Discouraging a dog's pacing (gait)

What an interesting video! What I find most fascinating is that she paces very quickly - like a Standardbred! :wink2: When she goes into the cavaletti, her speed doesn't change, just the gait. It's a very interesting thing to see.

Thank you for sharing it; there's always something new to learn and think about with these dogs.
 
tofu pup said:
What an interesting video! What I find most fascinating is that she paces very quickly - like a Standardbred! :wink2: When she goes into the cavaletti, her speed doesn't change, just the gait. It's a very interesting thing to see.

Thank you for sharing it; there's always something new to learn and think about with these dogs.
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I assume you mean that dogs normally slow down when they trot? Or do they normally speed up?

I would like to try her walking without her leash to see if that plays a part--but we'll have to get to a park to try that.
 
In my mind, I was picturing her doing a "lazy", slow pace at a walking speed. It's sort of a cheater-gait between walking and trotting - "Push me, I'm coming!" That's why I think of speeding the dog up as tending to force them to trot. But it looks like she can pace very quickly without trotting, which is what I find so interesting. It's not how I would picture a pace.
 
tofu pup said:
In my mind, I was picturing her doing a "lazy", slow pace at a walking speed. It's sort of a cheater-gait between walking and trotting - "Push me, I'm coming!" That's why I think of speeding the dog up as tending to force them to trot. But it looks like she can pace very quickly without trotting, which is what I find so interesting. It's not how I would picture a pace.
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Oh yes, she can definitely do it quickly. I can snap her out of it by getting her "working" (either looking at me or moving with purpose) but she will lapse back into it even if we're still moving at a faster speed.

But she is more apt to pace when she's tired, so that part makes sense.

I had to look up standardbred horses--but that really does look like how Lexi moves! (More exaggerated, of course) Thanks for sharing your thoughts, I'm learning a ton!
 
tofu pup said:
In my mind, I was picturing her doing a "lazy", slow pace at a walking speed. It's sort of a cheater-gait between walking and trotting - "Push me, I'm coming!" That's why I think of speeding the dog up as tending to force them to trot. But it looks like she can pace very quickly without trotting, which is what I find so interesting. It's not how I would picture a pace.
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I was thinking the same thing. When Justice does it it is like "yawn OK" slower on purpose looking. not at that speed. When he goes into a trot it is a definite change of speed. I think that is the fastest I have seen a dog pace
 
tofu pup said:
You can usually "break" them out of a pace by throwing their balance in some way. Because the legs on one side are moving together, it's very easy for them to lose their balance (and they go into a trot to regain it).

If she's on-leash, you can do a lateral pull with the lead (not a correction, but like a longer draw) instead of speeding up; this sort of pulls the dog off-balance and gets them to trot at the same speed as their pace. Then praise.

It also might be helpful just to make her trot... a lot. Set her up on a treadmill, or train her to go along with a bike (I'd prefer a treadmill, for safety), and build her up to where she is trotting for miles at a time. I know that she is an agility athlete, so it's not a matter of overall conditioning, but of building up the specific muscles that she uses to trot. She needs to "practice" the motion.

Another trick I've heard is to gait them across the side of a slope or hill. Again, this forces them to balance themselves correctly and trot. I haven't tried it, but I can see where it could work.

Unfortunately, some dogs are just "built pacey" and will get lazy if you aren't able to keep on them about it. Just as you can't trim a deep head into a lean one, you probably won't be able to train Lexi to be a big-moving, ground-covering trotting dog. But with practice, you can certainly make improvements.
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Could you not get a doggie backpack and add a small weight to one side? Then swap on occasion.
 
SheepOfBlue said:
Could you not get a doggie backpack and add a small weight to one side? Then swap on occasion.
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I think you win the prize for most-innovative solution! :lol: I have no idea if it would work, but it certainly would be interesting to try. I would just want to make sure you didn't do it for too long, so as not to cause any injury or soreness.
 
Set up the cavaletti tonight in the yard...she kept trying to jump them like she was doing agility! :rolleyes2:

Once I got her walking through them, she would switch up to a trot right before entering.

Just walking her down the street she almost ALWAYS paces. Throwing her off balance didn't seem to change anything. But, I did notice that her head is usually down when pacing, so there may be some validity to trying to keep her head up. I'll try that and the hill walking next.

To get her to consistently trot, I had to seriously speed walk, and even then she'd occasionally drop back into a pace, and my legs got tired! :lol:
 
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