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Your Dog Is Not A Tiny Horse, So Don't Make Them Stand Too Long
•Animal Naturopathic Medicine Ēducātum•Season 1•Episode 19
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Your dog standing patiently beside you can look like perfect manners, but biologically it can be a slow grind of muscle effort. Host Leslie unpacks a simple idea with big welfare implications: dogs do not have a stay apparatus, so “just standing there” is not a neutral behaviour. When we ask for long waits at markets, during stop-start strolls, while we chat to friends, we may be stacking up fatigue and strain in our dogs without realising it.
Leslie uses a clear equine comparison to make the point stick. Horses and many other herbivore-prey animals evolved a specialised, largely passive system of ligaments and tendons that lets them stand for hours on end with minimal effort, even allowing the animal to sleep standing upright while remaining ready to flee in an instant.
Dogs, as predator mammals, never needed that evolutionary adaptation. They are designed to “drop and flop”, lie down safely, relax, and conserve energy, and their muscles and joints do not benefit from extended static loading. This means we, as dog owners need to be smarter about rest, comfort, and joint-friendly routines for our dogs.
If you want practical dog handling advice rooted in canine anatomy, biomechanics, and common sense, press play and then try it on your very next outing. Subscribe for more canine, feline, and equine health insights, and share this with a dog-owning friend.
Welcome to the Animal Naturopathic Medicine Educatum Podcast, specializing in canine, feline, and equine, animal health from a biological perspective. Your host today is Leslie. Today we're going to be discussing the canine lack of a stay apparatus.
We hope this talk helps to clarify for dog owners the reasons why dogs should not be asked to stand around aimlessly for long periods. And this is usually whilst their humans are perhaps occupied in a conversation. Or it could be that you're at a market where your dog may constantly be standing because of the way in which you are slowly walking, stopping, starting your movement again, walking, stopping, and so forth. But also, please be aware if your dog has been standing for long periods and the surface in which they're standing on is too hot. Especially if you're in one in those outdoor sort of market sort of situations where the dog, you know, if the surface is hot, it does not want to sit down or it does not want to lay down, it needs to find shade and it needs to rest kind of situation. And that is because dogs are designed to drop and flop. And I will explain clear facts about the equine, as in horse stay apparatus, in a comparison. So there's absolutely no confusion about the dog's comfort and asking your dog to sit or you know, teaching your dog to drop, or you may use the word down. And of course, this may depend on where you are at the time with your dog, how many people are around, and it may be determined that your dog is actually not up to the task of going out and standing around for long periods. I mean, yes, dogs love to please and be a part of a human pack and go everywhere with you
and at any age as well, but at what age is this appropriate for your dog? Some dogs, due to their age and or condition, actually find it hard to sit and sit for a long period, and that could be due to a hip stifle tarsal joint sort of discomfort. But some dogs actually find it hard to drop down to a sternum sit, and this is due to the tightly flexed angles of their joints as well. Dog owners need to be aware of their dog's aging ailments if they have them and whether the dog has discomfort, but also consider the unnecessary strain on a young dog too, or really it's any dog at any age. We need to remember that the lifespan of a dog is a fraction compared to a human. Compare a five-year-old child to an average sized five-year-old dog. The five-year-old dog is actually around 35 to 40 years old. But by the time the child is 10 years old, a 10-year-old average sized dog is around 65 years old.
So let me explain a bit about the equine stay apparatus, as it is quite an exclusive evolutionary tool, and it's in the majority of all herbivore prey animals, and that is like horses, of course, and cattle, zebras, giraffes, and so forth. Evolution of this mechanism meant that the herbivore prey animals, like the horse, can take light sleeping naps while remaining upright, allowing a rapid flight response if a predator is nearby. The equine structure has a highly specialized yet passive stay apparatus of ligaments and tendons that allow a horse to stand and sleep upright with minimal muscle effort. When the horse is standing upright, the forelimbs are in a constant equilibrium of their stay apparatus, locking and unlocking in their positions. The hind limbs also have full stay apparatus abilities as well, but the hind legs can alter which hind leg they'd like to release and relax in their stance, while the other hind leg will stay perfectly in a locked stay apparatus position whilst the horse has a nap. Dogs as predators do not have the herbivore prey animal traits. Horses instinctively are born with fear, flight, fight, nervous system responses in detecting danger. This response means a horse can take flight from its resting position. When horses are in herds or domesticated in paddocks, groups or pairs, there are always one or more horses that will remain standing whilst others are resting down on the ground. And this is usually done safely with other members of the herd standing or foraging for food within a safe distance to ensure they can alert and protect members resting on the ground.
So now that we've explained the role of the stay apparatus for the prey animals, now let's look at our predator dogs. Predators have never needed an upright stay apparatus. Predator mammals like wolves, lions, and bears, for example, are generally at the top of the food chain. They can safely lie down, relax their muscles, conserve their energy expenditure, and fall in and out of sleep all day, all night long. Dogs spend a significant portion of their day lying down to sleep and relax, as standing takes ongoing muscular exertion, and dogs need to conserve their energy as their energy system does not do well on fatigued muscle energy. Canine muscles do not do well with ongoing muscle dysfunction, strained muscles restrict joint function, and this vicious circle of discomfort brings about all the unwanted ailments that affect the dog's function and comfort within their very short lifespan.
So please consider the next time you are out with your dog that you are considering the comfort and their lack of a stay apparatus in their body. Consider how long you have stopped to chat with someone with your dog and they're standing next to you. So remind yourself at that point to ask your dog to sit or to drop or down. And this considerate way of thinking it could possibly add years to your dog's comfort and their life.
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