Action Analysis: Quadruped Locomotion (Primary Research: Dogs)

As soon as I got this action analysis assignment, I rushed to contact anyone I knew who had a dog and asked if I could come over to do some studies during the Easter break. While I waited for said break, I studied dogs from a bit more of a distance in two locations: Queen Square near the centre of Bristol, and Ashton Court Estate. I got some good sketches from both, but I couldn't really get close to the dogs without things getting a bit awkward for me and their owners.

I managed to "borrow" three dogs for closer analysis: Merlin, a 15-year-old Lurcher, Duffy, a 4-year-old Bulldog, and Rudy, a 4-year-old Egyptian Street Dog (like a smaller, lankier German Shepard). I was lucky to get a good variety of ages and breeds, as I feel those two factors affect a dog's movement the most.

Click Read More to see my sketches and videos!

When I was sitting on a bench at the top of a hill in Ashton Court, I saw a small, waddling shape at the bottom of the hill and thought "I'm pretty sure that's a bulldog, but I can't tell because it's so far away." I got closer, and it turned out it was a bulldog! It's interesting how some animals have such a distinct gait that they stand out even from a distance. I was lucky to get to observe another bulldog, Duffy, in more detail.

Dachshunds are the classic example of a dog whose proportionately-tiny legs have to work extra hard to carry their bodies! Look at how fast they go, especially when the dog is pulling at a lead.

At 15, Merlin was by far the oldest dog I observed, so his mobility is somewhat limited, as you can see when he very carefully and slowly gets up from lying down. It was interesting to observe the differences in the ways Merlin and Duffy get up:

Merlin's owner has another dog, Disney the Greyhound, but since she's very shy and didn't get up from her bed much when I visited, I didn't get to observe many of her movements. I did get a short video of her walking, though, and I was thankful for that because Greyhounds are another breed with distinct, fascinating movements. They swing their legs gracefully forward due to how proportionately long they are:

Bulldogs are very top-heavy, and that affects their gait in some interesting ways. As I noted in my sketches, Duffy's front and back halves seem to move independently due to the difference in size, and her proportionately-small hind legs have to really pump to push her big torso forward:

Rudy was an absolute joy to observe; she was rescued from the streets of Egypt and as she's still curious about her relatively-new surroundings, she sniffs and wanders around a lot (an example of how an animal, or character's, history and psychology may affect its movement). Her owner mentioned how she has two distinct gaits, a run (above) and a kind of skip:

Compare the way she gets up from sitting to Merlin and Duffy: unlike them, neither age nor an exaggerated body shape inhibit Rudy.