Dog ‒ Anatomy

The dog anatomy can highly vary among breeds when it comes to the size and morphology of some of the animal body parts.

The head is generally composed by the forehead, nose (often moist), big eyes, prominent ears, a strong muzzle (upper and lower jaws that hold a typical carnivore dentition), whiskers and a long tongue. The rest of the body is covered by strong muscles and divided (from head to shoulders) by neck, throat, crest, shoulders and withers (the top point of the shoulders which are the higher point of the dogs back). Also divided (torso) by chest, back, flank and abdomen. Then it has four legs each ending in paws called the forefoot or hind foot depending on whether it’s front or back. The paw has 4 nails (sometimes called claws), 5 paw pads (one for each claw and another, bigger, central one), and usually 1 dewclaw (the higher claw of the dog that barely touches the ground).

The body structure ends on the rump (or croup) which is the proverbial rear end, where the pelvis bone is and also where the dog’s tail starts.