Basic Anatomy
Like us, our dogs are made up of a lot of different body parts. Some of them we should all know, others are left for the Veterinarians. These are the body parts that are most commonly discussed. Everyone who lives with a dog or dogs should be familiar with these parts. I have not tagged the ones we all know about, like feet, ears and eyes etc. :)
Why is it important to know about your dog’s body parts? I think that “why not“ is a better question, right? Shouldn’t we know a bit about the dogs we live with?
One reason we should understand k9 basic anatomy is that we can keep general health tabs on our dogs if we know about their parts. What if something happened to your dog and you were trying to explain the brisket area to your vet over the phone. “Ummmm, you know that part underneath…not the stomach but the other part,” is what your explanation might sound like.
These are the most common parts to know; they have a lot more parts than this diagram has on it. A dog’s body can be broken down just like our own; exterior, interior and skeletal. There is a great deal to know about our dogs, this is the bare minimum that most people don’t know, but should.
Feet
Everyone knows that dogs have feet but did you know? That dogs sweat through their feet? This is why you can often see footprints even if your dog’s feet haven’t been in water. Sweat is released through the pad a small amount of heat with it. Sweaty feet are not enough to cool a dog; the dog’s cooling system is their mouth.
Stress can cause dog’s feet to sweat as well. It is thought that stress induced pad sweating could be related to the fight or flight response; enabling them to get traction when needed.
Many people think that their dog’s feet smell like Fritos, corn chips or popcorn.
Parts that are sometimes removed
Front Dewclaws - most canines are born with dewclaws located inside the front legs, just above the foot; although many breeders customarily remove these “seemingly” useless appendages. But you can be sure that dogs who have their dewclaws kept intact, most definitely use them. My little man Riggs has his and I witness daily usage of his dewclaws.
The above video is an amazing display of how they use their dewclaws.
credit - quartermoongoldens1
Mixed breed dogs typically have their dewclaws simply because they are not a purebred with a breed standard to take them off. Lucky them.
Why remove them?
Like many things that were decided long ago; some things just get cast in stone. Change requires someone who is a free thinker to alter some of the things that have been happening for a long time. The idea to take them off came from a few dogs injuring their dewclaws. So “why not just take them off?” was the train of thought. Our dogs can injure many parts, we can’t remove everything just incase.
There are breeders out there who are going against tradition; leaving dewclaws on their puppies for the health of each puppy; even when the standard says to take them off. This is a refreshing change, thinking of the puppies welfare instead of going with what’s been done for so long.
Rear Dewclaws
A few breeds have front dewclaws and rear dewclaws; some even have double dewclaws on their hindlegs. The Beauceron, Briard, Great Pyrenees, Saint Bernard, Newfoundland and the Icelandic Sheepdog have rear dewclaws; and can sometimes show up as a double set of dewclaws. Although not always, they can also appear on some small dogs as well.
Oddly enough wolves don’t have rear dewclaws; they have discovered that pure wolves do not have the additional rear appendage. Although there have been a few who did have a second set of dewclaws on their rear legs. These wolves can be traced back to a mixed heritage with our domesticated dogs at one point in time. Pretty interesting eh?
Tail
Tails, pretty straight forward right? Nope. Many breeds and even mixes have their tails docked (amputated), did you know that? I have talked to people before about their dog’s tail being docked and they had no idea that it was even done. Many specific breeds have docking in their “breed standard” although many wonderful breeders today are choosing not to dock. Leaving their tails natural, as they are meant to be.
I have lived with Standard Poodles for over 39 years. My two current dogs do not have their tails docked. I searched far and wide to find them and will never support a breeder who amputates tails again. I am very passionate about dogs keeping their tails.
Dogs who still have their tails docked are done before or on the 3rd day of their life. Typically a Veterinarian does it but often experienced breeders will do it themselves, having done it for years. Most are done with with a tool, cutting off a predetermined length off of the tip of the tail. There are those who use bands to put around the puppies tail which cuts off the circulation and the tail eventually drops off after becoming dead. I consider this method to be even worse than cutting. Imagine the pain as the piece of tail that has been banded deteriorates until it finally falls away.
Because puppies have their tails removed at such a young age, it may have already been done before you contact the breeder. If you feel strongly that you would like an undocked particular breed that customarily has their tail removed, do your research. There are more and more breeders out there going against the norm; leaving dewclaws and keeping tails on their dogs.
Link to an extensive blog I wrote in 2013 on Tail amputation.
Ears
There are few breeds that have their ears cropped these days; Dobermans, Boxers, Great Danes, Cane Corso, and the Schnauzer to name a few. Cutting a piece off of a dog’s ears and then taping them up in attempts to change the appearance of a dog is in my opinion, barbaric. But it still happens and is still required in many conformation show ring.
Happily, many breeders are now saying “no” to ear cropping as well. More and more Veterinarians are also saying “no;” and many countries are saying “no” to both cropping ears and docking tails.
No matter what anyone tells you; there is no logical reason to remove a dog’s ears, tail or dewclaws unless it is a medical issue.