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The interactive dog atlas · Exterior and regions · Trunk

Thorax (chest) thorax

The thorax is the front part of the trunk, between the front legs and the abdomen. It is the cage formed by vertebrae, ribs and sternum, which houses the heart and lungs.

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. Thorax (chest)
  2. Back
  3. Abdomen
  4. Forechest
Thorax (chest) 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, between the forelimbs and the abdomen.

System
Body regions
Region
Trunk

What it is and what it does

The thorax is the cage formed by the thoracic vertebrae, the thirteen pairs of ribs and the sternum. It houses the heart and lungs. Its depth, measured from the withers to the bottom of the chest, and its circumference are common landmarks in standards and in choosing a harness.

Chest circumference is measured in different places depending on the source (around the deepest part of the chest, just behind the shoulders, or behind the withers), so when you compare figures, check where each one was measured.

Worth remembering

Chest depth and circumference are common landmarks in standards and when choosing a harness.

Names

  • Also called: rib cage, costal region.
  • Latin term: thorax.
  • In Romanian: Toracele (pieptul) (Romanian page).

Guides it appears in

From the same region: Trunk

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