Look at That
The Look at That (LAT) game is one of first games I teach my dogs. It’s right up there with Name Game and Settle. Originally designed by Leslie McDevitt as a tool for desensitization and counter conditioning dogs to triggers that overstimulate them, this game is now a common foundational skill amongst dog trainers.
“This game has honestly been one of the biggest things [that’s changed] my training! I use it at least once a day, often more! Especially if I'm out there socializing and training. I love that it brings you and the dog closer together rather than split you apart when you see something tricky.”
What is LAT used for?
This game is useful for dogs that are overstimulated by any stimuli, be it dogs, humans, birds, cars - anything! Depending on what association your dog is feeling when overstimulated (over threshold) he may stare, bark, whine, growl, snarl, pull or lunge, mouth or bite on the leash, pace or cower. Regardless of whether your dog is the “over excited,” the “fight it out,” or the “cower and shut down” type, Look At That can help them learn to calmly observe their world without being overwhelmed.
Wait! My dog is supposed to look AT that distraction?
For most handlers this is a new idea! For years we were taught to tell our dogs to ignore a distraction. We’ve all done it or seen it done: a highly distracted dog who's handler is telling them, “Focus! Focus! Watch me! Leave it!” With good intentions a handler is
using cues meant to keep the dog from looking at the trigger and hopefully avoid unwanted behavior.
Put yourself in your dog’s position. What if you’re afraid of snakes? Now you’re walking down the trail and hear the classic rattle rattle of a rattle snake. You see the snake in the middle of the trail, but your friend immediately starts commanding you not to look at it! Instead they grab your hand, won’t let go, get right in front of you and say, “Look at me! Look at me!” Will you feel less fear or more?
For most of us when we are excited or afraid of something we want to see that thing! What is that snake going to do? Is it going to come closer? Curl up ready to strike? Slither off into the bushes? The behavior of the snake affects what you chose to do next, but if you’re not allowed to look AT the snake you will most likely feel more afraid and frustrated.
So, yes! From now on we’re going to teach your dog it’s okay to look at the big, wild, distracting world! But to do so they’ll engage with a glance and then look right back to you!
The Basic Concept
LAT is a two stage process to teach a dog to reorient to you after seeing a stimulus. In step one we determine a single trigger we will desensitize to. (a dog, a person, not a crowd of dogs or people) Determine your dog’s personal distance or intensity threshold. Set up a training session where your dog is likely to stay under threshold. Bring the trigger into sight and click as soon as your dog sees it. If your distance/intensity is appropriate your dog should look back to you to eat the treat when she hears the click.
Once the dog is desensitized to the trigger and can calmly look at it for up to five seconds, you will start clicking when the dog looks back at you. This is reinforcing the dog for disengaging from the stimulus, but has the benefit of allowing your dog to look at it in a calm state of mind first. This is step two.
Step One: Gather your Equipment
High value treats and clicker
Body harness, collar and leash or long line.
Watch for SUBTLE signs that your dog is bothered or over stimulated by the trigger.
Step Two: Determine your dog’s distance threshold
If you do not already know the distance your dog needs to stay under threshold estimate the closest you think your dog can handle seeing the stimulus and start well beyond that distance. If you think it’s 10’ start at 20’. It’s always best to err on the side of caution. You do not want your dog set up for failure on their first attempt.
If your dog reacts with any undesirable behavior on your first attempt give them a break and increase the distance from the trigger before the next session.
Remember! You are watching for SUBTLE signs that your dog is bothered or over stimulated by the trigger. These may be: lip lick, yawn, eye avoidance, head turn, ears back or forward, tail tucked or stiff, fast frantic tail wagging, increased breathing rate, staring or a shake off.
Step Three: Set up the environment
Keep things simple for your dog by managing their environment.
Set up cones or other visual markers that each dog/person is not going to cross. This ensures all involved will be kept safe and under threshold by not crossing your dog’s distance threshold.
Have a clear retreat plan and location where your dog can take a break. We do our best to set things up for success, but life happens! Make sure your dog has space to reset and calm down if needed.
Step Four: Training session
Allow your dog to glance at the trigger. Click as soon as they see it! When they look back to you give them their treat.
Each time your dog glances back at the trigger click then treat. Do not move closer! Just repeat and watch your dog’s body language. You will see a shift in the intensity of the glances, and their body language will calm down as they acclimate and feel NO threat from that trigger. This is how you know they’re desensitizing and changing their association.
If your dog does not respond to the clicker and look back to get their treat it means you are too close. Increase your distance, and then if you still get the same response allow them a second longer to look before you click. If you allow them 2-3 seconds and they don’t respond to the clicker, or if you see subtle signs of stress increase your distance again.
When your dog is glancing at the trigger and back to you with no signs of stress, you can decrease your distance. Don’t go too far too fast! Your dog will learn faster if you decrease distance slowly and stay in her optimal learning zone.
If the trigger is moving you will repeat these steps with the trigger appearing from different directions.
Some dogs will benefit from using a “Find It” for their treat delivery instead of feeding into their mouths. If your dog is having a hard time looking away from the trigger, or takes the treat and looks back to the trigger so fast you can’t catch the glance with a click, use a “Find It.”
When to move to stage two: rewarding disengagement
Thanks to Lili Chin and Choose Positive Dog Training for this excellent info-graphic. Click image to download PDF.
As you practice you will notice your dog gradually becomes more comfortable around the trigger. They will begin to glance at it and back to you or cease glancing at it at all. This is when you will decrease the distance of the trigger. After your dog can successfully glance at the trigger four out of five times from all of your variables you can move to stage two: reinforcing disengagement.
Go back to your original distance threshold and allow your dog to see the trigger, but instead of clicking immediately allow your dog to watch the trigger for 2-5 seconds. Watch for subtle signs of stress and see if they offer to look back to you before you click then treat.
If your dog shows any subtle stress signs or can not look away from the trigger within five seconds go back to stage one.
As each variable changes go back to stage one. For example, if the direction of the trigger changes, go back to stage one before moving on to stage two.
Whether to cue or not to cue
It can be helpful at more advanced stages to add a cue, but is not necessary in the initial stages of the game. The Look At That game works to desensitize your dog to triggers because it allows them to see the stimulus and gives them an alternate behavior to do instead of react to it: look back at you. So in essence the trigger becomes the cue to look back at you, so cuing the dog to “look at” the trigger is not needed. In a future article we will talk about when it’s useful to use a cue.
Once you and your dog are fluent using LAT then you’ll quickly find it becomes one of the most used skills in your skill box!
Resources:
Special thanks to Lili Chin for her amazing infographics!