"Look at that" game/protocol stories and advice?

[KevTheDog]

Hello! Does anyone have experience with training the "look at that" game from Control Unleashed? I'm new to training this game and I'm having trouble figuring out when it's time to move on to the next step - how do i know he is ready, or has internalized what it means? Right now: Kevin sits/lies down across from me and I hold out a neutral object away from my body; I make sort of a "whoosh" sound to get him to follow the motion of my arm. I click/treat him for looking at it and I've made sure he hasn't interacted with whatever object it is (i.e., I don't use a toy or anything too fun). I know step 2 is incorporating the cue, but after that, what exactly is step 3? Do you take it outside from there, or maybe start using "look at that" with something you aren't holding?

I'm also a little uncertain about reorienting to me for the treat - I haven't exactly been getting eye contact before treating him every single time, mainly because I've already clicked and it seems unfair at that point to wait for him to do something else before treating him; he's done the work I've asked and should be rewarded for that, it seems to me.

Anyway... does anyone have any stories on how they did this and how it works for them in the real world? I would love to hear more.

[urge to herd]

Hmm. I took it out and about immediately. I had a very scared & shut down girl. I walked her by herself at a quiet time of day and whenever she looked at something, even sideways, clicked/treated. She was sharp and caught on quickly.

Then I added a cue, Look at THAT! That set her back a bit so I lowered the bar, using LAT when she glanced at something that I knew wasn't scary for her. Short hop from there to pointing to The Big Scary Thing that she was turning her head away from, whatever it was. It didn't take her long to look at anything I pointed at and cued. It helped that she'd turn herself inside out for any type of food.

Shonie seemed to orient to me just fine, again because she knew that I was gonna give her food immediately. It got comical pretty quick. She'd swing her head towards the BST then back towards me a couple times if I was taking too long with the treat.

As far as working w/Kev goes, try reinforcing eye contact when you're not practicing LAT. Then you can add that it to the LAT chain. Hope this helps.

Ruth & Gibbs

ETA ~ you can also use a pointer stick, either 'paint' the last inch or so of it w/black magic marker or wrap some blue painter's tape around. That makes it stand out visually for the dog. C/T when the dog touches that end of the stick. Segue that to placing the marked end  on an object and when the dog accidentally touches the object, throw a party. Then you'd fade the stick and use your arm.

[KevTheDog]

Thanks for this! We shall take it to the streets!

[esantorella]

While my dog was still learning this, I tried playing "look at that" in a situation that was too scary and now she thinks it's the "bark at that" game. Oops.