Ecological survey of dog population and ownership care system in Jos-south Local Government Area of Plateau State, Nigeria

Dog ecology has impact on effectiveness of dog management and disease control strategies in a society. The study was carried out in Jos South Local Government Area of Plateau State, Nigeria from November 2017 to April 2018 to determine the ecological survey of owned dog population and ownership care system of dogs using questionnaires. Age, sex, breed, management of dogs, diseases knowledge and response to vaccination protocol among dog owners were analysed. Out of 600 households visited, 1,253 dogs were found with each house hold having an average of 2 dogs using incidental technique method. The dogs comprise of 583 males and 670 females out of which 26.5 and 23.5% where under intensive and extensive care system of management respectively, while 50% of the dogs were under semi-intensive care system. The major reasons for keeping these dogs are security (75.7%) and breeding (18.3%) and the rest is 6%, while the most common sources of dogs is through buying (60.1%). The vaccination coverage in the area surveyed was 70.3% while the most common occurring diseases as reported by the owners were found to be helminthosis (54.2%), myiasis (12.5%), mange (8.0%) and the rest is 25.3%. The result also showed male to female ratio of 1:1.2 and a dog to house ratio of 2:1. Furthermore, the respondents were aware of vaccination (79.8%) but some reported that the vaccination was not necessary (20.2%) and therefore did not vaccinate their pets. Among those that vaccinate, majority (64.9%) vaccinated against rabies disease only, despite helminthosis was the disease mostly reported by the respondents. It was recommended that intensive management care system of the dogs and adequate health care which includes proper de-worming and vaccinations with its vaccination schedule should be adopted by the owners in the study area. Awareness campaign on the need for vaccination of dogs should also be advanced in order to prevent the deadly diseases of pets in the locality.