The Brittany Forum

Patricia · Posted: Mon Aug 24, 2009 6:40 pm Post subject:

Again, I am not talking- or should I say the original poster from the French Forum- about oversize but at the top end of the standard. 51-52 cms for the 1 cm tolerance. And then, as we know, it also depends HOW the dog is measured Rolling Eyes

My males have been 50 cms and 51, the latter not slower or less efficient that the former. It was quoted a " molasson of 51", Guy check it in your dictionary!-

Mugi · Bretonnier Joined: 24 Oct 2006 Posts: 1304

Possibly not relevant but .................

For starters it would be impossible to IMVHO determine this as even if you could exactly replicate conditions and scent etc you could not replicate how motivated an individual dog would be on any given occasion, they would not know they were being tested so how can you get a 'control' or even compliance Laughing

.

I can only compare different breeds hence the possibility of lack of relevance but Freddy, Brice or Chase could outrun each other over a straight or a twisting route so you have 3 very different body shapes and sizes who ran/run in different ways but whichever was the most motivated for the end result ran faster or more efficiently. To look at them you would always say Chase ran fastest and most powerfully but in reality that is unlikely to have been the case.

Then watching the lure coursing over a relatively simple course at the CLA, the terriers and similar appeared to run faster, turn tighter etc than the lurchers but the lurchers made up for wider turns by faster straight runs and those that were savvy also were turning in anticipation. Certainly with Chase I have seen him turn on a sixpence by basically throwing himself in the air and executing the turn while airborne ........... watch also decent agility dogs and they are tuning into the next obstacle while jumping the previous.

So my point is .......... there is more to speed than size.
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Sue, Chase and the non-Brittany boys - Brice & Piper. Pets first and foremost.

Never forgetting Mugi and Freddy

guy · Posted: Tue Aug 25, 2009 6:53 am Post subject:

I see where you are coming from Sue - but I think Des is suggesting a test doing that which the dog was designed to do rather than a straight race or agility.

How about a pedometer on a collar and record the distance covered over a set period. Average of several runs.

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Guy, Ellie, Topaz, Catja and in memory Barley
Beauty from Structure
www.epagneulbreton.org.uk