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The interactive dog atlas · Exterior and regions · Hindlimb

Thigh femur (regio femoris)

The thigh is the upper part of the hind leg, from the hip to the stifle. Its bone is the femur, surrounded by the dog's most powerful muscles.

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. Thigh
  2. Croup
  3. Stifle (knee)
  4. Abdomen
Thigh 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 upper part of the hindlimb, from the hip to the stifle.

System
Body regions
Region
Hindlimb

What it is and what it does

The thigh is the upper segment of the hindlimb, from the hip joint to the stifle. Its bone is the femur, surrounded by the most powerful muscles of the dog: the hindlimbs are the "engine" of locomotion, the ones that push the body forward.

Unlike the forelimb, the hindlimb attaches to the spine through a bony joint, the sacroiliac joint, via the pelvis.

Worth remembering

The hind legs are the "engine" that pushes the body forward.

Names

  • Also called: femoral region, upper thigh.
  • Latin term: femur (regio femoris).
  • In Romanian: Coapsa (Romanian page).

In the atlas lessons

Walk, trot, pace, gallop (4 min):

The pace: also two beats, but the pairs on the same side. In dogs it often appears with fatigue, in overweight or untrained animals.

Guides it appears in

From the same region: Hindlimb

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