. But, just now, while I was playing and petting her in the guest room and Andrew was coming home and walking in the back door, she started to growl. The behavior is completely foreign to me