Paws for thought

Flossie the lab rat!!

Associate Professor Peter Milburn of the School of Physiotherapy at Otago University contacted OCTC secretary Sara Edwards looking for a suitable dog in which to investigate the control of quadruped gait when jumping. 

 Sara's dog Flossie, a border collie/golden retriever cross, seemed to be the ideal candidate with her short black coat and easy-going nature.

Using the same system Weta studios used to create their animated characters in the "Lord of the Rings" movies, he attached  multiple small reflective markers to Flossie's skin (with double-sided sticky tape) at key body landmarks like the head, shoulder joints and spine.

Multiple cameras (12) then record the movement of these markers as the dog walks and jumps about 10 m along a line.  The computer then re-creates the movement  as a stick figure in 3D space.

This enables Professor Milburn to see how far from a small obstacle the dog would alter its movement pattern to accommodate for this obstruction and perform a successful jump.

After several runs to let Flossie get used to the unusual surroundings, she was leaping like a champion and doing her part for science!! 

Professor Milburn estimated that Flossie's 30 minutes of running and jumping would give his team 6 months worth of data for analysis.