To help a dog learn to respond more neutrally to distractions, we can teach them the Look At That Pattern Game (LAT). When your dog notices a distraction (like a person/dog/bicycle/etc), mark (say "yes" or click) the moment your dog clocks it, and then feed them a treat as they watch. Your dog does not need to look back at you for you to give them the treat.

Use distance to your advantage when practicing LAT.
- We want to keep your dog in the BAT Zone, as shown in the graphic below, or below threshold, where they’re curious about the distraction, but still able to disengage easily.
- Reference this Dog Body Language post for extra clarification on thresholds.

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Remember, our goal is that you are far enough away that your dog can perceive the distraction without overreacting. This way, we can mark and treat repeatedly for simply looking at the distraction. This training should look boring if we are doing it right!

To put it briefly, the LAT pattern is: distraction pops up, you mark the moment, and then feed your dog a treat.

For example: your dog sees a stranger = you mark/treat, sees a dog = mark/treat, sees a car drive by = mark/treat, hears dogs barking = mark/treat, perceives any distraction at all = mark/treat, etc.
I think of ‘distractions’ as any new stimuli in the environment that a dog can perceive. I think of ‘triggers’ as the most challenging distractions for an individual dog.
- For my dog Randall, a tractor in the field next door is a distraction, while a dog walking past our house is a trigger.

Try to keep your treat delivery hand empty and frozen, in your pocket, planted on your leg, or behind your back until after you've given your marker. Once you’ve marked, then you should reach for a treat.

This is what I mean by ‘mark and then treat.’

Do your best to avoid adding tension to your dog’s leash when they see something (hiking it up, pulling them in closer, or locking it). This can often escalate a reaction! Try to stay at or get to a distance where you can keep the leash slack and trust your dog.

If you’re in a tight spot and your dog’s already reacting, that's a different story, and I expect leash tension.
I want to be sure you aren't adding tension to the leash before your dog starts reacting.

Even if your dog is reacting to something and pulling or vocalizing, I still want you to try to feed them. Strong reactions come from strong emotions, and we can't reinforce emotions. We’re not reinforcing the reaction; we’re conditioning your dog to expect a treat every single time they see their triggers.

Here’s how I recommend responding when a dog is already pulling/overreacting:

First, try to get a handful of high-value, smelly treats on your dog’s nose and check if they’ll eat. You may need to ‘walk up’ their leash, reach over their head, and literally put the treats on their nose so they can smell them and eat.
- Do your best to match the treat value to the task at hand. When you are working around triggers, be sure to have extra special treats to stack the odds in your favor, even if your dog would eat anything.
- If your dog is ever not taking treats, that’s a strong indication they are over threshold. When a dog is over the threshold, we should increase the distance between them and the trigger. Do your best to maintain further distance in the future!
At the same time, comfort and reassure your dog as you try to walk them farther away from the trigger, getting more distance.
Once you are far enough away that your dog begins to show glimpses of disengagement, scatter several small treats in the grass to help you both take a second to decompress a bit.