Today Hestia and I started our first day of the Look At That (LAT) game. This means that whenever Hestia sees another dog, I click and treat. The eventual idea is to get it so that when she sees another dog, she looks at the dog, and then returns her attention to me for a treat. Today we just worked on her looking at a dog, then me clicking and her getting a treat without me expecting anything more of her.
We went outside of PetSmart to start with, as we were worried that outside of a dog park on a Saturday afternoon would be a little higher than the level Hestia would be able to handle.
We stood outside the door, and every time she saw a dog, I clicked and treated. She did VERY well not getting over excited and jumping up! As soon as she heard the click, she returned her attention to me. I stayed there a half an hour, and by the end of the time we were there, when dogs were far away, I’d wait for her to look at me and then click and treat.
She did great! I think the key to this whole thing is the clicker! I haven’t used a clicker outside the house for like a year, and I think that may be the thing that really is able to make its way through her distracted brain and make a connection.
Near the end of our half hour there, I put the camera on the ground to videotape some of the interactions. Unfortunately it focused on the ground and not Hestia, so she is blurry, but you can get an idea of how the training is going. We saw in total about 8 or 9 dogs I think! Go Hestia!
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