Working farm dogs are invaluable on New Zealand sheep and beef farms. To date no study describing farm dog population and health has included information about incidence of illness and injury, or risk factors affecting health and career duration. This paper describes the methodology and initial results from TeamMate, a longitudinal study that was designed to address this gap. We describe the study population, husbandry practices, and prevalence of clinical abnormalities on enrolment. Data about the farms, owners, husbandry practices and dogs were collected on farm at approximately 6-month intervals. All dogs over 18 months old and in full work were enrolled. Dogs were given physical examinations by veterinarians. On examination all abnormalities were noted, regardless of clinical significance. Six hundred forty-one working farm dogs and 126 owners were enrolled from the South Island of New Zealand. Forty-nine percent of dogs were Heading dogs (314 of 641) and 48% Huntaways (308 of 641). Median age of dogs was 4 years (range 1.5–14) and median body condition score (BCS) was four on a 9-point scale (interquartile range (IQR) 3–5). Fifty-four percent of dogs were male (345 of 641), and 6% (41 of 641) were neutered. Eighty-one percent of owners (102 of 126) fed dogs commercial biscuits and meat sourced on farm. Forty-four percent of dogs (279 of 641) had bedding in their kennel, 14% (55 of 393) had insulated kennels, 69% (442 of 641) had been vaccinated and 33% (213 of 641) were insured. Clinical abnormalities were found in 74% of dogs (475 of 641). Common abnormalities involved the musculoskeletal system (43%, 273 of 641), skin (including scars and callouses; 42%, 272 of 641), and oral cavity (including worn and broken teeth; 35%, 227 of 641). Our results expand on those from previous surveys and indicate that musculoskeletal illness and injury, and skin trauma are the most commonly seen clinical abnormalities in working farm dogs. These results will provide a baseline for investigation of incidence and risk factors for illness, injury, retirement and death in New Zealand working farm dogs.

中文翻译：

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TeamMate：对新西兰工作犬的纵向研究。一，入学方法，人群特征和健康状况

在新西兰的养羊场和养牛肉场，工作中的农场犬非常宝贵。迄今为止，还没有描述农场犬的数量和健康状况的研究包含有关疾病和伤害发生率或影响健康状况和职业生涯的危险因素的信息。本文介绍了TeamMate的方法和初步结果，这是一项旨在解决这一差距的纵向研究。我们描述了研究人群，饲养方式和入学时临床异常的发生率。有关农场，所有者，饲养方式和狗的数据大约每隔六个月收集一次。所有18个月以上且全职工作的狗均已入选。兽医对狗进行了身体检查。检查时，无论临床意义如何，均记录所有异常。来自新西兰南岛的611只正在工作的农场犬和126位主人被招募。百分之四十九的狗是Head狗（641之314）和48％的狩猎者（641之308）。狗的中位年龄为4岁（范围1.5–14），中位身体状况评分（BCS）在9分制下为4（四分位间距（IQR）3-5）。54％的狗是雄性（641的345），绝育了6％（641的41）。百分之八十一的业主（126名中的102名）喂狗商用饼干和农场提供的肉。44％的狗（641只中的279只）在他们的狗窝中被褥，14％（393只中的55只）具有绝热的狗窝，69％（641只中的442只）已接种疫苗，33％（641只中的213只）得到了保险。在74％的狗中发现了临床异常（641个中的475个）。常见异常涉及肌肉骨骼系统（43％，641中的273），皮肤（包括疤痕和老茧；占641的272％）和口腔（包括破损的牙齿；占641的227的35％）。我们的研究结果来自以前的调查结果，表明肌肉骨骼疾病和损伤以及皮肤创伤是工作犬中最常见的临床异常。这些结果将为调查新西兰工作犬的发病，受伤，退休和死亡的发生率和危险因素提供基准。