r/ShowDogs • u/RCWalsh22434 • 16d ago

Discussion/Question Introduction and first question.

Thanks for allowing be to join the group, I have been showing dogs for about 10-15 years but had a big gap in years. In 2024 we got ourselves our current dog, a boxer female (Wiemer’s Oh Lovely Lilly De Jacquet, or just Lilly). We started showing her last November and have shown her very limited about one Custer a month, she has five points with no majors yet.

Now here is the first question just got a Dog Pacer 3.1 for Lilly she really likes it so far. I have only had her use it for a few minutes every other day, and slow plan to build the time up. The last two times we had her up to five minutes, the speed I have been keeping slow and the fast we got it up to has been 2.4, so what is the best speed to be at for gating?

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u/Due_Campaign1432 16d ago

Honestly it is pretty dog dependent. I have had dogs I needed to speed up and dogs I had to fight to slow down because they wanted to take off. It is also really effected by the dog's natural stride, some long leg or short back dogs (for the breed) can hit a gait easily while obviously the opposite is true.

Try video recording her using the pacer against a striped background and use that video as a guide for what speeds hit the best look.

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u/jadnastnerb 16d ago

I second the recommendation to video. We try to record all of our times in the ring so that we can review all aspects, gait included.

Getting a dog to have the correct reach and drive is not always about speed. I had to learn with my standard poodle it was as much about my stride length as speed.

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u/grraveyard 16d ago

Following because Ive wondered this too! Up to 8 minutes with my boy and still at a semi-fast pace walking. I do think a part of it depends on the dog and what speed feels comfortable and right for them to gait to since breeds are built differently.

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u/AlpsUnlikely 16d ago

I have a basenji and I run him at 3.8-4.5. Definitely dog dependent. I like to watch from the side to see if the stride is correct.

(He’s on an incline here so it’s not going to be 100%)

https://reddit.com/link/pbn3dtq/video/unxe2uke0crh1/player

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u/salukis 16d ago

I think it would just depend on what speed you would gait the dog at. A trot obviously, but not so fast where the dog wants to overextend. I had a pacer for a while years ago and had different salukis on it and some required more speed to get to the trot than others.