Anyone know a cure for crabbing? Nothing structurally wrong with the dog, its just something that its started to do in the last few months.

Welcome to the forum :-)

Try running the dog next to a wall or fence for a bit. Failing that I managed to stop Bear doing it by practice running him on my opposite side for a while.

Leigh

straighten the dogs head before you start...sometimes it is caused because they are trying to look at you. As Leigh says practice with them on the other side. Obviously in the ring for circles and triangles you must have them on th left, but for the out & back (when it really show!!) you can have them on the right.

Do not rule out a construction problem, it could be down to muscling, possibley get your dog checked over....

Sarah

Thanks for you help. Intrested in what you mean by muscling, do you think the dog may be more developed on one side than the other? Sorry to sound clueless but I have not come across this problem myself before. I always walk with the dog on my left, maybe this has caused it over the years(shes 2) She runs with her bum leaning to the right(towards my legs). Today I walked her on my right and I could see her back reeling away while her front was getting in the way of my legs. If I shorten the lead so she has to move her front away from my legs(thus straightening up with the back) do you think this would work? Or would I make it worse.

Hi Rosie

Yes that is the type of thing, a friend has just made up a Champ who tends to crab, he gets regular chiropractic workovers, however he is a working sleddog and they are now varying what they do with him and how he runs to see if they can help (seems to be working).

It is not necessarlily one side v the other. Sometimes one bit of the skeleton can be 'out' which means more muscle (unbalanced) is developed to counteract the problem.

Obedience collies etc often build up unbalanced muscles due to 'curling their right hand side closer to their handler

If she does the same thing on both sides - ie her bum still moves to the right even though she on your right - I would say it does sound like a construction problem...

Have you had his/her ears checked. I've got a Pom. tht started crabbing after winning 2 res. cc's a no. of best in shows and a no. of res. best in shows. I found out that he had an inner ear infections. Sorted this out and he was fine. He still gets the infection occ. but I try to keep in under control.

Just an idea.

All the best

hi,
Ive heard the best cure for crabbing is to have the dog walk on the edge of a kerb, so if he crabs he slips off and corrects himself.
Not something Ive needed to do myself, and not sure would try this method anyway for fear dog would twist something!
Carole

Well if he gets hit by a car ....that'll certainly cure his crabbing !!!!! :-)

That is one way - another is to walk close to a wall so the dog can not swing out. I've tried these methods for heel work and found that my dogs don't like to be so close to a wall (they are so tiny that with the wall on one side and me on the other, and I'm rather large, they get rather frightened.) The best way I have found is to walk along side a kerb on the road so that the dog can't swing out because the kerb is in the way, but its head is above the level of the kerb so it doesn't feel enclosed. The dog is in no danger of twisting anything doing this.

Before Leigh says anything I will point out that doing it this way it is you who would be hit by the car and not the dog! Actually I practice this in a very quiet and very large car park at our local country park so neither I nor the dog is in any danger and it is an excellent place to practice with the dog.

Joan
Take the rough with the smooth

>>The best way I have found is to walk along side a kerb on the road ......

Before Leigh says anything I will point out that doing it this way it is you who would be hit by the car and not the dog!

Unless you are *unfortunate* like a friend of mine, and the car kills both you and the dogs :-(

A car park sounds like a much better option ;-)

Leigh

Just wanted to say thanks to everyone who bothered to reply. I think we are finally getting there. I tried exercising her on my right for weeks but it was doing nothing so I tried running her along a wall and fingers crossed I think its working. She dosn't like it too much, I think she feels trapped between the wall and my legs, but she gets on with it and as I said she is much improved. I had her checked out and as I thought there was nothing physically wrong with her, it was just a habit she had got into. but she is now 90% straight as opposed to not straight at all!! So I'll keep going and get her there in the end. So thanks again for all your help everyone.
Rosie