At our ringcraft there is a 15 month old dog that wont walk properly. He lets the judge go over him, then walks up the mat but on the turn suddenly puts the brake on, sits down and refuses to budge. He has only been shown a couple of times. First show he was ok, 2nd time did the stop thing and its been downhill since. Its as if he will walk towards the door thinking he is off home but then wont come back up the mat.We have tried starting the other way round but there is another door at top of room. Have also tried the obvious like treats, different handler, his owner walking away but the dog simply refuses . Short of 'dragging' him which we would not want to do we are not sure how to address the problem . I feel he is totally manipulating his owner but he is quite a nice dog and she really wants to show him again.Has anyone any suggestions please, thanks in anticipation.

What breed is he?  What's he like outside?  She may have to just do the summer shows outside!  Not much help I know.

He is a spitz!

Why doesn't that surprise me!   :D

This might not be the answer you want, but I wouldn't go back up the mat with him.  Resistance leads to more resistance, so if you drag him up the mat, he's just going to put the breaks on and resist.  The more often that happens, the more likely it is to happen again because dogs are creatures of habit.

So, if I were you, I'd let the judge go over him at the top of the mat, then go down the mat and then stop and hold it at the bottom instead of the top.  Just tell the judge what you're going to do before you try it or he'll think you don't know what you're doing!  I'd do that A LOT with him - stopping at the bottom and never try to get him to go back up during this period.

Once you've been doing that for a while with no problems, then I'd start at the opposite end of the mat to where you usually start.  So if you've been moving him from the bottom of the hall towards the door, now let the judge go over him at the end where the door is, then move him up the mat away from the door and stop at the top, at the far end away from the door.  If that works, do it a lot before you try to return as well.  The first time you try to return, it's probably best to do it this way - going away from the door first, then back towards the door on the return.  This will make the return a bit easier.

Thanks for that, I will speak to his owner and suggest it. :)