A panel of seven experts rated 25 welfare issues based on their urgency and manageability.

Experts help to create a strategy for improving welfare

A panel of experts have uncovered the most pressing welfare concerns currently affecting dogs in the UK, in order to help determine the best use of resources to make improvements.

The study, which was carried out by the Royal Veterinary College (RVC), involved a two-day workshop during which 25 welfare issues were discussed and prioritised by independent experts across a range of disciplines.

Issues rated as high priority by the panel of seven included inappropriate husbandry, lack of owner knowledge, undesirable behaviours, inherited disease, inappropriate socialisation, habituation and confirmation-related disorders.

Experts scored each issue based on its importance as a welfare problem (WP), taking into account the impact on individual dogs in terms of duration and severity, as well as how many dogs may be affected.

The panel also considered how manageable and easy to resolve the problems were, giving a strategic priority (SP) score.

High scores for WP indicate an area where experts agree that urgent action is required, while high SP scores show the issue is considered urgent and manageable.

Obesity was judged a significant welfare problem and received high WP scores, but it was perceived to present difficulties with management and resolution, meaning it was given a low SP rating.

Emma Buckland from the RVC, who carried out the research, explained: "The aim of this expert panel study was to systematically prioritise a diverse range of issues affecting the welfare of pet dogs in Great Britain, to provide a resource that animal welfare organisations could use in determining how to most effectively improve the welfare of pet dogs…

"Resources are finite and an overall picture of the relative impacts of issues on companion dog welfare allows stakeholders to coordinate efforts and determine how best to strategically address important welfare problems – those which can be relatively easily managed and those which will require much more effort or further research."

The top three welfare problems were inappropriate husbandry, lack of owner knowledge and undesirable behaviours. When SP was considered however, the top three priorities became conformation-related disorders, inappropriate socialisation and inherited disease.

None of the issues were thought to affect nearly all dogs in the UK, but the majority were deemed to continue for a long duration relative to lifespan. The problems discussed were largely rated as having mild and moderately severe impacts on welfare.

Welfare problems rated as severe were conformation disorders, deliberate physical harm, long-term kennelling and quantity over quality of life.

According to the RVC, this study is the first published panel discussion and consensus on canine welfare issues, representing a variety of professional and academic disciplines. The research was published in the scientific journal Animal Welfare on February 3.