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ANALYZING the EFFECT SERVICE VESTS HAVE on CANINE GAIT By ANALYZING THE EFFECT SERVICE VESTS HAVE ON CANINE GAIT by LOUISE ASHLEY (Under the Direction of Timothy Foutz) ABSTRACT The aims of this study were to develop a technique to measure canine truncal rotation and to compare that rotation for a dog wearing and not wearing a service vest. Five dogs of various breeds were used in the study. Kinematics data were collected for each dog as the dog walked and trotted on a treadmill thereby establishing a set of baseline parameters for each individual dog that could be compared to the dog walking on the treadmill while wearing the vest. The specific parameters quantified and analyzed in this study were thorax rotation, scapula rotation, pelvis rotation, and vest rotation, with the intent of developing a method for measuring these parameters compared to a relatively stationary coordinate system on the dog. Results indicate that there were measurable differences in canine gait for each of the two service vests compared with baseline. ANALYZING THE EFFECT SERVICE VESTS HAVE ON CANINE GAIT by LOUISE ASHLEY B.S. Biochemical Engineering, University of Georgia, 2014 A Thesis Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of The University of Georgia in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree MASTER OF SCIENCE ATHENS, GEORGIA 2017 © 2017 Louise Ashley All Rights Reserved ANALYZING THE EFFECT SERVICE VESTS HAVE ON CANINE GAIT by LOUISE ASHLEY Major Professor: Timothy Foutz Committee: Eric Freeman Steve Budsberg Electronic Version Approved: Suzanne Barbour Dean of the Graduate School The University of Georgia August 2017 TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF FIGURES ...................................................................................................................... v LIST OF TABLES ....................................................................................................................... vi CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION/LITERATURE REVIEW .................................................. 1 1.1 USING KINEMATICS TO ANALYZE CANINE GAIT ....................................................................... 1 1.2 USING RIGID BODY MECHANICS TO VALIDATE MARKING SYSTEM ........................................... 2 CHAPTER 2: METHOD ESTABLISHMENT .......................................................................... 5 2.1 INTRODUCTION/ABSTRACT ..................................................................................................... 5 2.2 GOALS OF THE FIRST STUDY AND HYPOTHESES ..................................................................... 6 2.3 MATERIALS AND METHODS .................................................................................................... 8 2.4 RESULTS ............................................................................................................................... 15 2.5 DISCUSSION .......................................................................................................................... 20 CHAPTER 3: EFFECT VESTS HAVE ON BASELINE DATA ........................................... 22 3.1 INTRODUCTION/ABSTRACT ................................................................................................... 22 3.2 MATERIALS AND METHODS .................................................................................................. 22 3.3 WALK RESULTS .................................................................................................................... 29 3.4 TROT RESULTS ..................................................................................................................... 32 3.5 DISCUSSION .......................................................................................................................... 35 CHAPTER 4: CONCLUSIONS AND FUTURE WORK ....................................................... 38 4.1 STUDY LIMITATIONS ............................................................................................................ 38 4.2 RECOMMENDATIONS FOR FUTURE WORK ............................................................................. 39 4.3 CONCLUSIONS ...................................................................................................................... 40 REFERENCES ............................................................................................................................ 41 APPENDICES ............................................................................................................................. 43 iv LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1 No vest marker placement .............................................................................................................. 9 Figure 2 Vest marker placement ................................................................................................................. 11 Figure 3 Trunk anatomical axis coordinates ............................................................................................... 13 Figure 4 No vest trunk walk and trot waveform ......................................................................................... 19 Figure 5 Image of dog marked without vest, with adjustable vest, with custom vest ................................. 24 Figure 6 Pelvis coordinate axis ................................................................................................................... 27 Figure 7 Left Scapula coordinate system definition ................................................................................... 27 Figure 8 Left scapula coordinate system definition .................................................................................... 27 Figure 9 Pelvis ROM data all vests walk .................................................................................................... 29 Figure 10 Left scapula ROM all vests walk ................................................................................................ 30 Figure 11 Right Scapula ROM all vests walk ............................................................................................. 30 Figure 12 Trunk ROM all vests walk .......................................................................................................... 31 Figure 13 Vest ROM all vests walk ............................................................................................................ 31 Figure 14 Pelvis ROM all vests trot ............................................................................................................ 32 Figure 15 Left scapula ROM all vests trot .................................................................................................. 33 Figure 16 Right scapula ROM all vests trot ................................................................................................ 33 Figure 17 Trunk ROM all vests trot ............................................................................................................ 34 Figure 18 Vest ROM all vests trot .............................................................................................................. 34 v LIST OF TABLES Table 1 Vest rigidity table............................................................................................................. 16 Table 2 Dog reference axis rigidity table ...................................................................................... 17 Table 3 No vest trunk ROM and standard deviation for all dogs all days .................................... 18 Table 4 Statistics for interday no vest trunk data .......................................................................... 20 vi CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION/LITERATURE REVIEW The military and law enforcement agencies use canines for many operations. The need for the canines to perform at their peak level is as necessary as it is for a human. Certain duties performed by canines often require them to wear service vests. These vests can serve many purposes including carrying equipment, protecting the dog and functioning as a harness for lifting the dog into a helicopter, just to name a few. While these vests have been successfully used over the years, there is limited research on how the designs of these vests affect the dog’s natural gait. Currently, military and police dogs use expensive custom vests which are fitted to a specific dog and are no longer used after the dog is no longer in service. Having the opportunity to design vests that are adjustable and that would fit multiple dogs could potentially be a cost- effective alternative to the current situation. The purposes of the study herein are to establish a method for measuring truncal motion and to use the method to analyze the impact that service vests have on that motion. This study is part of an overall project to assess how service vests affect canine kinematics. Additionally, this study can be expanded to test various canine vest designs and materials on dogs performing various activities. The goal of this portion of the study is to validate a new marker system for measuring full truncal motion by proving the chosen markers move minimally in relation to one another and act as a rigid body. 1.1 USING KINEMATICS TO ANALYZE CANINE GAIT The use of kinematics to analyze gait patterns is an accepted method to assess both humans and animal biomechanical function1-8. Using reflective markers on anatomical landmarks, researchers 1 track the positions, velocities, and rotations of rigid bodies in space. Tracking these landmarks allows researchers to characterize normal gait patterns as well as identify abnormalities in gait patterns. Many
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