Interobserver variability of assessing body condition scores and muscle condition scores in a population of 43 active working explosive detection dogs.

ABSTRACT:

Objectives

This study aimed to evaluate the agreement between explosive detection dog (EDD) handlers and a team of veterinarians in assessing body condition score (BCS) and muscle condition score (MCS), hypothesizing significant BCS differences between handlers and veterinarians, and no significant MCS differences in healthy active duty EDDs.

Methods

This prospective study analyzed variance and inter-rater intraclass correlation coefficients (ICC) of agreement within BCS and MCS assessments collected from the 43 EDDs by four blinded graders; the EDDs' respective handler and three veterinarians with varying levels of veterinary expertise.

Results

The results of the study showed that 74.4% of the EDD population was graded as ideal BCS (4 or 5 out of 9) by the handlers c

SUBMITTER: Christie KM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11525006 | biostudies-literature | 2024

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature