Monday, May 18, 2009

Proper Gaiting for Heelwork

All four legged animals have 5 main gaits:

(1) walk

(2) trot (or pace)

(3) canter (also called a lope)

(4) gallop

(5) back

In obedience we are only concern with the first three; (1) walk, (2) trot, and (3) canter.


In a heel pattern ideally your dog will be trotting when in "normal pace", walking in "slow pace" and cantering in "fast pace". And ideally the transitions between these gaits (pace changes) will be smooth and seamless.


So first:

You must understand how these different gaits look (orient your dog in the "front" position and move backwards, lure the dog with a treat if you have to, try to observe your dog's walk, trot, and canter (provided you can run backwards fast enough) alternatively get your dog to walk, trot, and canter next to you as you take them around the ring, don't worry about heel position, just watch your dog's gaits):

(1) The walk is a four beat gait. All four feet will lift up off the ground individually.


(2) The trot is a 2 beat gait. The legs diagnol from each other will lift up off the ground together (for example: right front and left rear). If the legs on the same side of the dogs body are lifting up together (for example: right front and right rear) the dog is in a 2 beat gait but not in a trot, this non-diagonal 2 beat gait is called a pace.




(3) The canter is a 3 beat gait and it has a lead. Three of the dogs feet lift of the ground at the same time and the front feet lift up together, one front foot will be slightly in front of the other, this is known as the dogs lead foot or simply "lead". It is most likely that your dog will be on his left lead, that is because by being on the left lead the dog can most easily turn to his right and since you are on his right he will preferantially be cantering on his left lead.




Next you need to know how these different gaits feel when the dog is moving next to you (in heel position):

(1) Walking - Plodding. You can feel each foot indivially leave the ground.

(2) Trot - Bouncing. You will feel that the dog has a bouncy stride. If your dog is pacing instead of trotting, you will instead feel like the dog is rolling or leaning from side to side. Ideally you do not want your dog to pace since it will throw his balance off while heeling. Some people suggest that pacing indicates a strutural problem with the dog but I think some dogs (especially big dogs) pace naturally. You can sometimes teach a pacing dog to trot by first walking fast enough that the dog must trot (this is true because there is no such thing as an extended pace), once the dog is trotting with you, you can begin teaching the dog to collect his trot to the extent that you are able to walk at a comfortable speed again.

(3) Canter - Pounding. You will see the dogs front legs leave and hit the ground at the same time.


Another thing to know is that each of the above gaits can also be "collected" or "extended". Not only that, but each gait can be collected and extended to various extents. For example a very collected trot is known as a piaffe and a very extended trot is known as a spanish trot. Because these are very collected and very extended versions of the trot they look very exaggerated. However extending or collecting a gait to a lesser degree will result in less exaggeration. (The walk and canter can also be both collected and extended).


Below if video of a horse doing a piaffe which is a very collected trot. Notice that the horse's gait is the 2 beat diagonal trot gait but the horse is so collected that he can even preform this at a stand still.



Below is beautiful example of a horse doing a normal trot, followed by a collected trot, and finally a spanish trot which is a very extended trot. (If you are interested there is also video on youtube of this same horse doing a very collected canter, so collected in fact that at times he is moving backwards. Remember that all gaits can be both collected and extended to various degrees).



and of course dogs can do this too, here is a video that demonstarates a dog doing not only a collected and an extended trot but also some other fancy things like a "passage", spins, and weaves through legs.



Finding the Right Speed:

As you have just seen by collecting or extending a gait, any gait can be preformed at any speed (remember the video of the hourse doing a piaffe (collected trot) at a vertual stand still). In a heel pattern ideally you want your dog to trot in the normal pace transition to walk for slow, transition to canter for fast. However, the dog can do any gait at any speed with proper collection or extention, the most important things is CONSISTENCY. The dog must use the same gait with the same amout of collection or extention on each pace every time. Before demanding consistencey from your dog you must first ensure that you are walking evenly. I like to use a metronome (http://www.amazon.com/Korg-MA-30-Compact-Digital-Metronome/dp/B0002E2O2Q/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=musical-instruments&qid=1242257734&sr=8-1). I watch my dogs gaits and set the metronome to the number of beats per minute that best matches my dog's natural trot speed. With the metronome set to that specific number of beats per minute (usually > 100+ beats/minute). I find what will be my normal pace by letting each foot hit the ground with each beat from the metronome, "bing" - right foot, "bing" - left foot. This is my normal pace which matches my dogs normal trotting gait.


There are 2 ways to change your pace

(1) changing the length of your strides

(2) changing the speed of your leg turn-over


For my fast pace I (2) increase my leg turn-over. Still using the metronome I ensure that now my right foot will hit the ground on every beat from the metronome, "bing" - right foot, (silence) - left foot, "bing" - right foot. I keep the metronome beat the same I just increased how fast I am moving. This means I am going twice as fast. This is my fast pace.


For my slow pace I (1) decrease the length of my strides. Now each foot hits the ground with each beat from the metronome, "bing" - right foot, "bing" - left foot, just like for the normal pace but I decrease my stride length by 1/2 so in effect I am going slower. This is my slow pace.


Once I can evenly walk and reliably transition to what is now my normal, fast, and slow pace, (which are based on the normal trotting speed of the dog, and therefore are different for all three of my dogs!) I am now ready to begin heeling with my dog. (We are not teaching heeling here, the dog in question has already been taught how to heel).


* I practice heeling at the "normal" speed (which matches my dog's normal trot speed).

* I than begin to teach my dog how to collect and extend his gait by heeling lots of circles and spirals in both directions.

* I also will start to increase and decrease my speed (not to the slow and fast paces that I determined above) but to many different speeds in between the "normal" speed and the "fast" and "slow" determined previously that I will eventually use. This helps my dog learn to transition between gaits by giving him time to transition speeds.

* Teaching horses how to gait properly and how to extend and collect their gaits is quiet a bit more complex than this. I have played around with applying elements of how horses are taught to teaching dogs but for the most part I still teach my dogs these concepts by (a) ensuring I know how my dog's gaits look, (b) and what they feel like, (c) and what speeds I should be maintaining while heeling with this dog, and than (d) letting the dog (who already knows how to heel) figure out the rest.

* Eventually the dog will settle in and learn to adjust their gaits to the match my speed of walking.

* The goal is CONSISTENCY. I want the dog to use the same gait and the same amount of collection and or extension on each pace every time.

No comments:

Post a Comment