How to Check Your Dog’s Pulse 6 of 7 in Series: The Essentials
of Dog Care for a Healthy Pet To check your dog’s pulse, you
need to locate the femoral artery, which lies just below the
skin on the inside of the back legs, between two large muscles
where the leg joins the body. With your dog standing, reach
around in front of the rear leg where it joins his body, and
slide your fingers into the groin area. You can feel the femoral
artery pumping each time the heart beats. When you have found
the artery with your dog standing, try it with your dog lying on
his side. Count how many pulses you feel in 15 seconds and
multiply by 4 to get the number of beats per minute. Dogs
normally have a pulse between 70 and 120 beats per minute. In
puppies, the pulse ranges from 120 to 160 beats per minute.
Become familiar with your dog’s pulse rate and how his pulse
feels when he is relaxed as well as after exercise. If you have
reason to believe your dog is suffering from an emergency, a
dramatic change in pulse (such as, a s