Getting familiar with your dog's anatomy

Basic knowledge of our dog's anatomy is incredibly valuable in spotting any issues early on. In this article, we give tips on what you can assess by looking at your dog and what you can pick up using your hands. The easiest way to start learning about your dog's anatomy is to take photos of your dog in a neutral standing position. Ideally, you want to take photographs from both sides, in front, behind and above. You can then refer back to these photos regularly to get your eye in.

Once you feel familiar with his appearance when stationary, you can video your dog walking and study this as well. When watching the video, pick a different area to focus on each time, e.g. the head or the front right leg. Once you have watched each area, rewatch again, looking at the overall picture – you'll be surprised how much more you pick up than the first time you looked at the video.

THE BASICS OF CANINE ANATOMY

In many ways, a dog's anatomy is very similar to a human's, with the obvious differentiator being the different orientation that allows the dog to move on all four limbs. Interestingly, dogs aren't actually four-legged; they have two arms and two legs but can walk on their arms. They walk on four tip toes and fingertips, with the fifth digit being the dew claw.

OBSERVATION

Starting with observation, have your dog standing with all paws on the ground, looking forward. It may also be worth using photographs at this stage, as getting a dog to stand still for long periods can be a challenge.

Looking at your dog from the front, you will see the head, front of the shoulders, chest, elbows, wrists and paws. Look if the shoulders, elbows etc., are all the same level or is one side higher than the other? Do the elbows and paws flare out or in? Does one side of the body turn out more than the other?

From the side, you can see the head, neck, shoulders, elbows, wrists, spine and top line, chest and ribs, abdomen, hips and pelvis, tail position, stifle (knee), hock (ankle) and paws. This makes the side a great place to identify your anatomical landmarks. From the side, you can also look to see if their body weight is tipped forward or if their back or abdomen dips down. You can also compare the left and right sides and see if there is a difference between the two.

From the back, you can see the back of the side of the ribs, the hips, the pelvis, the gluteal muscles, the hamstrings, the back of the stifles (knees), the hocks (ankles) and the paws. You can also see whether one side of the body is more visible than the other and whether the skull is straight. Finally, you can look at the position of the tail.

PALPATION

Always be gentle when trying to feel the anatomical landmarks on your dog. The easiest parts to palpate are the bony landmarks, so this is the best place to start.

SPINE: Your dog has bony protuberances on the back of his spine called spinous processes. You can feel these little bony points if you use your fingers to gently feel along the midline of the back.

RIBS: On a dog who is a healthy weight, you should be able to feel the ribs easily. In between the ribs, you can feel the muscles called the external intercostal muscles. These muscles are used to move the ribs during breathing.

SCAPULA (SHOULDER BLADE): If you run your hand up the front leg to the top and onto your dog's body, you should

feel the shoulder blade under your hand. It is on the body at an angle and has a bony ridge called the 'spine of the scapula' running down the middle. The bone is oval in shape and is held onto the ribs by muscles and ligaments. It has powerful muscles attached to it for support and movement. If you feel the spine of the scapula and let your fingers fall foward towards the dog's head, you will feel the supraspinatus muscle. If you drop off the other side of the spine of the scapula, you will feel infraspinatus. These muscles are also attached to the upper part of the limb and are used for limb movement.

ELBOW: Down from the shoulder blade on the front leg, you will first feel the humerus and then the elbow joint. The elbow flexes (folds) fully but only extends (straightens) until the arm is straight. As you bend the elbow slightly, you can feel the hard pointy bit at the back. This is called the olecranon process. Muscles like the triceps attach to this process and help with joint movement. The biceps attach at the front of the elbow.

PELVIS: At the back end of the spine, you come to the pelvis. It can be difficult to feel the bony landmarks of the pelvis as many dogs are well-muscled in this area. If you run your hand up your dog's back leg, you will come to the hip joint. Above this are big muscles called the gluteal muscles. These cover the hip joint. As you move above these muscles, you reach the top of the pelvis. The bone you can feel here is the sacrum, which is a triangular bone made of three fused vertebrae. The sacrum attaches to the pelvic ring to form the sacroiliac joints.

STIFLE: The stifle is the name given to the joint that corresponds to the human knee. It is where the femur (upper leg), the tibia and the fibula (lower leg) meet. Movement of this joint is powered by the hamstrings and quadriceps muscle groups, which are both incredibly powerful. These sit on either side of the upper leg and attach from the pelvis to below the stifle on the lower leg.

THE PATELLA: The patella (knee cap) is a bone that helps reduce friction during muscle movement and improves the function of the quadriceps muscles on the front of the upper leg. It sits in the tendon of the muscles and allows the tendon to glide across the bone smoothly. The patella can be felt in the muscle just above the front of the stifle joint.

HOCK: The dog's hock is the same as our ankle. You can easily see the strong tendons at the back, similar to our Achilles tendon. You will notice that their paw does not flatten on the floor but looks like part of the leg. The bony part at the back of the hock is the heel or calcaneus bone, which can be easily felt.

TOP TIP!

If, in the process of doing these examinations, you feel any part and it hurts, or your dog looks asymmetrical either while standing or in movement, you should speak to your vet to get their opinion.

FINAL THOUGHTS

There is a lot that you can see and feel in your dog, and having a good understanding of what is 'normal' for your dog can help you spot issues early before they cause bigger problems.