Knowing Your Dog
Normal Canine Anatomy:
General
• The first component of assessment of the dog is to be able to accurately describe the anatomic location.
• Because dogs stand on 4 legs, the front end of the dog is referred to as “cranial” meaning toward the head, or “rostral” meaning toward the nose and the back end is “caudal” or toward the tail.
• In addition, the top of the dog is “dorsal” (think of a shark’s “dorsal” fin being located on its back) and the underside is “ventral”.
• The term proximal is used for things close to the trunk or center and distal is used for things further away from the center.
For example the elbow is proximal to the paw, whereas the hock is distal to the stifle (knee).
Head and Neck
• The soft part of the external ear is the pinna (floppy or pointed).
• The anatomy of the eye is identical to humans; however dogs do have a 3rd eyelid or nictitans. The nostrils are often referred to as nares.
• The upper jaw is the maxilla and the lower jaw is the mandible.
Trunk
• The chest is made up of the rib cage which protects the heart and lungs.
• Dogs usually have 13 ribs.
• The heart is located approximately in the region of the elbow or between the 3-5th ribs.
• Placing your hands on the ventral chest in this region should allow you to feel the heart beating.
• The diaphragm separates the chest and the abdomen.
• The abdomen contains the liver, spleen, stomach, intestines, kidneys and bladder.
Limbs
• The inner side of the limb which faces the middle of the dog, is called medial, the outside portion is lateral.
• Unlike people, dogs don’t have a collarbone. The dog’s equivalent to our wrist is called the carpus, which is proximal to the metacarpus (similar to the bones of your hand).
• On the palmar side of the metacarpus you will find a large pad, the metacarpal pad.
• The toes are called the phalanges and are numbered from medial to lateral.
• The dewclaw if present (the equivalent to your thumb) is number 1. The hind limbs start at the hip.
• The knee is called the stifle and the knee cap is the patella.
• The hock or tarsal joint is distal to the stifle and is equivalent to the human ankle.
• The bones connecting the hock to the foot are called the metatarsal bones.
