Hi all
theres an interesting debate going on on my breed list at the moment and I wondered what other peoples opinions are.
A lady posted and asked how to stop her bitdh from pacing.The debate has turned into wether it is caused by a structural fault(people are saying yes and hence these animals should not be bred from) or no it is just a lazy energy saving pace
Any comments,
Archer

Interesting. My oldest bitch (now 11) used to be a good mover in her younger days, but for the past few years has become a 'pacer' when we are out walking. It's a very strange gait - it's not the usual 'walk', and it's almost as fast as a trot. When I shake the lead and start to jog she immediately brightens up and trots properly. To me that suggests she's just saving energy (and we are going too slowly!)
:)

Hi archer,
I remember going to a heelwork to music training day with Mary Ray once and she said that dogs did it to save energy. My youngest bitch paces when on a lead going out for a walk, but the minute we start doing obedience, or if I tell her trot (I use that command in the showring), she'll go straight into a trot. I think it's laziness, although in a sense the dog is using its common sense 'cos it's saving energy!
Someone at ringcraft said if you've got a pacer, if you hold its head up at the start before you get into stride, the dog cannot pace - most dogs only pace with their head low. If my bitch goes into pace whilst road walking, which I don't really like her doing, I'll spin round in a quick circle so as she has to move quickly it breaks her stride. Don't know if it'll work for all dogs though.
Whatever you do, don't let her carry on pacing if you've asked her not to. I think having a command to trot would work best (some people use "move" or "fast") so she knows when she isn't allowed to pace. The more trotting she does, the easier it will be for her to do and so should help break the pacing habit.
Char123

Hi
I don't have a dog that paces-it was a question raised by someone else.Just thought it was interesting.I myself think its an energy saving pace and nothing to do with construction
Thanks,Archer

Pacing is a fatigue gait and is used if the dog is moving too slowly. Usually it can be stopped by the dog being moved faster.

I do not consider that it is a sign of bad construction, all our dogs use this gait at some time or another and most of them are constructed correctly.

snomaes

I tried moving Storm (Malinois) faster to try and stop her gaiting, but she just paces faster! Any other ideas?

Sarah.

My oldest beagle paces and she can definately pace at speed. Walking faster just makes her worse. I agree with jeangenie its like a very fast trot, shes not extending when she does it.
I don't think its a physical thing as she can walk nicely if she wants to. I think its a habit. If she wants to go faster than me she also paces.
My ringcraft leader said to look down on her back and you will see her rib cage rolling slightly if shes pacing. I found this tip helpful as its not easy to tell if your dogs doing it especially with our breed being small. If shes doing it stop and start again or check her lead and try again. Its just getting the first stride right and then your off.
I think its just another dog trick to wind us humans up !!!!

Yeah, they're good at winding us up aren't they!! I'll definately try stopping and starting again to see if that works.
Thanks,

Sarah.

You're quite right, once they are actually pacing, just speeding up only gets them pacing faster! :rolleyes: You do need to 'break their stride' first somehow, and then speed up. Good luck!
:)

Pacing is a normal gate and IMO not a sign of a fault in construction.

Try turning a circle before moving and then immediately move off.it means the dog is slightly unbalanced and will set off at a trot.Hopefully then if you keep at a reasonable pace he will keep trotting
Archer

Hi Archer,
Tried that one already! Didn't work. Could be that she's still a bit nervous yet (I got her at 9 months old, and she'd never been socialised, she was literally like a wild dog, she's now 3, and we've not long started ringcraft).
The circle before setting off did work on my GSD though. She started pacing and then did a skip to get out of it!! It's such a difficult habit to try to break!!
Thanks for the tips folks,

Sarah.

I went to a breed seminar recently and they said to turn a tight circle before moving off. They demonstrated it with a dog that paced and it worked with him. They did stress that you need to move off quickly from the turn though.

Regards
Sandra

Aparently if you hold the head up when starting to move the dog can't pace-never tried it so don't quote me!!
As Sandra said the whole point of the circle is to move of immediately-even before the dog is completelt straight
Archer

Hi Archer,
That doesn't work with a Belgian either, as the have quite a head carriage naturally! I would choose a strange breed wouldn't I!!

Sarah.

mali fan-----when you set off with storm, have the collar high and chuck her under the chin, just a quick lift to unbalance her as you move off, keep the collar high and move out, it should correct it

Hi Dizzy,
She's still too nervous to flick the collar under her chin (she'd have a fit!). I'm going to try stopping and starting first. Belgians can be very sensitive creatures (especially Storm), so I'll have to take things very gently to start with as I've only just started to push her into working (if I'd tried this earlier, she have just got too stressed). We're slowly getting there, but it's taken me over 2 years to get this far, and I don't want to frighten or put her off. It was only last week at ringcraft that she allowed the 2 "judges" to go over her properly without going "bendy wendy"!!
I'm not even sure if she's good enough to show yet as she's a bit on the "fine" side. Although her litter mates usually qualify for Crufts. I thought ringcraft was probably the best way to socialise her as most of the show dogs are quite even-tempered and well behaved.
We will battle on though!
Thanks again,
Sarah.

who said its a construction fault!!!!! its more often seen in dogs with short backs, !!!! which some standards ask for, its also a comfortable gait for a tiring dog, as for not breeding from them :rolleyes: :D :D

Hi, it is a movement fault often seen in our breed, and I know several promising youngsters who never made it because they could not get them to stop. As Dizzy says, it is ofter seen in short coupled dogs, perhaps a self learned technique to stop them overreaching into themselves? However my boy Junior often paces, and he is a very long Am. Cocker - he will do it either loose or on the lead, but no all the time. Dont think I have ever seen a dog pacing and side winding at the same time, perhaps one fault cancels out the other?

bye
Gwen