The LAT/LAM/LATTE Game

The LAT/LAM/LATTE games are powerful tools for reactive or fearful dogs, helping shift their emotional responses to triggers using classical conditioning and marker training. Here’s a breakdown of each one and how to use them:

🟢 1. LAT: Look at That (by Leslie McDevitt)

✅ Goal:

Change a dog’s emotional response to a trigger by marking and rewarding the act of looking at it calmly.

🐾 Best For:

  • Dogs who react to people, dogs, vehicles, etc.
  • Building confidence and self-control.

🧩 How to Use LAT:

  1. Set up in a location where your dog can see the trigger at a safe distance (no reacting).
  2. Cue your dog to look at the trigger by pointing and saying “[Dog’s Name] Look at That”
  3. When your dog looks at the trigger, immediately mark (e.g., with a click or “yes!”) and give a treat.
  4. Repeat every time they look calmly.
  5. Gradually move closer over multiple sessions as your dog stays relaxed.

🔁 Pattern:

You cue ➝ Dog looks ➝ You mark ➝ Dog gets a treat

🟠 2. LAM: Look at Me

✅ Goal:

Teach your dog to shift focus from the trigger to you on cue or by choice.

🐾 Best For:

  • Building engagement.
  • Strengthening attention skills around distractions.

🧩 How to Use LAM:

  1. Say your dog’s name and “Look at me.”
  2. When they look back at you, mark and reward.
  3. Practice in calm environments first, then add light distractions, then triggers.

💡 LAM pairs beautifully with LAT—first reward looking at the trigger (LAT), then reward looking back at you (LAM)!

🔁 Pattern:

You cue ➝ Dog looks ➝ You mark ➝ Dog gets a treat ➝ Dog starts to check in with you ➝ You reward that too!

🔁 Advanced Pattern:

You cue ➝ Dog looks ➝ Dog starts to check in with you ➝ You reward!

🟡 3. LATTE: Look At That, Then Enrichment

✅ Goal:

Help your dog associate a previously stressful or exciting trigger with calm, rewarding enrichment rather than reactivity.

🐾 Best For:

  • Dogs working through reactivity or fear.
  • Building positive associations with triggers.
  • Supporting calm decompression and emotional recovery.

🧩 How to Use LATTE (Enrichment Style):

  1. Expose your dog to a known trigger at a distance where they can observe without reacting.
  2. When your dog notices or looks at the trigger, calmly mark it (“Yes!” or a click).
  3. Immediately follow with enrichment:
  • Scatter feed/sniff game in the grass
  • Lick mat or stuffed Kong
  • Tug toy (if appropriate)
  • Snuffle mat
  1. Letting them move away and sniff freely
  2. Allow your dog to engage in the enrichment activity for a few minutes before ending the session or resetting.
  3. Repeat over multiple sessions, slowly decreasing distance only as your dog remains relaxed.

🌿 Why This Works:

  • Seeing the trigger becomes a predictable, non-threatening event.
  • Enrichment activates the seeking system in the brain—reducing stress and promoting calm curiosity.
  • Gives your dog a coping strategy: “See the thing → Do a fun thing.”
  • Great to tool to work in with LAM to jackpot a really good rep and promote full disengagement

🧠 Tips for Success:

  • Use easy, low-arousal enrichment for fearful dogs.
  • Make sure enrichment is rewarding enough to shift focus from the trigger.
  • Avoid high-arousal play if it leads to more stress or overstimulation.
  • Always end on a success—don’t push too far or too close.

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