Movement

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. 

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.