Researchers are looking for people who have adopted a rescue dog from abroad to help with a new animal welfare study.
They are looking for people over the age of 18, living in the UK, who have adopted their animal within the past five years to complete an anonymous online survey.
The survey takes just 10-15 minutes to complete and covers the health and behaviour of the imported dogs, the owners’ opinions and adoption experience.
The results will help design effective policy to safeguard the wellbeing of people and their pets and used to promote good practice and develop sound advice and guidance.
Veterinary student Charlotte Norman, who is coordinating the survey, said: “It has become increasingly popular to import rescued dogs from overseas to the UK, but very little is actually known about the implications of this practice, including infectious disease risks and incidence of behavioural problems.
“We are aiming to survey at least 1000 owners for this project to help us better understand potential issues, so if you have adopted a rescue dog from abroad we encourage you to get involved.”
The research project is funded by the Animal Welfare Foundation and is being carried out in collaboration with the University of Nottingham.
The questionnaire is available until 30 August 2017 at: http://bit.ly/2v7nP0Q
For further queries, please contact Dr Carri Westgarth on carri.westgarth@liverpool.ac.uk or 0151 795 6029.