Welfare

• Welfare


  Relates to the management of sport & working dogs in terms of their health, nutrition, comfort, behaviour, training, and work characteristics
• Dog welfare assessment


  1. Breeding

  2. Suitability for work (physically & behaviourally)

  3. Destruction of unwanted pups

  4. Rearing

  5. Adequate feed & inputs

  6. Effective & not brutal training

  7. Work (danger, nutrition & management, over-work)
• Dog welfare is compromised if work or sport is dangerous, physically too demanding, or mentally too stressful
• Physical dangers, injury & stress

  Must be valued against obvious enjoyment some dogs get from work
• For many dogs their particular activity is enjoyable and they may overwork
• There is a conflict between overwork and pleasure of work - can cause stress/anxiety and fatigue
• Measuring the effects of sport or work on dogs is poorly determined
• Tools to measure dog welfare

  • Monitoring BP, heart rate (remotely), saliva, plasma and faecal corticosteroids, plasma catecholamines
  • Long term immunological status, health
• It is difficult to differentiate between stress of excitement of work and distress caused by overwork using physiological parameters
• Many working dogs work hard under trying conditions, their working lives may be short, and injuries are frequent - both indices of poor welfare
• There is little published data on percentage of dogs entering training that succeed as working or sport dogs, subsequent health and longevity of these dogs, and stress caused by training and work or sport
• There is good data on incidence of work-related injuries or diseases
• Guide dogs


  Start work at 18-24 months, average working life of 4.7 years, selected lines of different breeds, easily trained and relaxed animals, 60% success rate of dogs entering training
• Police dogs working crowd control can be injured by glass, petrol bombs, flying bricks or stones
• Tracking from the scene of a crime is a basic job for police dogs, very successful dogs get stressed by this activity and may lose weight and have persistent diarrhoea
• Drug and bomb dogs physically fit as they may sniff up to 300 times a minute when working, strenuous enough without having to search actively through baggage, following extreme physical activity - decrease in sniffing frequency and an increase in panting with a consequent decrease in explosive detection
• Search and rescue dogs

  • Physically fit, agile body, good stamina, can adapt to hot and cold conditions, no fear, good balance, strong legs for digging, jumping or climbing
  • Dogs work in situations with definite hazards (e.g. Oklahoma City bombing, 9/11 World Trade Center collapse, Nepal 2015 earthquake)
  • One dog can search one hectare in approximately 30 minutes, it takes 20 people 4 hours to search the same area
• Military dogs


  About 2700 active working dogs in the military in the USA, Air Force buys about 450 dogs a year, budgets $5.3 million to buy dogs each year, operating budget of about $8 million, 92 dogs died while deployed 2001-2013 (32% gunshot wounds, 26% explosion blasts, 10% heat stress), one quarter of military dogs with behavioural problems engage in repetitive behaviour
• NZ Defense Force now has about 35 to 40 teams of a handler and their dog
• Working dogs as pets

  • Working dogs have innate drive and instincts that make them good at working, as pets these dogs need physical exercise and mental challenges
  • When dogs bred/selected for a specific activity are used as companion animals they may develop behavioural problems (inactivity - unemployment)
• Greyhounds


  Bred to chase things and race, but retire and become sofa lovers easily (though may chase the cat)