Hi y'all! I haven't posted in a while.

Roshi's been pretty good about reacting for the last few months, but we're in a weight pull class currently and he's decided the one other dog in the class is a nemesis dog. The dogs work one at a time at opposite sides of the room. When not working, Roshi is crated and loafs about in there happily. Unfortunately though, the space is small-ish and the weights are on one side of the room so we have to walk past each other to trade spots to work.

Every time we have to trade spots, Roshi attempts to lunge at the other dog aggressively. It got to the point where we were body blocking him with two people and one carrying a piece of plastic fencing. I was going to start using his muzzle to class (I actually do bring it with me just in case and might still), but then I remembered his love of whipped cream.

Total game changer. He literally trots happily past nemesis dog with his snout firmly planted in the mug. He spent the whole class staring longingly at the whipped cream instead of at the other dog. I have seen this dog stop dead in his tracks mid-reaction for whipped cream. I don't get it, nor do I question it.

(I should note that the point of the class is to learn weight pulling, not to work on his reactivity. Thus, our goal in this setting is management and safety, though it doesn't hurt to reward him with whipped cream for walking past the other dog.)