i have a young dog of 18 months who has been doing ok at champ shows and open shows but i think he now needs to be (tighter in his body) he,s a bit rolly on the move and a bit lazy in his movement sometimes
what can i do to help?

Road Walking!

My boy is road walked 2 hours a day, 1 in the morning and 1 in the evening (he is a boxer so maybe not so much for a smaller dog)
His hard solid muscle is the one thing judges always comment on.

I agree, road walking is excellent for feet and general muscle building. Muscling your boy up may well help his movement, as will trying to make him keener in the ring. I've found that steady trotting (by a bike) is even better than road walking if you can do it. Also running up steep hills/ sand dunes (throwing a ball up) is excellent for building hindquarters and improving drive.

I run with mine in harness attached to a running belt (usually farm tracks, fields woods etc im not keen on running them on the roads too much, I dont think it can be very good for their joints or mine !), Both of my Setters have muscled up really well.  Another thing I found to be a godsend was visiting the chiropractor, she makes sure everything is in place so when I do run them the right muscles are being used and they arent over compensating anywhere which one of them had been in the past.

If your dog isnt used to road walking I would build it up gradually.

> If your dog isnt used to road walking I would build it up gradually.

Good advice, should have said that :-)

I just remember my friend being careful before Crufts and road walking her dog for the week before so it didnt injure itself in the forest  - it went lame !

Free running through woods and hills with a bit of swimming thrown in......in fact letting them be dogs gets them in great fit muscled condition. In fact I have actually been told one of mine is too muscled up at a show!!!

well he does do lots of free running and swimming but i think he needs to (tighten up) as seems to have a lot of loose skin and rolls when showing on the lead a bit

but surely that depends on what breed it is??

> Free running through woods and hills

I must admit this doesn't seem to work for my boy, he always goes lame after free running! However my younger dog is free run every day & his muscle is starting to build nicely so I guess it's different for each indivdual dog never mind each breed :)

Yes good advise about slowly building up the road walking, just like a pup small amounts at first then gradually build it up.

> In fact I have actually been told one of mine is too muscled up at a show!!!

I bet your's could out move the best of them :)

well hes not suppose to roll on the top of his back he should have a nice level (which he has that) topline  but the roll seems to be the spare skin but i wouldnt say he was overweight

He can when he wants to but as he doesn't really see the point of showing this doesn't happen much in the show ring. So annoying to see him stride out at home then look like he is being dragged around a show ring!!! I only take him out a couple of times a year and hope he obliges now.

Back to wobbly youngster, he may just have a bit of maturing to do and will tighten up in time.

thanks hope so if i could get him to move out  more i would be quite happy he loves to show but feels like he has no impulsion (if thats putting it right) he likes to look around as hes doing his triangle ect
but when they all go round together WELL EH UP!!!! here i come full of himself then

What also helps with my boys is to do hill work, up and down on different surfaces, again to be built up slowly.