Flying trot? - Page 7

  Other breeds such as hounds (afghan Hound in particular)  pointers and in our own group, herding or pastoral, also have a flying trot.  This is not just for GSD but everybody will tell you that it is in the GSD that it is the most spectacular.  

Don't forget that the flying trot doesn't appear in our standard as words...but the standard describes it very beautifully.

**A German Shepherd Dog is a trotting dog, and its structure has been developed to meet the requirements of its work. General Impression -- The gait is outreaching, elastic, seemingly without effort, smooth and rhythmic, covering the maximum amount of ground with the minimum number of steps. At a walk it covers a great deal of ground, with long stride of both hind legs and forelegs. At a trot the dog covers still more ground with even longer stride, and moves powerfully but easily, with coordination and balance so that the gait appears to be the steady motion of a well-lubricated machine. The feet travel close to the ground on both forward reach and backward push. In order to achieve ideal movement of this kind, there must be good muscular development and ligamentation. The hindquarters deliver, through the back, a powerful forward thrust which slightly lifts the whole animal and drives the body forward. Reaching far under, and passing the imprint left by the front foot, the hind foot takes hold of the ground; then hock, stifle and upper thigh come into play and sweep back, the stroke of the hind leg finishing with the foot still close to the ground in a smooth follow-through.**

A Steady well lubricated machine!! That's the GSD!

Julie

Astroflash Cato @ 2 Day National Scotland 2008 taken by Fardogart

Funnily enough, the most illustrative pic I could find showing the flying trot where the dog is actually all four feet off the ground is this one which i believe is a pet rather than a showdog.  You can actually see the pads of all four feet.

Margaret N-J

That looks like an American SL, and with a trot that nice, he probably could be shown. I had to look twice to make sure it was a male. That head is pretty feminine looking!

Pod, glad to see your comment regarding modern GSDs not been able to single track as I have always thought the same myself and have even mentioned it on this board a couple of times but never got any confirmation of the fact. When taking ol' Nelson out for his evening gallop this is quite easy to see when he is trotting along a (marked) straight path in a field. Looking from behind his rump will be very, very slightly out of line with the withers and will seemlessly change from left to right.

I love both dogshome9's & july2009's photos as the dogs are showing their movement whilst in a state of high concentration & attentiveness which, possibly because they hold their heads, necks & ears high, shows their gait in an even better light. And july's little pup is just great! shows that a dogs structure, and hence, a balanced gait is pretty much there (or not) from birth.

Nelson, who is by far the best moving dog we've had, always shows similar beautiful movement when something has caught his eye or nose in the fields and he's full of that vigour & tension. And it tickles me that I get to see this every night with no prompting on my part but it's so often difficult to achieve the same in a show ring! I've also noticed that he very rarely, if ever paces. It's just a slow, quick or fast trot (breaking out into a full blown gallop when the rabbit/deer/fox makes a dash for it).

I often think there is too much empasis in the ring for outright speed, rather than grace, and many of the dogs you see are all a bit too thrashy and frantic and whirlwind like which always detracts from the overall picture.

Nice thread.

AandA

I've honestly never seen any other shepherd pace, the bitch in the picture I posted, is the only dog I've ever seen do it.  I know they can and do, but I'd never seen it before her, and haven't seen it since.

Silbersee, I have been showing GSD for close to 25 years. Can't recall ever seeing better side gatit than this. Extreme extension at both ends, high wither point blending perfectly into a rock hard back. Don't think it is possible for a GSD to have a better shoulder than this, but I'm open to correction .

Congratulations on a beautiful dog.

JMHO,
Rik

Thank you Rik.
Yes, she certainly has amazing talent for gaiting. In her active career in Germany, they used to say that "this sable can run like the devil". Even now after having been retired from showing and having had no training for a couple of years, it is a joy to watch her gaiting offlead in the fields here on our property. None of the other dogs can keep up with her. She loves moving too and would do it all day long. It is in her blood.
Sh produces that trait and her front as well.
Here is one of her sons  at a tender age just gaiting along the fence line (not a good photo - it was sent to me and I think it is from a video):


And this one is her son Saxon vom Silbersee  in the water. I really need to convince his owners to show him at least once:


And her daughter Venja vom Haus Dexel who I also own at a show in Germany where she placed high (I forgot 2nd or 3rd) in a very competitive youth class whithout any prior show training. she is the sable in third place (a bit far away but it shows her front reach):

And finally another photo of her in Germany during her time with Haus Dexel:

Here's an Ibizan hound doing a beautiful flying trot. The 'moment of suspension' doesn't get much more supended than this!~