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Did you know your dog’s posture is key to her overall health and mobility? Spot abnormal posture and find simple ways to help her stand strong and move with ease.
When we think about our dogs, we usually picture them playing, walking, or running. But being able to “just stand there” is also key to health and soundness — not just for dogs, but for all animals, including humans. In this article, we look at the link between good dog posture and health.
What it takes to “just stand up”
Does your dog flop down on the ground as soon as she stops walking? It may indicate she can’t stand up for long without becoming tired or uncomfortable. In some ways, standing still is harder than moving. Think about riding a bicycle — the faster you go, the easier it gets.
But what does it take to “just stand up”? A lot, actually! All animals have multiple centers in the brain devoted to postural control. They coordinate sensory signals from various parts of the body — tracking the position of limbs, trunk, and head relative to each other and to gravity.
The brain makes unconscious decisions about posture using a constant flow of sensory data — from the feet, joints, muscles, inner ear, eyes, and jaw. It coordinates, analyzes, and sends these millions of sensory reports to the motor (movement) centers of the brain to generate stance and gait.
Fast fact: Being upright is very nearly the highest priority of our nervous systems, right after protecting the brain and spinal cord!
“Garbage in, garbage out” is an old computer programming adage. The same is true for brain processing — if we and our dogs don’t input accurate signals about the world, the output of standing posture or movement may be badly mismatched to our reality, leading to falls or injury.
Why are all animals programmed to stand up?
First, because normal neutral posture, with a limb at each corner like a table, gives the most stability with the least effort. Second, an upright posture gives the animal’s senses, like vision and hearing, the best interface with the local environment, for safety and opportunities such as food.
Fast fact: Many dogs, like humans and horses, are large, fast animals. Large animals use less energy per unit of body weight than tiny ones, so they take advantage of life hacks (evolutionary adaptations) to be economical when moving.
Dog typically have long, straight legs that support their bodies in a vertical column. When the limbs are correctly positioned like the legs of a table, the only muscles needed are tiny, strategically placed postural ones. These muscles hold isometrically to keep the dog’s legs straight without using a lot of costly muscle contraction.
Normal and abnormal postures
However, when dogs stand with Abnormal Compensatory Posture (ACP), with the front legs pointed towards the tail and hind legs towards the head, movement muscles must be recruited to stay standing up. The movement muscles not only use a lot of energy, but fatigue easily.
Fast fact: That’s why your old dog with canted-in hind legs has difficulty getting up and remaining standing. Those muscles get weak and tired, because they are doing a job they are not “designed” for.
Wild dogs like wolves or coyotes always show upright postures with straight legs. This is Normal Neutral Posture (NNP). In modern times, however, many people and dogs spend far more time sitting than standing. When they use an ACP, there are consequences to their mobility and general health.
Why some dogs have trouble standing up straight
Aside from vision and the balance mechanisms of the inner ear, the dog’s postural control system relies on a variety of signals reporting on gravity and body position. These neural receptors (called “proprioceptors”) exist all over the body, including in the:
- Muscles, tendons and joints connecting the head and neck
- Paws
- Temporomandibular joints (TMJ)
Lack of exercise, commercial dog food, and specialized breeding for different head shapes (squashed-in or long pointy noses) have removed some of evolution’s critical guardrails for maintaining NNP in modern dogs. This distorts the postural signals in systematic ways. Garbage in, garbage out!
Some of these proprioceptors are pretty easy to understand, while others can be puzzling.
Head and neck
The small muscles of the head and neck control the position of the head, where all the important bits are: mouth, nose, eyes, and ears. But collars and leashes, especially with dogs who love to pull, can damage these delicate muscles. Any kind of injury or neck movement restriction can impact postural integrity.
Paws
Dogs walk on their toes and pads and have lots of skin proprioceptors reporting to the brain, so it can adapt the animal’s gait to the ground surface. A normal feral canine will walk, trot, or run many miles a day over varied terrains.
But today, our urban and suburban dogs tend to be couch potatoes, while their humans are out making a living. So they don’t get enough exercise to wear down their nails. They end up with a mismatch between toenail growth and wear. This means their humans have to maintain their dogs’ toenails (see sidebar on page xx).
TMJ joints
If you are relaxing in a chair while reading this article, your jaw is probably hanging slightly open. This is totally normal! The TMJ joint proprioceptors directly connect to the brain’s postural control centers because your jaw joint sits at the base of your skull.
The very highest priority of the central nervous system is to prevent your brain from having a punishing collision with the surface of the planet! So, gravity-reporting from this essential region makes total sense. The hinge of the jaw hangs down in response to gravity. When the head is level, both sides of the jaw report a similar signal.
Unfortunately, humans have long been breeding dogs for head shapes informed by their own aesthetics rather than for function. Breeders often produce dogs with smushed-in faces or elongated noses. These dogs often suffer congenital jaw misalignments that change how their TMJ receptors report — making it harder for them to respond properly to gravity.
Fast fact: Noticing the posture your dog habitually uses can be an important part of keeping him healthy, pain-free and happy. Many common lameness and mobility problems are secondary to Abnormal Compensatory Posture.
To support healthy dog posture and health, start by trimming your canine companion’s nails regularly. Add consistent exercise over varied terrains to improve strength and mobility. If you notice her standing posture still seems off, and/or he’s having trouble getting up, take her to the vet for an evaluation.
Properly trimmed nails are vital to your dog’s posture
How often do you trim or file your fingernails? Most people will shrug and say, “about every other week.” Guess what? You should trim your dog’s nails just as often, so they don’t touch the ground.
You should never hear the click-click of your dog’s nails. When her nails hit the floor, her brain interprets it as standing on a slope. Through millions of years of evolution, this would be the only circumstance in which a toenail touched the ground.
As a result, the dog adjusts her posture to lean forward as if climbing a hill. On level ground, she has to unnaturally counter-balance with her hind legs — just to avoid falling forward.
If a dog’s hind legs are slanting forward when she pushes, they actually push her backwards. That’s why your old dog has difficulty getting up! She compensates by throwing her weight forward to compensate for the backwards push. If you shorten your dog’s toenails to stay off the ground, you will be amazed at the difference!
Simply learning to trim your dog’s nails regularly can significantly improve his ability to run, jump, and play — even into old age.
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Karen Gellman, DVM, PhD
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