Abstract
BackgroundThis study investigated differences in kinematic and spatiotemporal variables in Labrador retrievers during introduction to treadmill walking, with the aim to determine the time required for them to become habituated. Twenty-five healthy, treadmill-naive Labrador retrievers participated in the study. The total angular displacement of the carpus, elbow, tarsus and stifle, as well as stride time and stance duration were calculated from the 3-D tracking of skin mounted reflective markers recorded with 6 infrared light emitting video cameras at 240 Hz. The measurements were done at two walking speeds, 0.78 and 0.96 m/s, in six sessions on the treadmill during two consecutive days.ResultsWith a 1–2 min acclimatization period following each treadmill speed change, mean values of the study variables were significantly different from the last training session mainly in the first session on the first day. However, between-stride variability was significantly larger for at least one variable even in the fourth session for the slower walking speed, and in the fifth session for the higher walking speed.ConclusionsThe results show the importance of proper pre-training of dogs in locomotion studies at walk using a treadmill, and the need to consider not only variable mean values but also between-stride variability, in order to ensure that dogs are sufficiently accustomed to allow collection of reliable data.
Highlights
This study investigated differences in kinematic and spatiotemporal variables in Labrador retrievers during introduction to treadmill walking, with the aim to determine the time required for them to become habitu‐ ated
This study aimed to describe the pattern of gait adaptation in naïve Labrador retrievers when trained to walk on a treadmill, and to determine the training time needed for them to become accustomed to treadmill walking
Total angular displacements remained largely unchanged during the study (Figs. 1, 2)
Summary
This study investigated differences in kinematic and spatiotemporal variables in Labrador retrievers during introduction to treadmill walking, with the aim to determine the time required for them to become habitu‐ ated. Orthopedic and other conditions that affect the function of either the nervous or the musculoskeletal system typically disrupt these interactions and lead to gait disturbances. To describe any such changes in a dog’s locomotor function, a systematic approach with good repeatability of the selected gait variables is required. Some studies in dogs have used a treadmill to record walking kinematics in healthy dogs [14, 15], as well as in dogs with different orthopaedic conditions [16,17,18,19,20,21,22]
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