[QUOTE=Simkie;5818610]
I’ve only seen a true canter in my dogs, with very nice lead changes :)[/QUOTE]
I always think my young GSD would make an amazing dressage horse. Balanced, excellent transitions and an extended trot to die for. :lol:
My mini aussie pup seems to do a shuffle or pace type gait when I am walking her. When we go slow, she will walk normally. When I ask for something like recall, she trots or canters to me.
We’ve had a Kelpie and a pug mix that both paced. Neither had bad hips.
Sorry - I’d say hip dysplasia.
I had labs for 20 years, was an amateur breeder with a top flight mentor. Of my three girls, the youngest began pacing before she was a year old. Failed her OFA’s big time. For each litter, both parents were OFA Excellent for both elbows and hips. Her dad was the #1 lab in the country at the time. Most others in the litter showed up with either hip or elbow issues so I stopped breeding. Hip dysplasia was just one of those things where you can have 2 great dogs, but a combination of genes makes it show up - especially in Labs.
However, she never had to have surgery! What I did was take the conservative approach and not involve her in strenuous physical activity. She sure got plenty of regular exercise - loved to swim like crazy - but I didn’t work her heavily in the field. I immediately had her spayed - it was too tough to show her without good movement. But as long as I was careful not to overdo it, she stayed sound, thank goodness.
You’re right - many dog breeds should move similarly to a horse for the most part - with fluidity and balance. It’s how I got into the dogs when family commitments stopped me from the horses. I could see my first girl was really balanced and a super mover. Horse experience gives you a good eye for dogs.
Hope she’ll be ok.
[QUOTE=CVPeg;5827930]
Sorry - I’d say hip dysplasia.[/QUOTE]
It could be, but obviously lots and lots of dogs pace. My (now deceased) first show dog paced in the ring if you started him too slowly, and very often paced while “moseying” off leash. His hips were OFA Good, and he paced his whole life.
If a dog almost never paces, and then you notice it being common, I would worry about lameness somewhere. Neither of my other dogs really ever pace…so if I saw them do it frequently, I’d head to the vet.
I’ve had two dogs who paced. One was a purebred Dalmatian and the other is a lab/terrier mix. The Dalmatian had a longish back; the lab/terrier has a shorter back, very deep chest but slightly straight hind end.
Both walked and trotted, but for them it seemed as though your regular walking speed was the equivalent of their pace. If you slowed, they walked, and if you jogged, they trotted. The Dalmatian lived to be almost 15, and hip dysplasia was not ever an issue for her. I have no reason to think it’s an issue for the lab mix either, but I’ll ask the vet the next time he goes in.
My other dog, a hound mix, doesn’t seem to pace. He has lovely gaits and would also make a nice dressage horse, lol. :lol: He’s a bit base-narrow though.
My Karelian Bear Dog paced exclusively, and then would break to the canter if you went faster. No hip issues, he was sound till the day he was PTS due to advanced cancer in his mid teens.
I’ve got a presumably JRT/Beagle cross (South Carolina Ditch Dog) who paces at my ‘brisk’ walking speed. If I speed up to nearly a jog he trots, but his walk can’t keep up unless I’m walking like I’m in molasses. He is pretty overweight (hence the ‘brisk’ walks), so it gives him a bit of a rolling gait.
He does not do it off-leash when he’s out while I ride, as I think he can move a little faster into his true trot. His pace speed just matches my walking speed.
My beautiful, healthy, very fit old dog Buddy used to pace from the time he was a young dog. We asked the vet about it and he said it was no problem. The dog never had hip or neurological issues.
My Beagle both paces and cross-canters, and she’s got a good reason for doing so. She came into the e-clinic I managed after being drilled by a car and fracturing her pelvis and femur. The pelvic fracture healed on cage rest and we put an external fixature on the badly communuted femoral fx. Ten years later, she has a slight mechanical lameness on that side, but is able to hop up on the bed and couch and do the Beagle Supper Dance on her hind legs with no trouble. She always paced at the walk, and as she has gotten older, will no longer do a true canter.
While her mobility is limited on the one side, she is not painful and is not on any meds.
All dogs I ever know do this. It’s their lazy way of going faster without actually trotting. Once they can’t go fast enough that way they switch to trotting.
