Do Your Puppies Have Enough Traction in The Whelping Box?

As responsible breeders and dog owners, it’s essential to ensure that the puppies’ development is healthy and free from potential risks. One such risk is hip dysplasia, a condition that affects many dogs.

In this article, we will explore an often-overlooked aspect of hip dysplasia prevention—traction in the whelping box—and its impact on the proper development of puppies’ hips.

Joint laxity (laziness) is a primary risk factor for hip dysplasia development. Latitude is the result of tension in a ligament within the joint, the round ligament, which lapses the head of the femur to the wall of the hip cavity.

If the round ligament is damaged, the round head of the femur is not comfortably held in the hip joint cup. Because normal hip development is a response to biomechanical forces in the cavity during puppy growth,

the abnormal position of the ball in the city can result in damage to the edge of the hip cavity and the development of hip dysplasia.

The Importance of Joint Development

Proper development of the hip joint depends fundamentally on the femur’s head being properly settled in the center of the hip cavity. How do you damage the round ligament?

Some information on the cause of hip dysplasia in humans can illustrate it. The basins of the hips of dogs and humans are very similar. The head of the femur is firmly held in the hip cavity through muscles and tendons.

These are so tight and the round ligament so short that at birth the legs are kept separated and slightly bent. If your legs are put together, the femur’s head separates from the hip cavity as shown in the following illustration.

Understanding the Round Ligament

To comprehend the significance of traction in hip dysplasia prevention, it is essential to understand the role of the round ligament. The round ligament is a vital component within the joint that helps hold the head of the femur securely in the hip joint cup. It provides stability and supports the proper alignment of the hip joint.

This exercises abnormal tension over the round ligament and may cause damage that causes laxity to the hip joint. The movement of the legs that exerts pressure on the round ligament is called extension and adduction, i.e. stretching your legs and putting them together.

This is why hip dysplasia is more common in cultures where babies are well wrapped than in those who carry babies on their back with their legs around the mother’s waist.

With this knowledge, new mothers are advised not to wrap newborns like small burritos, but to wrap them without squeezing, with space for open legs and bent knees.

The Impact of Damaged Round Ligament

When the round ligament is damaged, it compromises the stability of the hip joint. This damage often occurs due to abnormal tension or laxity in the ligament. As a result, the round head of the femur is not securely held within the hip joint cup.

The abnormal position of the ball in the hip socket can lead to damage to the edge of the hip cavity and eventually contribute to the development of hip dysplasia.

What does this matter for dogs?

The hips of newborn puppies are similar to those of humans. The hip joint at birth is primarily cartilage and will become bone during the first 5 months of growth.

At birth, the round ligament is very short and strong, and lengthens as the pup grows, allowing for greater freedom of movement in the joint. Also like humans, a newborn puppy on their back will usually keep their legs wide open and folded.

Newborn Puppies and Traction

when a newborn puppy is placed on an inadequate traction surface, his legs slide just below him as they do if he walks on ice in street shoes. In the case of the puppy, he tries to walk by pushing back with his back legs, and if the traction isn’t right, his legs and even his legs will spread to the fullest.

You’ll notice this happening if you look at the pups in the labor box and see the back leg pads looking up at the sky instead of the floor. A puppy (and you) is moving forward pushing back.

If there is inadequate traction, the legs will spread and adduce, exactly the position that results in damage to the round ligament in human babies. Most people I ask to tell me their puppies are birthing with some good traction material.

whelping box are commonly used for vet beds, rubber mattresses, carpets, labor pads, and many other things. I’ve tried them all and more, and none provided the proper traction for every breed I tried or during the first weeks of life as the pup gains weight.

How do I evaluate traction?

I looked for the only gift: extension and adduction of hind legs, which looked like tiny puppies on ice cream sticks. If I saw pads looking up at the sky, the carpet failed.

To be fair, I found a carpet that provided excellent traction. It was made of coconut fibers sticking up like broom bristles. It provided great traction but also removed the delicate fur from the newborn puppy’s leg pads. That too was considered a failure.

If you’ve been paying attention, you’re probably wondering if the puppies in your labor box ever reveal the pads of their hind legs because they’re looking up at the sky rather than at the ground. For you to practice how to detect leg position in extended adduction (before running out to look at your photos! ), check out these very busy pups.

Within plain sight, they seem to be moving pretty well. But look closely; these puppies on this surface would fail the traction test. I’ve made observations of hundreds of litters of puppies on all types of surfaces, and so far, the ONLY surface that provided the proper traction for all puppies (i.e. the back legs were never fully extended and straight) was that fiber carpet of coconut that could withstand the skin of the floor of the feet.

These are the mats you see inside large hotels in the areas where it snows, so you can brush the snow out of the sole of your shoes with the bristles. They’re designed to be tough. Now, this raises the obvious question. Is hip dysplasia the result of inadequate traction for newborn puppies in the labor box?

The Link Between Traction and Hip Dysplasia

The correlation between inadequate traction and hip dysplasia raises intriguing possibilities. While it may seem far-fetched to suggest that improving traction alone could eliminate hip dysplasia, considering alternative explanations is crucial.

By prioritizing proper traction from the early stages, we have the potential to mitigate the risk of hip dysplasia in dogs.

we could remove hip dysplasia now, simply by providing good traction to avoid slips. It seems implausible, but if we haven’t eliminated hip dysplasia after 60 years of strong selection, it’s worth considering a new explanation. I’ve been working to solve this problem for the past few years.

Finally, after worrying and playing with various types of surfaces, I finally came up with one that prevents sliding and round ligament damage that may result in hip dysplasia. Currently testing this surface on litters of several breeds of dogs and it has worked well so far.

I need to look at many more breeds and also watch the pups for the first few weeks when their weight increases dramatically with growth. Of course, the litmus test will see if these puppies have healthy hips, so some of these puppies will qualify at four months using PennHip, which quantifies hip laxity with the ′′ distraction index “. Will this finally solve The problem of hip dysplasia in dogs? Time will tell. But I’m very optimistic.