The Institute of Canine Biology
  • HOME
  • Blog
  • Courses
    • COI BootCamp (FREE!)
    • Basic Population Genetics (FREE)
    • The Science of Canine Husbandry
    • Managing Genetics For the Future >
      • Syllabus - Managing Genetics for the Future
    • The Biology of Dogs (Open Reg )
    • DNA For Dog Breeders >
      • Syllabus - DNA for Dog Breeders
      • Open Reg - DNA For Dog Breeders
    • Understanding Hip & Elbow Dysplasia >
      • Open Reg - Understanding Hip & Elbow Dysplasia
    • Genetics of Behavior & Performance >
      • Syllabus - Genetics Behavior & Performance
      • Open Reg - Genetics of Behavior & Performance (Open Reg)
    • Strategies for Preservation Breeding >
      • Open Reg - Strategies for Preservation Breeding
    • Group Discounts
    • MORE FREE COURSES >
      • Quickie Genetics (Free!)
      • Heredity & Genetics (Free!)
      • Useful Genetics (Free!)
      • Basic Genetics Videos
  • Breed Preservation
    • Breed Status
    • Breeding for the future >
      • BFF Breed Groups
    • The "Elevator Pitch"
    • What's in the Gene Pool?
    • The Pox of Popular Sires
    • What population genetics can tell us about a breed
    • What population genetics can tell you...Tollers & Heelers
    • How to use kinship data
    • Using EBVs to breed better dogs >
      • How population size affects inbreeding
      • EBV Examples
    • How to read a dendrogram
    • Global Pedigree Project >
      • The Database
    • Finding the genes without DNA
    • How to read a heat map
  • Health Data
    • Bloat (Purdue Study)
    • Body Condition Score >
      • % Dysplastic vs BCS
    • Breed Comparions
    • Cancer
    • Cardiac
    • Cataracts
    • Caesareans
    • Deafness
    • Degenerative Myelopathy
    • Elbow Dysplasia
    • Epilepsy
    • Genetic Diversity
    • Genetic Diversity (MyDogDNA)
    • Hip Dysplasia >
      • Hip Dysplasia (Hou et al 2013)
    • Inbreeding Effects
    • Inbreeding (Gubbels)
    • Inbreeding (Dreger)
    • Lifespan
    • Litter size
    • Metabolic
    • mtDNA
    • Orthopedic
    • Mode of Inheritance
    • Patella Luxation
    • Thyroid
    • Portosystemic shunt
    • Purebred vs Mixed (UC Davis)
    • Purebred vs Mixed Breed (Bonnett)
    • Spay & Neuter Effects
    • Calboli et al 2008
    • Hodgman (1963)
    • Scott & Fuller (1965)
    • Stockard: Purebred crosses
    • Summers (2011)
  • Projects
    • How To Interpret Breed Analyses
    • Afghan Hound
    • More details about the Toller study
    • Belgian Tervuren >
      • Belgian Terv p2
      • Belgians- why population size matters
    • Bernese Mountain Dog
    • Boxer
    • Brussels Griffon
    • Bullmastiff
    • Canaan Dog >
      • Canaan analyses
    • Cesky Terrier >
      • Cesky genetic history
    • Chinook
    • Curly-coated Retriever
    • Doberman
    • Entelbucher Mountain Dog
    • Flatcoat Retriever
    • French Bulldog
    • German Shorthair
    • Golden Retriever >
      • Golden Retriever Pedigree Charts
    • Irish Water Spaniel >
      • IWS (6 Nov 17)
    • Labrador Retriever
    • Manchester Terrier
    • Mongolian Bankhar >
      • Research Updates
      • Bankhar 1
    • Norwegian Lundehund
    • Plummer Terrier
    • Otterhound
    • Portuguese Water Dog >
      • Portuguese Water Dog (pt 2)
    • Ridgeback
    • Schipperke
    • Standard Poodle >
      • The Problem With Poodles
      • 3poodle pedigree charts
      • 3Poodle Wycliff dogs
      • Poodle Genetics
    • Tibetan Spaniel
    • Tibetan Mastiff
    • West Highland White Terrier
    • Whippet
    • Wirehaired Pointing Griffons
    • UK KC Graphs >
      • UK KC Breed Status
      • UK Groups
      • KC Gundogs
      • KC Hounds
      • KC Terriers >
        • Terriers (select breeds)
      • KC Pastoral
      • KC Toys
      • KC Working
      • KC Utility
      • Australian KC
    • Breed outcrossing programs
  • Resources
    • Genetics Databases
    • Stud Books >
      • American Kennel Club stud books
      • Field Dog stud books
      • The Kennel Club (UK)
    • Learn
    • Videos about dog genetics
    • The Amazing Things Dogs Do! (videos) >
      • Livestock Management
      • Livestock guarding
      • Transportation, exploration, racing
      • Conservation & wildlife management
      • Detection Dogs
      • Medicine & Research
      • Entertainment
      • AKC/CHF Podcasts
    • Read & Watch
    • Bookshelf
  • Preventing Uterine Inertia

Do your puppies have enough traction in the whelping box?

1/3/2020

 
By Carol Beuchat PhD
Joint laxity (looseness) is a primary risk factor for the development of hip dysplasia. Laxity is the result of stress on a ligament inside the joint, the teres ligament, that attaches the head of the femur to the wall of the hip socket.

If the teres ligament is damaged, the round head of the femur is not held snugly in the cup of the hip joint. Because normal development of the hip is a response to the biomechanical forces on the socket during growth of the puppy, abnormal position of the ball in the socket can result in damage to the rim of the hip socket and the development of hip dysplasia. Proper development of the hip joint depends critically on the head of the femur being properly seated in the center of the hip socket. (You can read more about this in "The 10 most important things to know about canine hip dysplasia.")
​
Picture
The teres ligament is attached at one end to the head of the femur and inserts at the other end to the wall of the hip socket.

​How is the teres ligament damaged? Some information about the cause of hip dysplasia in humans can illustrate.

​The hip sockets of dogs and humans are very similar. The head of the femur is firmly held in the hip socket by muscles and tendons. These are so tight, and the teres ligament so short, that at birth, the legs are held apart and slightly bent. If the legs are pulled together, the head of the femur is pulled away from the hip socket as in the illustration below. This puts abnormal stress on the teres ligament and can cause damage that results in laxity in the hip joint. 
Picture
Picture
PLAY THE VIDEO TO SEE HOW THE TERES LIGAMENT IS STRETCHED

The movement of the legs that puts stress on the teres ligament is called extension and adduction - straightening the legs and pulling them together. This is the reason why hip dysplasia is more common in cultures where babies are tightly swaddled than in those that carry infants on the back with the legs around the mother's waist. With this knowledge, new mothers are advised not to wrap up newborns like little burritos but instead swaddle them loosely with room for spread legs and bent knees. 
​
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture

How does this matter to dogs?

The hips of newborn puppies are similar to those of humans.  The hip joint at birth is mostly cartilage, and it will be converted to bone over the first 5 months of growth. At birth, the teres ligament is very short and strong, and it becomes longer as the puppy grows, allowing more freedom of movement in the joint. Also like humans, a newborn puppy on its back will generally hold the legs apart and bent.

However, when a newborn puppy is placed on a surface with inadequate traction, its feet slide right out from under it just as yours do if you walk on ice in street shoes. In the case of the puppy, it tries to walk by pushing backwards with the hind legs, and if traction is not adequate, the legs and even the feet will extend to the maximum. You will notice this happening if you watch puppies in the whelping box and see the pads of the rear feet facing the sky instead of the floor. A puppy (and you) moves forward by pushing backwards. If there is inadequate traction, the legs will extend and adduct, exactly the position that results in damage to the teres ligament in human babies.

Most people that I ask tell me that their puppies are whelped on some material that has good traction. Vet bed, rubber mats, carpet, whelping pads, and many other things are routinely used in whelping boxes. I have tested all of them and more, and none provided adequate traction for every breed I tested or for the duration of the first few weeks of life as the puppy gains weight. 

How did I evaluate traction? I looked for the single give-away - extension and adduction of the back legs, looking like little puppies on popsicle sticks. If I saw pads facing the sky, the mat failed.

To be fair, I did find one mat that provided terrific traction. It was made from coconut fibers sticking straight up like broom bristles. It provided great traction, but it also took the delicate skin off the newborn puppy's foot pads. That too was considered a fail.

Here are some examples of what I observed watching puppies, and there are many similar examples to be seen in the volumes of puppy videos on YouTube if you care to browse (try searching on "newborn puppies nursing or crawling).
Picture
Picture
Picture

If you've been paying attention, you are probably wondering if the puppies in your whelping box ever reveal their rear foot pads because they're facing the sky instead of the ground. To give you some practice spotting the extended-adducted leg position (before you dash off to look at your photos!), check out these very busy puppies. At a casual glance, they look like they are getting around pretty well. But watch closely; these pups on this surface would fail the traction test.
​
Watch carefully! (IF the video is jerky, give it a few seconds to load.)

I have made observations of hundreds of litters of puppies on all manner of surfaces, and so far the ONLY surface that provided adequate traction for all puppies (i.e., back legs were never fully extended and straight) was that coconut fiber mat that could take the skin right off the bottom of your feet. These are the mats you see inside large hotels in areas where it snows, so you can brush the snow off the bottom of your shoes with the bristles. They're designed to be harsh.
Now, this raises the obvious question. Is hip dysplasia the result of inadequate traction for newborn puppies in the whelping box? If it is, we could eliminate hip dysplasia now, simply by providing good traction that prevents slipping. It seems far-fetched, but if we haven't eliminated hip dysplasia after 60 years of strong selection, it's worth entertaining a new explanation.

​I've been working on solving this problem for the last few years. Finally, after fussing and fiddling with various types of surfaces, I have finally come up with one that prevents slipping and the damage to the teres ligament that can result in hip dysplasia. I am currently testing this surface on litters of various breeds of dogs, and so far it has worked well. I need to look at many more breeds and also observe the puppies over the first several weeks when their weight increases dramatically with growth. Of course, the acid test will be seeing if these puppies have sound hips, so some of these puppies will be scored at four months using PennHip, which quantifies hip laxity with the "distraction index." Will this ultimately solve the hip dysplasia problem in dogs? Time will tell. But I'm very optimistic.
​You can learn much more about hip dysplasia in ICB's online course, Understanding Hip and Elbow Dysplasia. 
Check out ICB's Hip Dysplasia Project at -

https://www.facebook.com/groups/ICBHipDysplasiaProject/

You can learn more about the genetics of dogs in ICB's online courses.

*** Visit our Facebook pages ***

ICB Institute of Canine Biology
...the latest canine news and research

ICB Breeding for the Future
...the science of animal breeding


Comments are closed.

    Archives

    January 2025
    November 2022
    July 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    November 2021
    October 2021
    December 2020
    January 2020
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    October 2017
    August 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    February 2014
    December 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    July 2013
    March 2013
    July 2012
    April 2012

    Categories

    All
    Behavior
    Border-collie
    Herding

Blog

News


About Us

Contact Us








Copyright © 2012-2017 Institute of Canine Biology
Picture
Picture