Correct movement is important for a dog. This post is a companion to yesterday’s post Dog Shows – More Than Prancing Around The Ring.
Why Is Correct Movement Important?
Correct movement allows a dog to perform its job in the most efficient manner without breaking down or suffering injury.
Let’s say you want to head out to a field for a day of hunting. A dog that is inefficient in its movement may use up too much energy and tire easily That is a dog unable to do its job.
Maybe your dog works in the water, say retrieving ducks like our dogs do, correct movement allows for efficient swimming when making water retrieves. In the old days of market hunting it was said that Chessies would make hundreds of retrieves at a time under harsh conditions. They needed to be strong, but efficient swimmers.
Or maybe you want a super fast agility dog. Again, a dog that is inefficient in its movement may need extra steps to get from point A to point B compared to other dogs and may have trouble competing. Or it may suffer wear and tear on joints as it competes which can lead to injury.
Perhaps you just want to go on walks or runs with your dog, or you just like to play with your dog in the yard, correct movement is important here too because you want your dog to have fun without pooping out or being prone to injury.
Correct movement goes hand in hand with correct structure. If you are considering structure and movement in a pure bred dog, it is set out in the standard for each breed. The breed standard is a blueprint of how a dog should be put together. Usually a dog’s structure is tailored to the job the dog was originally bred to do.
For example a terrier hunting vermin may be more compact than a greyhound built to cover a lot of ground quickly or a spaniel built to be a tireless worker in the field or a sled dog built to have strength and endurance.
All of these dogs benefit from correct structure and movement.
But let’s say you have a mixed bred dog with and there is no breed standard to guide you, how do you determine correct structure and movement? If you are interested in such things, I would say that it might benefit you to study what is considered to be correct for a dog in general and read a bunch of breed standards. Research why a particular breed was developed and how its structure and movement matches the job it was bred to do.
Then have someone move the dog for you. If you read a bunch of breed standards you will notice that most talk about an effortless or free and easy gait, whether it be powerful, smooth, or more hackney. Depending on the activities you want to do with the dog, you may want to consider whether the movement looks effortless and free to your eye or does it look “off” or encumbered.
Do you consider structure and movement when selecting your companion dog?
Another point to consider is the amount of movement/walking that may be done with both a young and older dog. Skeletal structure might be damaged by too much too soon (puppies). Awareness of changes in endurance as a dog ages is very important. This blog has done an excellent job of indicating how important it is to regularly exercise a dog. Each dog is different, but many know their limits. Our Macha at 11 plus no longer launches from a high bank into water. She is content to take a short leap and swim She still has a wonderful gait. thanks to pond time. Macha and Cullen walked together, he set the pace, as he grew older he became a bit slower. But they were always eager to head out along the river yow path. Erynn is small and moves like a gazelle, she is part goat and panther!
That is some good information. I used to do horses like crazy and conformation was so important to their movement for efficiency. So it is important in dogs too. Great post.
No, I had never thought about correct movement. Mind you, I have gotten dogs as true pets, not to assist in anything, so maybe that is different.
Great post! Just love watching a dog move while working
Great post! I too like watching a dog move. Whether a working dog, show dog or companion correct movement is important.
These are things we did not know about when we got Sampson. With two ACL injuries I can see now how his back end has never been very strong. And his movement was never as smooth and as effortless as Delilah’s.
The best we can do at this point is to give him as much support as we can to help make it as easy as we can for him.
I didn’t think of movement when we got our pups, but I was also a doggie greenhorn back then 😉 What I did consider though was that they’d likely grow up to be energetic pups since they’re Boxer mixes. Since I had read a ton of books on how to raise & train dogs, I planned getting them backpacks for daily walks and hikes whenever possible. We still use our backpacks to this day, 4+ years later, and I’m glad to report that both pups are mentally & physically balanced 🙂
I can certainly see just how important this is, and definitely worth looking into with active dogs.
Great post!Conformation in the show ring and half-hour hunt tests don’t really tell you all you everything about a dog, but as you pointed out, after a full day of hunting, you can really see how efficient they are and what kind of conformation they have. One top trainer told me that swimming reveals a lot more about a dog’s conformation than walking or running.