Thursday 18 October 2007

Studying a dog's movements to look for lameness

Penny was limping for some time this year, and we often look at her as she walks towards us, trying to work out whether the limp is still there.

So I was fascinated when I came across a teaching module, presumably for vets, on studying a dog's gait for lameness. It uses optical motion capture data. Reflective round markers are placed at joints and key locations on dogs' bodies and then the dogs walk - I guess on a treadmill. A video of the movement shows only the markers and the difference between healthy gait, displasia and cruciate problems is clearly shown.

I found it at a site called What's New - which, by the way, is a great find for me as it seems to be a lhasa apso site and I'm convinced that Penny's ancestry includes lhasa apso.

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

Wow, that IS an impressive site, Penny, but, as you say, probably for Vets/Students. I hope your limp has gone now, Penny. And, yes, I think you have the ancient Tibetan Princes and Princesses in your blood. Night walking is really fun, especially when possums and foxes happen to appear.
And the humans can't see what we are picking up.
Jabari

parlance said...

Yes, Jabari, at night Penny thinks the humans are sometimes slow to notice that a possum is passing across the street, high above on a power line. I wonder if she thinks they've gone crazy when they start screaming and hopping around, sucking their hands - rope-burn from the lead when she takes off at top speed to catch the possum. By the way, I don't think it's likely she's going to catch a possum that is five metres up in the air.

Amber-Mae said...

Oh, I have hop problem but I don't have hip dysplasia. It started when I was about 4months old. My hooman M still cannot tell whether it's genetic coz my parents are 8 years old & still breeding or whether it was caused when I kept on slipping on the tiled floor in the porch when it was wet. I slipped & fell many times...My hips don't hurt but I have a very pronounce sway & everytime when people see me walk, they will call me a model walking on a catwalk. Hehehehe! They say I do it better than the hooman models. My hooman M maintains my hips by giving me hooman Glucosamine every two days. Hooman Glucosamine are safe & is higher in milligrams & it's cheaper compared to the one for doggies. I still can run soooper fast & jump. It's not getting any better nor worse, it's just same. Hopefully it won't get ever worser as I age...

Love licks,
Solid Gold Dancer

parlance said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
parlance said...

Amber Mae, I sometimes wonder if Penny's problems come from playing running games in our house since she was young, on slippery polished floors. We don't do that any more since a canine physiotherapist told us to stop.
Penny gets glucosamine too, but it's a canine brand and it's very expensive. It's marketed as Glyde.
I've heard that dogs can take human glucosamine - but how would I know how much to give her

Amber-Mae said...

Hey Parlence!

My hooman M just gives us 1 pill every two days or everyday also can. It's safe & there'll be no side effects. By the way, my mommy can't upload the video on youtube or anywhere else becoz the video is 9MB larger. It should only be 100MB. So, can she email you the video instead? Maybe you can find a way of cutting the vid shorter or uploading it somewhere else. May I have your email please? Will email you tomorrow.

Love licks,
Solid Gold Dancer

Johann The Dog said...

Oh good site! Thanks for posting this, I may be passing it along. Great info for agility/sporting pups. Woofs, Johann

Amber-Mae said...

Oh hey again, it's ok! I uploaded it on Putfile & I've already posted it in my blog. So go & watch it...

Love licks,
Solid Gold Dancer

parlance said...

Johann, thanks for that comment. I enjoy the things you post, also.