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The interactive dog atlas · Exterior and regions · Trunk

Forechest regio presternalis

The forechest is the front part of the trunk, below the neck, between the front legs. Beneath it lie the front end of the sternum and the shoulder joints.

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. Forechest
  2. Neck
  3. Thorax (chest)
  4. Shoulder
Forechest 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

The front part of the trunk, below the neck, between the forelimbs.

System
Body regions
Region
Trunk

What it is and what it does

The forechest is the front part of the trunk, between the two forelimbs and below the base of the neck. Beneath it lie the front end of the sternum, the manubrium, and the shoulder joints. How far the chest "projects" forward of the point of the shoulder is a common landmark in standards.

Worth remembering

How far the chest "projects" forward is a common landmark in breed standards.

Names

  • Also called: prosternum, presternal region.
  • Latin term: regio presternalis.
  • In Romanian: Pieptul (antepieptul) (Romanian page).

Guides it appears in

From the same region: Trunk

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