# Sophie's Gait- "Pacing" instead of walking?



## fjm

Sophy the Papillon tends to pace, too, although as she rarely walks it is not often obvious. With her I think it is down to back problems, and possibly a resulting stiffness in the hips. Is your Sophie comfortable trotting?


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## N2Mischief

My horse "Cash" was a Tennessee Walker. He had a stifle injury and afterword would pace. Made for a rough ride comparably. So to get him back in a 4 beat gait, I would tip his nose in towards the rail and at the same time put pressure with my heel right behind the girth to open up his shoulder. 

I wonder if there is some exercise for dogs that would help? Yet I guess if it doesn't hurt, why fix it? lol

My black pug girl was a pacer as she got older. 

I think as I get older I am starting to waddle! LOL It might just be an aging kind of thing!


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## BeckyM

fjm said:


> Sophy the Papillon tends to pace, too, although as she rarely walks it is not often obvious. With her I think it is down to back problems, and possibly a resulting stiffness in the hips. Is your Sophie comfortable trotting?


She will trot for short periods of time but otherwise she paces. I'm not sure if she's uncomfortable or not. She seems to get tired quickly though but I chalked that up to her not getting much exercise before she came to us. 

My mom's shih tzu/jack russell mix paces too. He has a long back. I wonder if it is back pain related.


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## BeckyM

N2Mischief said:


> My horse "Cash" was a Tennessee Walker. He had a stifle injury and afterword would pace. Made for a rough ride comparably. So to get him back in a 4 beat gait, I would tip his nose in towards the rail and at the same time put pressure with my heel right behind the girth to open up his shoulder.
> 
> I wonder if there is some exercise for dogs that would help? Yet I guess if it doesn't hurt, why fix it? lol
> 
> My black pug girl was a pacer as she got older.
> 
> I think as I get older I am starting to waddle! LOL It might just be an aging kind of thing!


That's interesting about the horse. I bet that would feel strange to ride a pacing horse! 

Hmmm.... so I'm hearing that most are related to injuries or soreness. Considering she's had 6 litters of puppies (and she just turned 6!), and she has mammary cancer...maybe she is hurting somewhere. Maybe the morning walks aren't a good idea. She seems to enjoy the first half of the walk but then kinda lags behind after a while.


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## Searcher

We were concerned about Dancer pacing too & we got her checked out. From my understanding pacing is an efficient way of moving when walking slowly (my speed). She will go into a trot if she moves faster. [Some horses are also pacers rather than trotters.] It may not have anything to do with movement issues. It wasn't important for us to train her to trot more, but if you were in doing show or obedience that may be an issue for you.

If you have her checked out medically & all seems ok, I would not worry about it.

Actually riding a pacing horse is pretty nice, it doesn't have a bouncing trot, you can sit it very comfortably.


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## lily cd re

If you are into it you could think about having her have a chiropractic adjustment of maybe see if there is someone who could do reiki on her. Performance sports people will know where to find practitioners who would work on dogs. Almost every agility trial I go to has a massage person or another practitioner who will work on dogs and on handlers.


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## BeckyM

Searcher said:


> We were concerned about Dancer pacing too & we got her checked out. From my understanding pacing is an efficient way of moving when walking slowly (my speed). She will go into a trot if she moves faster. [Some horses are also pacers rather than trotters.] It may not have anything to do with movement issues. It wasn't important for us to train her to trot more, but if you were in doing show or obedience that may be an issue for you.
> 
> If you have her checked out medically & all seems ok, I would not worry about it.
> 
> Actually riding a pacing horse is pretty nice, it doesn't have a bouncing trot, you can sit it very comfortably.


Oh good!! Thank you so much for the info.  I'd hate to think Sophie was in pain. 
I can't even seem to teach Sophie to sit (picture trying to get a stone statue to move) so I don't think obedience trials are in our future! LOL


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## BeckyM

lily cd re said:


> If you are into it you could think about having her have a chiropractic adjustment of maybe see if there is someone who could do reiki on her. Performance sports people will know where to find practitioners who would work on dogs. Almost every agility trial I go to has a massage person or another practitioner who will work on dogs and on handlers.


I'm not sure if there's anyone in our area that would offer those types of services. I'll look into it though. If it isn't crazy expensive, I'd consider it.


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## N2Mischief

My horse had a horrible pace! lol Very jarring. Now when he got into a proper gait it was awesome. He could rack, which is fast! My friends on their horses would be at a full gallop and Cash would be racking faster. What a blast he was! I guess maybe a horse that was meant to pace would be more comfortable, Cash just felt kind of like he wasn't quite sure where to put his feet and it got all messy, lol.


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## fjm

Perhaps Sophie just isn't yet used to much exercise - she may well enjoy more walking as she gets fitter. Or it can even be the weather. My Sophy can usually walk (or trot!) for miles, but today she stopped part way and made it very clear that it was time to go back to the car - she got us there just before the rain came pouring down! I found a very good (human) osteopath who also treats dogs, who helped Sophy's back enormously. She loves massage, too, especially when she is a bit stiff.


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## BeckyM

Thanks for all of the input. I'll just keep an eye on her and see how she does. If she seems painful, I'll take her to the vet but otherwise I'll be interested to see if her pacing fades as she gets in better shape... if she gets in better shape at all. At the rate that she's couch surfing, I'm not sure.


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## Quossum

Sugarfoot often paces at slower speeds. He doesn't seem to be in any pain, and breaks into a trot when we speed up. I was really annoyed with it at first but a few of my agility friends said it's pretty normal.

--Q


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## Poodlebeguiled

N2Mischief said:


> My horse had a horrible pace! lol Very jarring. Now when he got into a proper gait it was awesome. He could rack, which is fast! My friends on their horses would be at a full gallop and Cash would be racking faster. What a blast he was! I guess maybe a horse that was meant to pace would be more comfortable, Cash just felt kind of like he wasn't quite sure where to put his feet and it got all messy, lol.


Riding a rack is the most awesome thing ever....very smooth and level. My Dad had American Saddlebreds when he was young and I got to ride a Rocky Mountain Pleasure Horse that racks on. Awesome. A friend had a Paso Fino...again, that 4 beat lateral gait. So comfortable. When I use to show my horse they had a class called the champagne class and the Saddlebred riders would carry a full glass of champagne while racking and not spill a drop. 

Check it out for those who wonder what a rack is on an American Saddlebred and a few other breeds. It's really something to behold. You can hit pause intermittently and you may be able to see how the legs on the same side move together...the same direction as opposed to a trot where the diagonal legs move together. A rack is called a pace when the horse is pulling a sulky and a rack when being ridden. The rack or pace is good because the horse (and maybe your dog, Becky) can go for long distances with less effort than a trot.

Take a look at these incredible animals. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NwdaCZFc2_g

N2...why was the pace uncomfortable? Is it because it was fast and a 2 beat gait, not a 4 beat gait? Why was the pace choppy? The rack can be fast as the dickens.

Becky, I'd have a vet go over her and make sure nothing is amiss medically and perhaps a show breeder or judge to look her conformation over more thoroughly just in case there's something there. If it's all clear maybe it's something that's unique to her...a little idiosyncrasy. (?) I just don't know much about this. It would be cool if you could get a video of her pacing to post. (I mean to post on the forum, not post, as in rising to the trot. lol)


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## Charmed

My old female (lived 15 years) paced until she broke into a fast trot. I studied her build and always attributed her pacing to her having rather straight angled shoulders. She never had any problems with her joints and did therapy work until she was thirteen. Pacing does give a lot of up and down motion. When she was freshly groomed we used to say she moved like a wind up toy.


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## Charmed

Well, I just read up on terminology and the gait we see when a dog is transitioning from a walk to a trot is most likely an amble which is technically a bit different than a pace. Something about the feet not leaving the ground at precisely the same time in an amble. News to me! I did see that many sources say shoulder angle can affect gait, so I do remember that part correctly. I agree with previous advice, have the dog checked over to rule out an injury (even a developing hidden one) vs. anatomy.


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## BeckyM

Here's a video I took just after bringing Sophie home (and right after her first bath. It shows her going several different speeds. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WGMETjJlYnA&feature=youtu.be


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## lily cd re

I see what you mean, but it doesn't really look like it is interfering with her willingness to move. I think I wouldn't worry over it too much.


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## BeckyM

lily cd re said:


> I see what you mean, but it doesn't really look like it is interfering with her willingness to move. I think I wouldn't worry over it too much.


Thanks  I won't worry. I'm having a lot of "firsts" with Sophie and just wanted to be sure it wasn't a thing to be concerned with  

Sophie is now my husband's walking partner since my husband ambles more then power walks.  Polly and my 3 mile power walk in the morning was too much for Sophie. It's good bonding time for Sophie and my husband anyways since Sophie is superglued to my side, usually.


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## kayla_baxter

My Dane boy is a pacer. Always has been. He paces until he's in a full run. He's 5 1/2 and has always paced. 


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


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## PoodleRick

Quossum said:


> Sugarfoot often paces at slower speeds. He doesn't seem to be in any pain, and breaks into a trot when we speed up. I was really annoyed with it at first but a few of my agility friends said it's pretty normal.
> 
> --Q


All three of mine, Roxy, Beau and Penny pace at a certain speed. At walking speed it's front left, rear right, front right rear left. A little faster it's a pace and a little faster, like at show dog ring speed, it's a trot then a run after that. I think the "pace" is just one of their modes of movement. 

Rick


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## BeckyM

PoodleRick said:


> All three of mine, Roxy, Beau and Penny pace at a certain speed. At walking speed it's front left, rear right, front right rear left. A little faster it's a pace and a little faster, like at show dog ring speed, it's a trot then a run after that. I think the "pace" is just one of their modes of movement.
> 
> Rick


I'm so glad it's so common! What a relief. Sophie has been the first dog I've had that has paced (out of about 6 I've owned). I guess I've had a lot of prancers.  Maybe Polly just never goes slow enough anywhere to need to pace. She's built for speed. LOL


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## Poodlebeguiled

That was hard for me to see. She's moving away from the camera and I did manage to hit pause a couple of times and I could see (or at least I think I could see) her diagonal feet touching at the same time as in a trot. So, I don't notice her pacing. But you would know better since you watch her all the time. A video where she's trotting across your bow for quite some distance would be easier to see maybe. But don't trouble yourself with it if you don't feel like it. If other people see it, maybe it's just my eyes. It's hard to capture gaits when they're moving along pretty fast.


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## BeckyM

Poodlebeguiled said:


> That was hard for me to see. She's moving away from the camera and I did manage to hit pause a couple of times and I could see (or at least I think I could see) her diagonal feet touching at the same time as in a trot. So, I don't notice her pacing. But you would know better since you watch her all the time. A video where she's trotting across your bow for quite some distance would be easier to see maybe. But don't trouble yourself with it if you don't feel like it. If other people see it, maybe it's just my eyes. It's hard to capture gaits when they're moving along pretty fast.


Gotcha. Yeah, it's hard to get a good video when I'm out there by myself. I'll have to get my dh to film me later so I can walk Sophie around.  
I was trying to take a picture of both pups today, looking at me, standing beside each other.... boy oh boy... talk about impossible task! LOL


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## ItzaClip

I finally got confirmation on this. If it's at the speed in-between a walk and a trot then it's ambling. If you speed up and dog doesn't break into a trot then it's pacing. I have a good video of vogue doing it


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## kjgendreau

Dogs will pace when tired. Or walking. My boy will pace when just ambling about. He will also try to pace if I start to gait him incorrectly. In the ring I would sometimes do a "courtesy turn" just to keep him unbalanced and aware of where his feet were in order to get him to start off at a trot. His hips are OFA'd clear.


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## PoodleRick

Here's Penny in the yard. you can see at first when she's going slow she moves each side together. Then as she speeds up she goes to the left front, right rear right front left rear movement


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## BeckyM

Thanks for the video, Rick. That's what Sophie does but it's even more pronounced. Polly never paces (that I notice) so it stands out to me when Sophie does it. 

Sophie's gotten in much better shape and still does it so it's just one of her many quirks.  She now keeps up just fine on our 3 mile power walk each morning and I've even tried some short bursts of jogging and she does fine. She tries to pace while jogging but eventually breaks into a alternating foot gait.


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## PoodleRick

One of my neighbor's dogs can't move his front legs independently not matter what speed. So when he's out for a walk his back legs go left right left right but the front just goes hop hop hop. Poor guy. He seems happy though. He's just always the one to get to where everyone else is going.

Rick


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## Dechi

ItzaClip said:


> I finally got confirmation on this. If it's at the speed in-between a walk and a trot then it's ambling. If you speed up and dog doesn't break into a trot then it's pacing. I have a good video of vogue doing it


After reading this thread and everyone's response, I observed Merlin yesterday and this is right, as PoodlesRick's video was also showing. When they walk slow, very slow, it's pacing, but as soon as they go a little faster, it's the usual really elegant prancing, before it goes into running.


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