Cross Steps, Cross Over, Gait Assessment in German Shepherd Dog during Trotting

What does a judge see about steps while judging gait/locomotion of the GSD? A good judge will definitely try to assess the steps, alongside the overall gait, because how a GSD settles its steps during trotting says a lot about the dog’s overall gait.

This post should yield adequate idea about steps and gait to the owners who show their dogs. Even if you do not show your dog, it is important that you are aware of your dog’s structure/ built.

The two most important parameters to understand are “Cross Steps” and “Cross Overs”

During a trot the fore foot that is carried towards the front, touches the ground when the fore foot that is lagging behind is just lifted. The same stepping nature is demonstrated by the hind feet. The rear foot that is carried towards the front touches the ground when the rear foot that is stretched backward is just lifted.

The right front foot and the left hind foot is carried towards same direction, while the left front foot and the right hind foot is carried towards same direction, which is a typical diagonal stepping pattern. There’s nothing special about it, as this clearly demonstrates the typical mammalian gait.

Now, for a breed like GSD, (in which the structural built is the most important determinant of an efficient locomotion), what’s special and needs to be considered is the distance between the two fore feet and the distance between the two rear feet, when the dog is trotting.

The distance between the two fore feet (one stretched towards the front and the other lagging backward) while trotting, is known as “Front Cross Step”. 

The distance between the two rear feet (one carried towards the front and the other stretched out backward) while trotting, is known as “Rear Cross Step”. 

The most ideal and desired locomotion type demands the equality between “Front Cross Step” and “Rear Cross Step”. However, it is well understood that it may not be possible that “Front Cross Step” and “Rear Cross Step” are exactly equal. But lesser the deviation, better!

The picture below gives a pictorial understanding of Front and Rear Cross Steps

This uniformity in cross steps is usually missing in the show dogs that have more angulated hinds. The show line GSDs have more acute hind angulations, due to  which the Rear Cross Step gets slightly more stretched out and becomes longer compared to the Front Cross Step

In the picture below the blue dots indicates the points of contact of the front paws and the ground, and the blue line indicates the Front Cross Step. The red dots indicates the points of contact of the rear paws and the ground, and the red line indicates the Rear Cross Step. It is clearly noticed that the Rear Cross Step is comparatively longer than the Front Cross Step. This is typically noticed in show specimens - especially in the dogs that have overly angulated hinds.

Due to the the longer Rear Cross Step, the rear foot that is carried forward and front foot that is lagging backward cross over each other. This situation is known as Rear and Front Feet Cross Over. As a result of such Cross Over the pastern of the rear limb touches the ground, which is not desired. 

 The deep angulation of the hinds that causes Rear Foot - Front Foot Cross Overs, and that leads to ground-pastern contact, seriously impairs the performance. The efficiency of the dog's movement and power of the strides are both compromised. The hind thrust that carries the dog forward is compromised, due to which the the Speed during a fast trot also gets compromised.