Walking Issues (crabs when walking?)

[RosieGeorge]

hi, please can you help me out on this? When we're out walking with our 4 mth old tri-coloured pup (George) he "crabs" when he walks, basically his backend goes to one side so he's walking at an angle, but he runs straight. We also have a 6yr old bitch (Rosie) whom we also raised from a pup, and to our memory, she never did this, is there something wrong or is this just a puppy thing? It dosnt seem to bother him and he still runs and plays just fine, he can actually keep up with Rosie! thanks.



^ George!

[Samismom]

I do recall most of the dogs I've had doing what you describe as "crab" walking. I am certainly no expert but have been doing agility with my two dogs for 6 yrs now. Most young dogs really don't know what their hind end is doing. Agility trainers know this and usually do exercises with the dogs to help them become aware of what their hind end is doing before they introduce the dog walk and teeter obstacles. It is usually the back end the comes off these obstacles and caused the slip or fall.

[Samismom]

Awww. Beautiful boy by-the-way. He looks so angelic sleeping there.

[wyomingJoan]

I could not see the video, but my guess based on what you described is that when he is on leash he is close to you and turns somewhat sideways to attend to you more. Herding breeds are very conscious of space. The key was that when running the dog runs straight. So, my guess would be that it is a space issue. Not really a problem though.