cross gaiting gsd - Page 10

''she has less angulation and a flatter top line in person'' That is why I do not look at photos for my opinion for breed. Could the dog be stacked to hide faults? can a stack make ''good points'' not born into the dog? The OP is about pacing. I have seen dogs in the show ring begin to pace and then get provoked or corrected by the handler back in to  a trot. I would not be bothered by a dog who paces at times as long as the dog could, walk, trot, pace, and gallop when the time dictated. 

I've seen it so bad that they put hobbles on the dog and had to teach them to trot.  Amazingly enough, if they use the hobbles correctly and long enough, it does seem to hold and the dog will trot more readily. 

What´s the meaning of "hobbles", BZCZ ?

During the years I found out that neither steep angulated dogs ( mostly working lines ) nor over angulated dogs ( mostly show lines ) are good trotters, the steep angulated dogs worse than the over angulated ones.

A skilled handler is able to "teach" the gait, our ( top ) dogs are trained on a regular basis. There are "trotters" and there are "pacers" - the most pacers I handled were out of working lines.

Someone said a pacer is fast - that´s not true, they are limited in space - and real "pacers" need a LOT of condition, otherwise they totally fall apart.
A pacer in the show ring is a total no-go.
The top dogs you see on youtube ( at least most of them ) don´t pace, but WALK very fast...

Forgot to mention: VK, although your dog seems to be oversized, I don´t think he is 71 cm tall at the withers - that´s HUGE.
He is out of working lines, most often the breeders don´t care about the gate, but about speed and reflexes. Length/heigth/angulation doesn´t fit for a trotter - but honestly - do you really care? He looks like a healthy, happy dog, able to do everything you ask him to do

Susie,

Hobbles are a way of attaching straps and harness to a dog to "tie" the diagnol legs together.  Left front to right rear for example so the dog can't pace.  He has to trot or the equipment "hobbles" (hence the name) his movement.  To move out he has to work with the equipment which is set up to allow a trot.

If you you tube  racing trotting horses you'll see some of them wearing them on the upper parts of their legs, some pacers wear them as well but set up to allow them to pace not trot..  THere are some that are built for dogs to reinforce the trot.

I´m around German Shepherds for more than 30 years now, handled on shows for years - never heard about that ( and I´m glad, I never had to deal with it )... Thank you

Me neither, Susie. Hobbles on pacing horses, yes, not on dogs. I learn something every day.

I actually have a couple of sets of them believe it or not.  (if its dog related my wife and I have probably bought it at some point lol).

I'll see if I can find them and rig one up for a pic.

Any photos yet?

no time yet.  Daughter getting ready for her IPO 1 this weekend