A 15-year Longitudinal Study of Search-and-Rescue Dogs Identifies the Musculoskeletal Integumentary and Gastrointestinal Systems as Commonly Affecte

To better understand the effect of search-and-rescue (SAR) work on dogs’ health, the authors followed 150 SAR dogs for 15 years (95 who were deployed to the September 11th terror attack site), sending annual surveys to handlers and analyzing reported health events. They found that the most commonly affected systems included the musculoskeletal (31%), integumentary (22%), and gastrointestinal systems (20%). There were no differences in health events based on deployment to the terrorist attacks, breed, or sex of the dogs.