She lags behind me.

yeh we went to our first show and molli will not walk alongside me no matter what speed i go she has to walk behind for some reason. When i walk her normally she walks by my side. any ideas on how to help this??
Thanks

Firstly (may be a silly question) but why do you want her to speed up, surely the Judge would be looking at the dog, and whether you are next to or in front, won't make much difference, plus it gives you the advantage of turning before your dog on the triangle, so she can follow you.

It's better than a dog that rushes and wants to be in front, so you c an't guide them

oh i see its just iv seen other dogs and they always seem to be next to their handlers. Thanks

did she know what you wanted her to do?? I only ask because I trained my 2 to do what I wanted them to do.
At first they were a bit confused, but now they know exactly what I want.
I used to just tag it on the end of my training sessions, about 2 minutes each that was all. You need to get your dog to really stretch out when you are showing on the triangle so the judge can see the action and movement
I used a treat to encourage them to run alongside of me, but now they do it automatically. I have also taught them to stand in front of me when I say 'front'

We've been to several ringcraft classes so i think she understood, even if i keep her lead very short she tends to lag behind me, i could really do with changing this i think, as i'm a newbie to showing i'm very green. I have tried encouraging her with food.

If you keep her lead too short, she may feel restricted too much, and it also spoils the outline of the dog, when it's being strained.

In Working breeds especially, dogs are expected to look and act eager and judges tend not to like dogs that lack drive ! What breed is she ?

What collar lead are you using ?

Shes a lab and i had her on a nylon slide lead, the subject of the best lead to use is something im not sure about.

A nylon slide is fine if it's a show lead, hence very, very thin, as they should be as inconspicious as possible, so the judge gets to see all dog and very little lead/collar.

What motivates her ?

Yes the lead is very thin, she;s normally motivated by food.

When you say she lags behind you, is she still running with you or for want of a better term are you dragging her round?
If she is quite food orientated, put the food and the lead in your left hand, let her see you have food and keep your hand low so she follows the hand. Do this for a little while. Then take the food away, and encourage her round without. Don't do it to much as you'll end up with a dog that follows your hand everywhere and will look up rather than looking ahead. Also do this on your right side. It's good practise for you but also encourages the dog to be comfortable on both sides. I would also play with her on the show lead. Run round, change direction, so without realising it she is running with you at your side. You do want the dog in eye shot ie not behind you because then you can gauge her movement and speed in the ring. Just keep doing a little bit each day for five minutes, out on a walk or in the garden, she'll soon switch on to what you want her to do.