Have you ever been out walking your dog and thought, 'Why does my dog walk sideways?' It’s not an uncommon query; as a vet, it’s something I’ve seen a few times. In most cases, dogs are actually moving forwards, but their body is curved so that their back legs are off to one side.
Dogs walk sideways (also known as ‘sidewalking’, ‘sidewinding’, and ‘crabbing’) for a number of reasons that we’ll cover in a minute. But before we go into the medical reasons your dog might walk sideways, I want to quickly point out a not-so-obvious physical reason for crabwalking in dogs: bad equipment.
