Dog Welfare Assessment

The Dog Welfare Assessment app aims to support best practice and humane delivery of spay-neuter programmes across the world.

The Jeanne Marchig International Centre for Animal Welfare Education (JMICAWE), University of Edinburgh has developed a smartphone app and a range of educational resources based on the findings and recommendations put forth in the Canine Welfare Grant report (2015). The smartphone app enables dog handlers and veterinary medical staff to capture data on the various stages of the spay-neuter process. This generates a scorecard which links to resources and guidance to improve animal welfare.

Spay-neuter programmes are recognized as being an essential tool in the control of global dog populations. However in any situation where a dog is experiencing capture, transport, surgery and release, there is the potential for significant welfare problems to arise. This app builds on the work of a Canine Welfare study which used a range of welfare indicators, from expert consensus and literature, to produce a simple welfare audit for use in canine spay-neuter programmes. The app provides access to information and training materials designed to address misconceptions and confusion over the recognition of behavioural signs of key canine welfare indicators such as pain or fear, and the steps that may be taken to mitigate these negative states.

The app has been developed by EDINA in collaboration with JMICAWE. Find out more about JMICAWE’s work in this area http://edin.ac/dog-welfare.