Population Data: General Principles

Within this section we will post information and links to material about the need, challenges and sources of population data.

For example: Dr. Dan O'Neill, who developed VetCompass in the UK ( http://www.rvc.ac.uk/vetcompass ), has written this review article: http://www.cgejournal.org/content/1/1/2

From the article:

"An ability to identify at a population level how many dogs, within breeds or across all breeds develop certain diseases, either over a fixed time period (e.g. each year) or as a proportion of the total population is very important. This helps establish whether some animals and breeds are particularly susceptible to a disease or whether conditions are becoming more or less common."

The aims of any given study and the methods influence the findings and what can be extrapolated from them. This is true for formal research studies and, e.g., breed club surveys. Sometimes conflicting results are due to the different approaches or inaccurate data. However, usually, there is some useful information, if we are careful in how we interpret findings.

As we develop this section on DogWellNet we hope to assist stakeholders in assembling the best picture of health and disease in specific breeds, and dogs in general. Through this we will also identify gaps - areas where our understanding is lacking - and this will help inform new studies and research.