It sounds to me that he's a little bit confused as to what 'look at that' means. When the object is far enough away he looks at you, but when the object is to close he will forget everything else that's going on around him.
Perhaps, but this is just a suggestion, you need to go back a few steps. First make sure that whenever you click, the dog turns to you immediately for his treat. Remember, he has to come get it (else he's training you, instead of you him). So that 'click' really means 'treat' and nothing else. This helps him being more focused on you even in difficult situations.
You could stand behind him, or a few steps away, while you practise this, so he has to fully turn around to get his treat. When you are in front of him, it is to easy to just reach out and give it to him.
Also, the treat he gets should be so wonderful he automatically forgets about everything else when he hears the click. This helps you breaking through the patern of him looking at the object, getting his reward and still going crazy.
Then you have to make sure that 'look at that' really means 'look at that'. Any time he looks at you when you say this, he should not get a reward. You could easily practise this with something he really likes and that he already knows. Practise it indoor where there are little distractions and make sure the thing/toy/person he has to look at is something/someone he really likes. This way he will associate the 'look at that' with something nice to look at. :)
Perhaps, but this is just a suggestion, you need to go back a few steps. First make sure that whenever you click, the dog turns to you immediately for his treat. Remember, he has to come get it (else he's training you, instead of you him). So that 'click' really means 'treat' and nothing else. This helps him being more focused on you even in difficult situations.
You could stand behind him, or a few steps away, while you practise this, so he has to fully turn around to get his treat. When you are in front of him, it is to easy to just reach out and give it to him.
Also, the treat he gets should be so wonderful he automatically forgets about everything else when he hears the click. This helps you breaking through the patern of him looking at the object, getting his reward and still going crazy.
Then you have to make sure that 'look at that' really means 'look at that'. Any time he looks at you when you say this, he should not get a reward. You could easily practise this with something he really likes and that he already knows. Practise it indoor where there are little distractions and make sure the thing/toy/person he has to look at is something/someone he really likes. This way he will associate the 'look at that' with something nice to look at. :)
Hope this helps a bit. :)
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