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The interactive dog atlas · Exterior and regions · Head

Eye oculus

The eyes sit in the orbits, the bony cavities of the skull, above the stop. Their placement, more to the sides or more to the front, differs between breeds and changes the visual field.

Open in the interactive atlas Guide: Exterior Worksheet

Educational material, not a diagnostic tool. Written by the Mantrailing România team from veterinary sources we read. Updated 14.11.2026.

Dog in left lateral view — exterior, muscles, skeleton and organs Vector study after the Ellenberger, Baum and Dittrich plates: a standing dog, head to the left, deep chest and digitigrade limbs. The four layers use the same contour: exterior with body regions, superficial muscles, skeleton and organs.
  1. Eye
  2. Head
  3. Muzzle
Eye on the atlas drawing, "Exterior and regions" layer, with the neighbouring structures. Left lateral view, after the Ellenberger, Baum and Dittrich plates.

Where it is

On the sides of the head, in the orbits, above the stop.

System
Body regions
Region
Head

What it is and what it does

The eyes sit in the orbits, the cavities of the skull that you can see in the skeleton layer as a circle. Their position, more lateral or more frontal, differs between breeds and influences the visual field. The eye is part of the sensory nervous system: the receptors in the retina send signals to the brain through the optic nerve.

Worth remembering

The retina, the layer at the back of the eye, sends signals to the brain through the optic nerve.

Names

  • Also called: orbital region.
  • Latin term: oculus.
  • In Romanian: Ochiul (Romanian page).

Guides it appears in

From the same region: Head

All structures, in the atlas · Flashcards: exterior and regions