Dogs Trust Research Articles

Microchip update

The Dogs Trust offer of free microchips to follow the introduction of mandatory microchipping for dogs.

A VN's contribution to the Dogs Trust Neutering Workshop

ABSTRACT:It has been estimated there are in excess of 11,000 stray dogs living in the city of Sarajevo in Bosnia. With a human population of around 370,000 this works out at one dog for every 33 people. With no population control methods in place and that number rising by the day, Dogs Trust UK was keen to put in place a programme that could address this ever-growing problem. This article reviews the role played by a veterinary nurse in this programme.

Companion interview

Abstract After 11 years in general practice and a period with Intervet/Schering-Plough Animal Health as Veterinary Adviser, Paula Boyden joined Dogs Trust and became Veterinary Director in 2011.

Microchipping law welcomed

After years of campaigning the Government have decided to make microchipping compulsory for all dogs. Clarissa Baldwin, Chief executive of Dogs Trust, explains what this means for dogs in the UK.

Hounds Help Hearts

Lynda Evans discusses the rationale behind the new joint initiative from Harefield Hospital's cardiac rehabilitation service and the charity, Dogs Trust

Reducing stress in dogs in shelters

THERE are thousands of dog shelters worldwide, whose aim is to care for stray or unwanted dogs and ensure that as many as possible are rehomed successfully. It has been...

Ten‐minute chat

Chris Laurence retires this month from his role as veterinary director of Dogs Trust. During his time with the charity, he has actively promoted the need for new legislation to replace the Dangerous Dogs Act and was instrumental in the formation of the Dangerous Dogs Act Study Group (DDASG).

Is there a healthy future for pedigree dogs?

As veterinary nurses the ethical, health and welfare issues surrounding the breeding of pedigree dogs with exaggerated anatomical features are a part of our everyday working lives. By reviewing the evidence of various reports commissioned by organizations such as the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty of Animals (RSPCA), The Kennel Club, Dogs Trust and the Associate Parliamentary Group for Animal Welfare that have a vested interest in solving the ongoing issues of the health and welfare of certain breeds, this paper aims to highlight the role the veterinary profession can play in ensuring welfare compatible dog breeding in the future, as well as provide an ethical framework for use in veterinary practice.

Microchipping update

Abstract Chris Laurence, Veterinary Director of the Dogs Trust and Chair of the Microchip Advisory Group, explains how microchips works, how to implant them, and what can go wrong.

Reliability of assessment of dogs’ behavioural responses by staff working at a welfare charity in the UK

Behavioural problems in dogs are a major cause for their relinquishment and return to animal shelters and rehoming centres. It is important that the staff in these welfare centres can reliably assess the behavioural characteristics of the dogs so that they can be rehomed to the most appropriate environment and the owners can be made aware of what to expect. There have been very few studies which have assessed the reliability of the assessment of dogs’ behavioural responses; therefore this study was conducted to assess the inter-rater reproducibility and intra-rater repeatability of the assessment of behavioural responses of dogs by staff at a UK dog welfare charity. Forty members of staff at Dogs Trust, a UK dog welfare charity, were asked to assess 20 dogs based on the dogs’ behaviour recorded on video. They were then asked to repeat these assessments 2 months after they had completed the first assessments using the same video. The data were then analysed for inter-rater reproducibility and intra-rater repeatability using the weighted kappa statistic. It was found that there was a moderate level of agreement between staff in their assessment of the dogs’ behavioural responses to a person ‘approaching their kennel’ and a poor to moderate level of agreement for behavioural responses to ‘general handling and grooming’. Additionally, there was only a low-level of agreement for many of the responses to a dog ‘meeting another dog’ and this may have been due to the small number of dogs that were able to be assessed in this situation. The inter-rater reproducibility was greater when the analysis was restricted to those members of staff who had formal training or more than 8 years of experience. The intra-rater repeatability was generally moderate to high in all cases indicating a good consistency by members of staff over time. The current study shows that there is an overall moderate level of agreement amongst staff but as they gain experience and training their level of agreement tends to increase. This study also highlighted the need for the standardisation of the assessments currently used. It is important that staff are able to consistently identify behavioural characteristics of dogs in order to provide the best chance of a successful adoption.

Factors affecting the success of rehoming dogs in the UK during 2005

In the UK, welfare organisations care for several thousand dogs each year. The successful rehoming of these dogs is a difficult process resulting in some of them being returned to rehoming centres. There have been very few studies examining the underlying mechanisms in the UK. Therefore, this study was conducted to determine those factors which affect the success of rehoming dogs. A prospective cohort study was conducted using a sample of 5750 dogs rehomed by Dogs Trust, a UK based dog welfare charity, during 2005. Dogs were followed up for a period of 6 months after adoption to determine if these dogs were still in their placement home. There was a 78% response rate to the follow-up postal questionnaires sent to the new owners, giving information on 4500 owners. Fourteen percent of adoptions failed. The results showed that behavioural problems are an important factor in the success of adoption such that if dogs had shown aggression towards people and the owners had not sought advice, they had 11.1 times the odds (95% CI: 6.6, 18.8) of being returned compared to those dogs without behavioural problems. Attending training classes significantly decreased the chance that the adoption would be unsuccessful (OR 0.3, 95% CI: 0.2, 0.4). It was shown that those owners who found that the effort and work involved in looking after their dog to be more than they had expected, had 9.9 (95% CI: 4.1, 24.6) times the odds of returning their dog than those who found the effort required to be less than they had expected. The results of this study show that there are many factors involved in a successful adoption and it is important that the new owners are informed of what to expect are encouraged to attend training classes and are prepared to work at any behavioural problems that their dog may have.

Factors affecting time to adoption of dogs re-homed by a charity in the UK

AbstractThe objective of this retrospective cohort study was to determine the factors affecting the time until adoption of dogs re-homed by Dogs Trust, a UK charity. There were 13,338 records included in the study, representing 11,663 dogs. Data were extracted from the Dogs Trust's database between February 2001 and June 2004 representing all re-homing centres in the UK using the database during this time period. A survival analysis was conducted using Kaplan-Meier plots and multivariable Cox regression. The results of the study showed that the median time till adoption for all dogs was 28 days (95% CI 28-29 days). The variables which affected the time till adoption were breed, purebred status, size, sex, neuter status on arrival at a centre, age, coat colour, veterinary history and re-homing centre. It was suggested that temperament could be an important risk factor but this variable had to be excluded from the multivariable analysis. Dogs from the gundog and utility breed groups and purebred dogs were re-homed at the fastest rate.

Proceedings of the Dogs Trust Meeting on Advances in Veterinary Behavioural Medicine London; 4th–7th November 2004: Veterinary behavioural medicine: a roadmap for the 21st century

New areas of endeavour succeed either because they make a compelling case for their worth within an existing paradigm or because a new generation is raised for whom a once heretical paradigm is now the norm. It is difficult to tell which route will lead to the acceptance and growth of veterinary behavioural medicine, but the latter seems likely and, perhaps, necessary. As one of the newest specialities in veterinary medicine, behavioural medicine may suffer more than other specialities from an unclear identity because so many disparate groups who are not rooted in veterinary medicine have participated in its evolution. There is also the issue of data. Behavioural medicine is often cited as a field for which there are very few hard data; however, it is also a field for which data collection can be difficult and time consuming for non-trivial questions. This is because behaviour is the ultimate integrator of all organ system responses, and as such, is a dynamic outcome resulting from the interactions of complex mechanisms. Understanding such systems is difficult, but progress can occur if an attempt is made to understand all the mechanistic levels that contribute to behavioural patterns and behavioural conditions. For this to happen we need a paradigm shift that moves us away from the medical paradigmatic model and towards a new paradigm that is based on hypothesis formulation and testing between interacting levels of mechanism. Clinical impression and expertise based on outcome must be replaced by a scientific method that provides for phenotypic definitions that are coupled to putative underlying, interacting mechanisms that can be evaluated. Only in this manner can phenotypic description and its clinical application in veterinary behavioural medicine keep pace with advances in molecular biology and genetic epidemiology that deal with genetic liabilities and vulnerabilities inherent in multi-gene and major gene effects. This paradigmatic shift has the potential to revolutionize the way we view diagnoses in medicine, in general, but has particular implications for the care needed to characterize problematic and truly abnormal behavioural conditions. This approach also has the advantage of alerting us to when we do not know something, and forcing us to consider the needs of our patients on their own terms. A more rigorous scientific approach in this field could also go a long way in making us more humane.