Digitigrade

In terrestrial vertebrates, digitigrade (/ˈdɪdʒɪtɪˌɡreɪd/)[1] locomotion is walking or running on the toes (from the Latin digitus, 'finger', and gradior, 'walk').

A digitigrade animal is one that stands or walks with its toes (phalanges) on the ground, and the rest of its foot lifted.

Digitigrade locomotion is responsible for the distinctive hooked shape of dog legs.

Unguligrade animals, such as horses and cattle, walk only on the distal-most tips of their digits.

Digitigrade animals walk on their distal and intermediate phalanges; more than one segment of the digit makes contact with the ground, either directly (as in birds) or via paw-pads (as in dogs and cats).

Comparison of lower limb structure. From left to right: plantigrade, digitigrade and unguligrade. In red the basipod, in violet the metapodia, in yellow the phalanges, in brown the keratin nails.
Skeleton of a wolf, showing a typical digitigrade arrangement of leg and foot bones