The golden retriever muscular dystrophy dog lacks dystrophin. Disease progression in this model shares many similarities with the Duchenne muscular dystrophy, both from anatomo-pathological and clinical standpoints. The model is increasingly used in pre-clinical trials but needs to be further investigated, particularly with reference to the evaluation of therapies.The aim of this study was to identify quantitative indices that would help characterize the dystrophic dog non-invasively using NMR imaging. Two-month-old dystrophic dogs and healthy control animals were scanned at 4 T. Standard T2- and T1-weighted images, fat-saturated T1-weighted images pre- and post-gadolinium chelate injection were acquired and kinetics of muscle enhancement were studied over a 2-hour period. Three indices, the T2-weighted/T1-weighted signal ratio, T2-weighted image heterogeneity and maximal signal enhancement post-gadolinium, were found to be abnormally high in dystrophic dogs. The increased T2w/T1w SR in dystrophic muscles might be primarily in relation with inflammation. H2 might reflect the patchy distribution of inflammatory and fibrotic lesions. Interestingly, in dystrophic muscles, relative enhancement post-Gd-DTPA was increased but, in contrast to ischemic infarcts, was associated with normal time-constant of decay. This is compatible with an increased distribution volume of Gd-DTPA due to acute or chronic necrosis while perfusion remains normal.These three indices may be proposed to evaluate muscle structural alterations non-invasively in this disease.