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It is difficult to look
at the dog standing there presenting a wonderful picture of
a Saint Bernard and then as soon as the dog takes a step or
moves you sometimes wonder if he is going to make it around
the ring because of the movement. Some dog’s legs are
flaying in all directions and the pasterns are flipping. They
are either overextending or taking baby steps. It all gets back
to the overall structure and how the dog is bred.
I think that a lot of people today are breeding towards a cute,
pretty Saint Bernard and are losing what it was originally intended
for...a rescue dog. A lot of dogs seen moving from the side
lack the reach in the front and drive from the rear end. When
you look at the dog from their side movements you can also notice
the little flips on the rear legs. Sometimes these dogs are
moving so fast in front that they are flipping their front pasterns
up. It looks flashy and catches your eye but it is not correct
and is defeating the purpose of the word "soundness".
Some judges that we show under that understand movement are
always interesting to watch, because they will move the dogs
and everybody will try to move the dog to its best ability.
If a dog moves fast, they are going to try to go as fast as
they can, and if the dog moves better slow they will move it
slow. I think the judges who understand this will require people,
either during a group or individuals, to make sure these dogs
move at particular speeds. They are on a loose lead and will
say, “I want you to move slow or I want you to move fast
or I want you to walk” so they can see what the dog is
doing. Unfortunately I don’t think judges really understand
what is correct and proper movement. In
judging a Saint Bernard their function as a rescue dog or
as a carting dog must be considered above every thing else
and if he doesn’t have the physical attributes he must
be severely faulted on the structure point of view. Likewise
the tail must be correct as this acts as a rudder for the
correct movement. If the tail is incorrect the dog would try
and compensate in its movement which will lead to faulty analysis
of its gait. You can also see at times that top lines that
wibble and wobble up and down instead of staying level at
a trot is a lack of conditioning of the dog more than anything
else. The dog needs to be in good muscle tone to get a solid,
stable top line.
These are the few aspects that
some judges lack when judging a Saint Bernard on the whole.
Granted in many aspects the standard has indicated that it
is a head breed but without the above consideration how can
we call the Saint Bernard a member of the Working group. I
urge you all, for the survival of the Saint Bernard breed,
more emphasis should be put in the judges education scheme
to bring up the standard of what the dog was originally bred
for. I thank you for reading this article and hope that a
few suggestions in the future survival of the breed especially
on the structure side would be considered. Here is what the
FCI standard quotes on movement:-
Gait
Coordinated, smooth reaching strides with good drive from
the hindquarters. Hindquarter struck in line with the forequarters.
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