Looking at photos that folks are using to advertise their show dogs, I've come to realize that many people don't know what good movement is. I think
most can recognize clean down and back, but side gait is a whole other thing. Below are pictures I copied from random Show Sight magazines; I used
sporting dogs since I don't know enough about breeds in other groups to be commenting on their movement.
This dog has two movement faults. One is the she is overstepping - the rear foot is landing in front of the front one. This is generally caused by
not enough angulation in the shoulder and/or upper arm, or too much rear angulation.
She is also wasting time in the rear by picking up the back foot higher off the ground than is necessary. This is also caused by a lack of balance
between the front and rear angulation, with the rear having more than the front. Because of this, the rear has to waste time somehow in order to not
interfere with the front. If this dog had a bit more front angulation, should could reach her
front legs out further and get them out of the way of the rear ones. As an aside, this dog is either too long in second thigh, or lacks depth there.
This dog is probably being moved too fast, but it really shows he is out of balance. Both the leading front foot and the trailing rear foot
are too far off the ground, especially compared to where the feet in the middle are, for efficient movement and there is considerable overstep.
Here is a nice moving dog. The leading front foot & trailing rear foot are just a little bit too far off the ground to be perfect, but there are
no perfect dogs! This dog is built to work all day well into its teen years, balanced front and rear with no interference and good foot timeing.
It isn't likely the dog will end up with injuries or early onset arthritis since no one part is being overworked to compensate for the rest. Far
too few Curlies move like this.
Another side movement issue that many Curlies have is what happens to their topline on the go. The topline, instead of remaining firm and level,
"breaks" either right after the withers or more commonly, in front of the loin. This prevents efficient transfer of power from the rear and
usually results in swaying or bobbing, since that energy has to go somewhere. Sometimes this is due to lack of muscle, but mostly it is simply that
the topline is not correctly constructed.
In order for Curlies to go back to being a dual purpose dog, show breeders need to quit breeding for, and showing, exaggerated dogs. Anything that is
"more" than what balance calls for interferes with the dog being able to efficiently do his job. Too much height leads to lack of angulation, too
much bone leads to too much stress on joints, too much rear angulation leads to stress in the front. Per our standard, a male Curly should be no
more than 27" tall, yet most specials these days are taller than this. A 27" Curly in condition should weigh no more than 75 lbs, yet we have owners
who proudly state their dogs are 100 lbs and over! That is in no way a working dog, of any sporting breed.