Muscle Diagram of a Dog
Dog Skeletal System

As in all vertebrate animals this system is the combination between the bones which are activated and controlled by the muscles and support their whole anatomy through the central nervous system. 

There are four different types of bones, the long ones, flat, irregular and short ones; then we have the articulations, which allow the bones to move in relations to others and can be of three types: fixed, mobile and semi-mobile.

The cranium deserves special consideration which holds the brain, eyes, hearing system and the initial parts of the digestive and respiratory systems, including the maxillaries and the teeth. The bones of the cranium are divided into two large groups, the neuro-cranium and the espacno-cranium.

There are three types of muscles, the fluted ones, which can be long or short, the cardiac muscles, that are distinguished because they are directly controlled by the central nervous system and the soft muscles.

Types of Fractures
Bone fractures can be different, but the most common are the following:

Fissure: when the bone cracks, it doesn't break apart; unless it is one of those cases where they come with a collateral hemorrhage. They are the fractures that heal the fastest.

Incomplete: when the bone partially cracks; also when even though there is a fracture the tissue which wraps the bone does not rip. In dogs these are very common, except when they receive a hard blow.

Simple: when there is a clean breakage of the bone, and it cracks into two pieces which are separated, these can be distinguished depending on the direction that the fracture takes:

• transversal
• longitudinal
• oblique

Multiple: when there is total fracture and the bone breaks into different fragments; these usually require a surgical intervention and the application of nails in order to fix the stability of the affected bone. These usually produce debris and some small parts of the bone are totally separated. These eventually die because of the lack of blood irrigation.

Complicated: when the broken bone sticks out through the skin; in these cases a serious risk of infection is produced in the parts of the bone that are exposed to the air.

Incrusted: When some a fragment of the broken bone literally is incrusted into another one, most of the time forming an angle. The Digestive System