Pies: It is not possible to know how many puppies a dog will have just by looking

Evidence: 54 • authority: 72

Dogs have a wide range of coat colors, patterns, textures and lengths. Dog coat qualities are governed by how genes are passed from dogs to their puppies and how those genes are expressed in each dog. Dogs have about 19,000 genes in their genome but only a handful affect the physical variations in their coats. Dogs have two copies of most genes, one from the dog's mother and one from its father. Genes of interest have more than one version, or allele. Usually only one or a small number of alleles exist for each gene. In any one gene locus a dog will either be homozygous where the gene is made of two identical alleles (one from its mother and one its father) or heterozygous where the gene is…

Evidence: 47 • authority: 88

Not All Puppies and Sunshine: How Dog Keepers Cope with Dog-Related Problems in Dutch Society. Zoonoses, biting incidents, hereditary problems, and other issues can threaten the welfare of both humans and dogs. The Dutch government and animal welfare organizations seem to have little effect in their campaigns to influence the behavior of (potential) dog keepers, who can experience dissonance when faced with these campaigns and use coping strategies to relieve the dissonance instead of changing their behavior. In this study, in focus group discussions, dog keepers with pedigree dogs, high-risk dogs, foreign shelter dogs, and dogs purchased at puppy farms shared their experiences with opinion…

Evidence: 47 • authority: 92

"It's just one piece of the puzzle…": practitioners' perspectives on the use of sterilisation in the management of free-roaming dog populations.. Surgical sterilisation is a common approach to managing free-roaming dog (FRD) populations, used predominantly with the aim of reducing or stabilising the population. However, monitoring and evaluation of the impacts of such programmes is limited and there can be a tendency to equate numbers of dogs sterilised with success. The aim of this study was to examine practitioners perspectives on the role of sterilisation in managing FRD populations, including insights into its perceived benefits and limitations, and the wider facilitators and challenges…

Evidence: 43 • authority: 92

Resource management practices of Canadian and American domestic dog breeders and associations with puppy competitive behaviour: A cross-sectional study.. Resource-guarding behaviour is common in companion dogs and negatively impacts human safety, canine welfare, and the human-canine bond. Experiences with resources during critical sensitive periods of development have the potential to influence adult behaviour around resources. Dog breeder management of puppies' access to resources (e.g. milk, food, and toys) is largely unknown. In this study, dog breeders in Canada and the US (n = 293) were recruited through convenience sampling to complete a cross-sectional survey on breeding and resource…

Evidence: 39 • authority: 92

"They're just shifting a problem": A qualitative study of stakeholder perceptions of the welfare implications of UK rescue dog importation.. The number of rescue dogs being imported into the UK has increased significantly in recent years but research into the welfare implications of this practice is lacking. The aim of this study was to investigate various stakeholder and owner experiences of behavioural and health problems in imported rescue dogs. Thirty interviews and four focus groups (totalling n = 54) were conducted with overseas and UK rescue representatives, trainers, transporters, veterinary surgeons, animal health officers, government representatives and dog fosterers and owners in…

Evidence: 39 • authority: 80

We don’t know how many children have TB, and we can’t help them until we do

Evidence: 39 • authority: 80

How many people have eating disorders? We don’t really know, and that’s a worry

Evidence: 39 • authority: 80

Want to know how many people have the coronavirus? Test randomly

Evidence: 39 • authority: 92

Impacts of the 'Cost-of-Living Crisis' on UK-Based Owners of Pandemic Puppies.. Since 2021, United Kingdom (UK) residents have faced a decline in disposable income termed the Cost-of-Living Crisis (COLC). For pet owners, this has been compounded by the costs of veterinary care rising faster than the rate of inflation. Animal welfare charities have reported increased rates of relinquishment and owners making cost-reducing savings on multiple aspects of their dogs' care. This study aimed to quantitatively assess the nature and prevalence of impacts of the COLC on a cohort of dogs acquired in 2020 and their owners. A cross-sectional survey collected data between 2022 and 2024 from n = 770 owne…

Evidence: — • authority: 38