Management practices of pet dog among a representative sample of owners in Sylhet, Bangladesh

The study was conducted to determine the management practices of pet dog performed in Sylhet city, Bangladesh which will assist in future research to set a proper management strategy for pet dogs. A total of 20 lead kennel owners have been selected for this study. A structured questionnaire on management practices and disease preventive measures was completed in face-to-face interviews with the kennel owners. All the data obtained from 20 different kennel owners of Sylhet city were organized, structured and analyzed with the help of MS Excel spreadsheet. Among the 58 dogs of the kennel owners 29.31% dogs were adult male and 46.55% dogs were adult female. Among the seven types of dog breeds commonly found in Sylhet city German shepherd was 36.21%, Doberman 34.48%, Rottweiler and local 6.90%, Labrador and German spitz 3.45%, and Cross 8.61%. Majority (55%) of the kennel owners bred their dogs for both security and commercial purposes and a great number (90%) of the kennel owners used a stud for natural mating. Most of the houses (55%) were made of a mixture of wood, metal and concrete and kennel owners of Sylhet city practiced combined housing system. Rice, meat, milk, kitchen residue and other formulated foods were used as feed stuff for most of the kennels (45%) and fed their pets three times daily rather than balanced diet. Kennel owners vaccinated their adult dog timely but they were unaware of practicing hygienic and sanitary measures scientifically. These results can be used to compare similar studies across time or different places, although we suggest that future research should include study on basic needs of pet dogs in appropriate and scientific way to determine the management practices which produce optimum welfare outcomes for pet dogs.