Originally Posted by
Snowshoe
What you did, the Look at That and then rewarding for looking back to you, is right out of Leslie McDevitt's book, "Control Unleashed." She aims the book at fearful, reactive, or easily distracted sports dogs but it works for on leash, everyday ordinary things. It's a way of acknowledging to the dog that you recognize something worries (or attracts) him and in your case reassure him that you've got his back. She even calls this game Look at That.
We didn't use this for the same reasons but it really helped me get Oban by the big, black dog that charges his fence at us. Also helps us get in and out of the exciting close quarters with strange dogs at a Rally trial. Google up her book, she's got lots of good reviews and you might want to buy it. At the very least you'll get better explanation from her book than from me. It covers more than just this too, we've used several parts of it, several "games" as she calls them.