School Research Featured in the Irish Times
Research from the UCD School of Veterinary Medicine was recently featured in the Irish Times. '(opens in a new window)Few dog owners are aware of all their legal obligations, study finds,' reported on a study published in the Irish Veterinary Journal on 5 January. The study, '(opens in a new window)Self-reported awareness of the legal status of eight responsibilities of dog owners in Ireland: are dog owners different from non-dog owners?' reported that relatively few dog owners in Ireland are aware that common responsibilities towards their canine companions are prescribed by law. The study of 679 UCD employees investigated their awareness of the legal status of eight defined responsibilities of dog owners.
Laura Keogh was the lead author on this study, which was carried out while she was a student on the School's Veterinary Medicine programme. Laura is now a practicing vet at the Whitehouse Veterinary Clinic in Co Derry. Laura's research was supervised by Dr Locksley Messam and was carried out in collaboration with Professor Alison Hanlon, also from the UCD School of Veterinary Medicine, and Dr Andrew Kelly, Queens University Belfast, and consultant Catherine Devitt.
The study found that across all the groups investigated - 327 dog owners (66 per cent female), 352 non-dog owners (64 per cent female) – only 17.9 per cent were aware of all eight responsibilities for dog owners that are prescribed by law. The study also showed that there were no substantial differences between awareness of owners versus non-owners, or between males and females.
Read the full article in the Irish Times by clicking on the link below:
The full study, published in the Irish Veterinary Journal on 5 January 2022, can be accessed by clicking on the link below:
(opens in a new window)https://irishvetjournal.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s13620-021-00208-z