Date: Mon, 3 Oct 2005 09:06:45 -0400
Subject: Re: Movement Picture
There is a judge education website put together by the American Belgian
Tervuren Club that is based on the AKC standard. It is located at
http://www.abtc.org/judges_ed/BreedType1.htm and does have info on gait and a photo. From my understanding, the rear foot should fall into a spot beside or nearly into the one the opposite front foot just left. There should be minimal lift off the ground of the front end, back end or body.
The topline from just behind the withers to the croup should remain
level/parallel to the ground. The head should be carried at an angle
less than 45 degrees from horizontal, the tail should be carried behind the
dog in a straight line and not to one side and not above the level of the
topline. The reach should be at least to but not beyond the nose and the
drive should allow someone standing behind the dog to see the pads of the
dog's feet but none of the top of the dogs foot.
That, in a nutshell, is some info I have gleaned from US and
European breeders over my nearly 20 years in the breed. There is some
discrepency as to whether the dogs legs are supposed to form a "V" when the
dog is moving at a faster gait. The AKC standard says yes, some European
breeders have said no. The front and rear legs should, of course, move
in line parallel with each other and, according to AKC (and Quentin LaHam,
the late noted movement "connisseur"), the area where the feet fall should
converge as the dog picks up speed so that the dog may even show a line of
tracks (i.e. in the snow, etc) that is a single line (single-tracking).
As I said, this is from my background in Belgian Tervuren and
observations in my efforts to paint, draw and design moving Belgians with
the correct gait and is based upon the AKC standard and breeders'
interpretations of it, although much of the info is from a noted European
breeder/judge. Of course there are reasons for each criterion and almost
all have to do with the general idea of covering the maximum amount of
ground with the least amount of effort (and stress to the joints, I might
add). There is so much involved in movement that it is very difficult to
tell much about it simply from one photograph.
Sandy Stealey in southeastern Ohio conbrio@belgians.com
Con Brio Belgian Tervuren and CanineWorks Art and Rescue
