extinction coefficient

So we had our little meeting last evening. it went well. i have to admit that was dissappointed we didn't encounter any dogs, but we did leave with a plan, so that's great. the plan is as follows: re-learn clicker training. start at the beginning. I sort of started clickering on my own, so we never did it up right at the beginning. our assignment is to get violet to consistently respond to her name. say name, get response click and treat. nine. thousand. times. till it just happens. she needs to be happy when i or anyone else says her name and associate her name with good. the second is sitting. and the third is loose leash walking. i worked on the loose walking some at the beginning, adn interestingly the techniques on that haven't changes since i went through classes with kenai, but i need to get it established throughly and completely.

so the idea is chop up a shit-ton of hot dogs and work this. name response, sitting, loose leash. work it. run it into the ground. beat the dying horse till it's good and dead. then keep working it.

next week we are meeting at the dog park. no, we aren't going to the dog park. we are capitalizing on the free and captive supply of stimuli. so if she makes good progress this weekadn i do my job, then we will have somethign to work with when we get there.

something i had not exactly realized about the clicker. and when i think about it, it's obvious. smart girl just never put it together. clicker is used to teach new things, that's all. once the dog learns that it marks desirable behavior, then it's a great tool to help them learn new things very efficiently becuase then they know they are learning something new and that they'll know when they've got it right becuase the clicker will tell them. one they've figured out what you're teaching them, once they know the command, then you don't need the clicker anymore--for that trick/command--and you can continue practicing the command.

ANYHOW, we just went out and did some prectice. vi did awesome! i swear the leash was a nice "U" shape at least 85% of the time! she's doing REALLY well with the loose-leash walking. the sitting seems to have taken a hit, i think largely in part because the tautness of the leash was her signal to sit before. so we need to work on that some more because with a loose leash it's nto automatic anymore. the name reponse is also making good progress.

the biggest and bestest thing is that working today i was CALM!!!!!! Holy crap is that a departure! we even walked by another dog (at a distance) and instead of a freakout and bp spike, i calmly executed a loose-leash abrupt turn. although she was excited/aroused/ wanted to, she didnt' bark! yippee! i think that having permission to avoid dogs is helpful, esp. since they are so often at such close proximity here in the complex that it's not beneficial.

wow. progress feels GOOD.