The dhole (Cuon alpinus) is one of the least studied endangered top predators inhabiting the Asian jungle. Today, dholes population are estimated fewer than 2500 mature individuals remain in the wild and the declining population trend is expected to continue. These facts lead the IUCN to classify this species as an endangered species. In order to protect this species, the Indonesian government declared the dhole as a protected species through Act No. 5 in 1990 with respect to the law on the conservation of biodiversity and ecosystems as well as in the Government Regulation of the Republic of Indonesia No. 7 in 1999 with respect to the law on the conservation of flora and fauna. Nevertheless, the efforts to conserve this species are not as intensive as other large predator such as tiger (Panthera tigris) and leopard which are listed as high priority mammals to conserve in the Government Regulation of the Republic of Indonesia No. P.57/Menhut-II/2008 with respect to the strategic direction of the national species conservation 2008-2018. Not only conservation action is absent in the field, but basic data on the population status of this species are hard to find in many protected areas including the national parks of Sumatra and Java. These limitations are critical constraints for the conservation and management of dholes in Indonesia and if no significant immediate action is taken soon, this species will face extinction in a number of its natural range. In order to support the conservation and management of this species we established a first systematic research concerning dhole’s ecology in Baluran National Park (BNP), East Java, Indonesia. The research attempted to answer four basic questions concerning dhole’s ecology including the actual status of dhole’s population and prey, dhole’s respond against the gradients of environment conditions anthropogenic disturbance, activity and movement pattern during the denning season, and the feeding habit of this species. The dynamics of dhole populations and its prey populations are fundamental for the successful management and conservation of the dhole. Therefore, estimates of the dhole’s abundance as well as its prey are critical information for management. Distance sampling based on a 287.5 km line transect was applied to estimate the density of dholes and their prey. In addition, a camera trap survey was conducted to detect the presence of this cryptic species and its prey. The dhole population was recorded for two consecutive dry seasons in 2013 and 2014 respectively. We were able to identify at least 4 packs that were frequently sighted at different locations: Bama, Balanan, Merak and Watu Numpuk. However, only two packs were found breeding in 2013 / 2014. In total, 15 prey species were identified during the field survey, consisting of small mammals (6 species), medium-large mammals (5 species), birds (2 species), and primates (2 species). The occurrence of at least four dhole packs with evidence of two of the packs reproducing successfully and the availability of prey in various sizes and from a range of taxa are evidence that BNP provides essential habitat for the dhole and plays a major role in the conservation of dholes on Java in Indonesia. An understanding of the response of the species under various environmental conditions in its natural habitat is critical for its conservation and management. The negative influence of anthropogenic activities on dhole distribution has also been reported in India at the landscape level as well as at the reserve scale. Nevertheless, the evidence of the dhole’s response to anthropogenic activities and the extent of environmental factors beyond site-specific studies are needed to support the management and conservation of dholes at the local scale, which might be associated with different habitat types and environmental conditions. In this research, the impacts of human activities as well as environmental factors on the presence of dholes were studied on 755 plots, which were distributed systematically across the park and their relationships were analysed using a binomial generalized linear model. We found that the presence of dholes was negatively associated with anthropogenic activities and positively associated with the presence of prey. This suggests that reducing anthropogenic activities and ensuring the availability of natural prey are crucial factors for maintaining the long term survival of this species in their natural habitat. It is also important to have a good understanding of their ecology during the denning season (including information about denning ecology and home ranges) if one is to support the management and conservation of this species. Knowledge about den ecology is crucial for understanding the denning strategies of targeted species in given environments, ultimately leading to reproductive success, while knowledge about home ranges on the other hand is also crucial to understand how much space is required, which kind of habitat is necessary, and the effects of various factors (e.g. food resources and breeding requirements) on spacing behaviour and movements during the denning season. Camera traps and radio telemetry surveys were employed to observe dhole activity patterns and movement over the denning period. The dholes showed crepuscular and diurnal activity patterns with most activities intensifying at dawn and dusk, and becoming less intense in the middle of the day. The dhole’s home range comprised of hunting grounds, water resources, and a den in the centre. The home range size was estimated at 744.86 ha (using the 95% Minimum Convex Polygon/MCP method), at 1418.28 ha (using the 80% Kernel Utilization Distribution/KUD analysis), and at 479.59 ha (using 90% Local Convex Hull/LoCoH), whereas the core area was estimated to be 636.36 ha (50% KUD) and 67.37 ha (50% LoCoH), and the size of the most greatly used area at 231.57 ha (25% KUD) comprising of the den sites and the hunting grounds. The dhole’s den ecology strategy was to use other animal’s burrows on steep slopes with dense vegetation cover and located on the opposite side of the hill to where human activity occurred. Den switching occurred every 2 weeks. These results indicate that dholes selected a den site that fulfilled their needs for food, water, cover, and predator evasion. As carnivore, the dhole’s life history strategy depend upon various factors like food, spacing pattern, habitat selection, distribution, social structure and movement pattern. Among those factors, food is the most essential resources for carnivore, because the evolutionary fitness of any predator depends on the quality and quantity of its diet. Therefore, information concerning food habits is important consideration in formulating management strategies, both in species and ecosystem levels. In this research, we studied the dhole’s feeding habit using scat analysis. In total, 54 scats were collected across the park during the dry season 2013 and analyzed to identify the food habits of this species. At least 20 prey species were identified during the scat analysis. Ungulates are the most important prey which was estimated to contribute more than 95 % of the biomass consumed by dholes in BNP. This result implies that as the major preys, ungulates have essential role to the dholes foraging ecology and survival in BNP. Efforts to ensure ungulates availability and to secure habitat will be the key for the dhole’s conservation in Java. Understanding the biology and ecology of managed species is the key to achieve the management success. However, most of wildlife management decision were made based more on the emotion and political agenda than on scientific data. As the result, the impact of management process become far from the expectation and in some occasion raise the new problem. We found that lethal control is an approach which mostly used along the history of dhole’s management and resulting the dramatic dhole’s population decline and explosion of wild ungulates population. Although the dhole’s received protected status from the most countries of its natural ranges, the conservation actions focused in this species have never been reported. The lack of baseline data for dhole’s conservation is still the common phenomenon in the most of dhole’s range. In Java, from 6 national parks which are identified as dhole’s habitat, only 1 national park which have baseline data on dhole’s ecology. This fact has hampered the conservation this species and has placed the future of this species survival into uncertainty. Gathering scientific data related to the dhole’s conservation by multidisciplinary team become the first priority which must be conducted. These will benefit to the management in resolving the problem arises during the management process. The reliable information can also be used improve public understanding to the biology and ecology of dholes and to shape public attitude to be more tolerance to existing of this species.

Osteosarkome sind die häufigsten primären caninen Knochentumoren im appendikularen Skelett. Die Therapiemöglichkeiten mit kurativer Intention sind eine Kombination von Amputation oder gliedmaßenerhaltender Tumorentfernung mit adjuvanter Chemotherapie. Ein beträchtlicher Anteil an Besitzern lehnt solche Maßnahmen ab, und einige Patienten eignen sich wegen anderweitigen gesundheitlichen Problemen oder Tumoren in ungünstigen Lokalisationen nicht für diese Therapie-formen. Durch palliative Strahlentherapie ist es möglich, tumorassoziierten Knochenschmerz zu lindern. Sie dient deshalb als Alternative zu den oben genannten Optionen. Ziel dieser Studie war es, den Effekt einer fraktionierten palliativen 60Cobalt-Bestrahlung bei Hunden mit appendikularen Osteosarkomen zu dokumentieren. Weiterhin wurde evaluiert, ob ein Zusammenhang zwischen dem lokalen Tumorstadium und der Dauer der Schmerzlinderung beziehungsweise Lahmheitsverbesserung bestand. Zwei verschiedene palliative Bestrahlungsproto-kolle wurden hinsichtlich des Grades, dem Zeitpunkt des Eintretens und der Dauer der Wirkung, Nebenwirkungen und der Möglichkeit zur Wiederholung der Bestrahlung bei Wiederauftreten der Symptome verglichen. Eine weitere Aufgabenstellung war das Etablieren von prognostischen Parametern für die palliative Bestrahlung. 30 Hunde mit tumorösen Veränderungen in den langen Röhrenknochen, die typische röntgenologi-sche Veränderungen und Lahmheit zeigten, wurden randomisiert in zwei Gruppen eingeteilt. Gruppe 1 bekam drei Fraktionen zu 9 Gy an Tag 0, 7 und 21. Gruppe 2 erhielt fünf Fraktionen zu 4 Gy an Folgetagen. Wiederholungsbestrahlungen wären bei beiden Gruppen möglich gewesen, wurden aber nur von drei Patienten aus Gruppe 1 in Anspruch genommen. Diagnose und klinische Stadieneinteilung basierten auf klinischer Untersuchung, Blutbild, Blutserumuntersuchungen, Lahmheitsgrad (Grad 0-IV), Grad der Muskelatrophie der betroffenen Gliedmaße, Röntgenbildern des Primärtumors in zwei Ebenen, CT-Analyse des Primärtumors, Metastasensuche in der Lunge per Thoraxröntgen und CT, ante oder post mortem histologischer Untersuchung des Tumors oder Feinnadelaspiration (letztere wenn möglich). Die Tumorlokalisation war variabel, die häufigsten Stellen waren proximal im Humerus (n=13), distal in der Tibia (n=5) und distal im Radius (n=4). 11 Patienten hatten eine Anämie und 19 Hunde einen Anstieg der Alkalischen Phosphatase im Serum. Der Lahmheitsgrad reichte von I-IV mit einem Medianwert von 2,75. Bei 19 Hunden lag eine Muskelatrophie der betroffenen Gliedmaße vor. Die vom Tumor involvierte Knochenlänge schwankte zwischen 16,3 und 83,3 % mit einem Medianwert von 41 %. Die Tumorlänge wurde bei 21 Patienten in der CT länger eingeschätzt als auf den Röntgenaufnahmen. Der Tumorlyseindex lag zwischen I und V (median III). Zu Behand-lungsbeginn hatten sechs Patienten sichtbare Lungenmetastasen auf den Röntgenbildern und in der CT. Aufgrund der Röntgenbilder wäre kein Patient mit makroskopischen Metastasen übersehen worden, jedoch konnten in der CT mehr Veränderungen diagnostiziert werden. Das Einsetzen der Wirkung schwankte zwischen 1 und 25 Tagen nach Bestrahlungsbeginn. Ein Patient erfuhr keine Linderung, vier Hunde liefen vollkommen lahmheitsfrei und die verbleibenden 25 Patienten hatten eine signifikante Verbesserung der Schmerz- beziehungsweise Lahmheitssitua-tion. Die Wirkungsdauer inklusive der Wiederholungsbestrahlungen betrug 0-352 Tage (durch-schnittlich 124 und median 99 Tage). Keines der Protokolle führte zu signifikanten Nebenwirkun-gen. Insgesamt konnte bei 96,7 % der Patienten eine partielle oder komplette Schmerzlinderung erreicht werden. Vergleiche zwischen Gruppe 1 und 2 bezüglich des Grades der Wirkung ergaben keinen Unterschied. Die Wirkung trat bei Protokoll 2 etwas schneller ein, dafür war die mediane Wirkungsdauer bei Protokoll 1 um 37 Tage länger. Diese Unterschiede waren statistisch nicht signifikant. Bezüglich der möglichen prognostischen Parameter hatten Hunde mit weniger als 41 % Knochenbe-teiligung eine längere Wirkungsdauer. Bei geringerem Lahmheitsgrad vor Therapie dauerte die Wirkung etwas länger an. Patienten mit langer Dauer der Lahmheit vor Bestrahlung hatten eine längere Wirkungsdauer. Alle anderen möglichen prognostischen Parameter erwiesen sich als statistisch nicht signifikant. / Osteosarcoma is the most common primary bone tumour of the canine appendicular skeleton. Treatment options with curative intent are limb amputation or limb-sparing surgery followed by adjuvant chemotherapy. However, a considerable proportion of animal owners will reject this option and there are dogs with concurrent problems or tumours in the wrong localisation which preclude them from being good candidates for limb amputation or limb-sparing surgery. Palliative radiotherapy is quite effectively capable of eliminating pain associated with osseous tumors and therefore can serve as an alternative to standard treatment. Goal of this study was to document the effect of fractionated palliative 60Cobalt radiotherapy in dogs with appendicular osteosarcomas. Furthermore it was evaluated if there is a correlation between tumour stage and effect of treatment concerning duration of pain relief/reduction of lameness. Furthermore we compared two palliative radiation protocols concerning magnitude, onset and duration of pain relief, side effects and possibility of repeating the radiotherapy upon re-emergence of pain and to establish prognostic parameters for outcome of palliative radiation. 30 dogs with tumours involving the long bones (all localisations) with typical radiographic lesions and visible lameness were randomized into two groups, receiving three fractions of 9 Gy on days 0, 7 and 21 (group 1), or five fractions of 4 Gy on consecutive days (group 2). For re-irradiation because of re-occurrence of pain symptoms, three patients in group 1 received one fraction of 9 Gy, patients in group 2 would have repeated a full course of 5x4 Gy, but none of the owners was willing to repeat radiotherapy. Diagnosis and clinical staging were based on clinical examination, CBC, blood chemistry, degree of lameness (grades 0-IV), degree of muscle atrophy compared to the opposite limb, radiographs of the tumour in two views, CT analysis of the tumour, search for metastases by thoracic x-rays and CT examination of the thorax, ante or post mortem histological examination or fine needle aspiration cytology (if possible). Localisation of the tumours was variable, but most of them were located in the proximal humerus (n=13), distal tibia (n=5) and distal radius (n=4). There were 11 patients with a decrease of RBC and 19 patients with an elevation of the ALKP. The degree of lameness before radiotherapy was very variable (from I to IV) with a median value of 2.75. In 19 patients we found muscle atrophy of the affected limb. The bone length involvement measured from 16.3 up to 83.3 %, the median value was 41 %. In 21 patients tumour length in the CT was measured to be longer than on x-rays. The index of tumour lysis ranged from I to V with a median value at grade III. Six patients had visible metastases to the lungs on x-rays and CT. In this study no patient would have been missed with metastases on x-rays, but looking at the CT more metastases were counted than on x-rays. Overall there was a variable onset of effect between 1 and 25 days after the beginning of radiation. One dog showed no effect, four dogs were completely free of lameness and 25 patients experienced a significant improvement of their pain and/or lameness situation. The duration of pain relief, including repeated radiotherapy, ranged from 0–352 days, with a mean and median duration of 124.4 and 99 days, respectively. In both groups there were no significant side effects. In total there was a partial or complete pain reduction in 96.7 % of the patients. Comparison of groups 1 and 2 revealed that there was no statistically significant difference in the degree of effect. The onset of effect occurred faster in group 2, but the pain reduction lasted longer in group 1 (median duration 37 days longer than group 2). These differences were not statistically significant. Looking at the possible prognostic factors, dogs with bone length involvement of less than 41 % had better duration of response. Dogs with a lower degree of lameness at the beginning of treatment had longer durations of pain reduction. If the lameness existed for a longer time before treatment, pain reduction lasted longer. There were no further statistically significant parameters.

Inherited Retinal Degenerations (IRDs) are a heterogenous group of diseases which lead to vision impairment and can be found both in humans and in dogs. About 1 in 1,380 humans is estimated to suffer from an autosomal recessive IRD, which would be 5.5 million people worldwide, and many more are estimated to be unaffected carriers. This makes autosomal recessive IRDs likely the most common group of Mendelian diseases in humans. Today, about 300 genetic mutations have been connected to cause retinal diseases in humans. Whilst in dogs only 32 genes have been identified, numerous eye conditions have been described where the genetic cause has not yet been identified. This suggests that there are much more genetic causes to discover in the dog genome. Additionally, the dog serves well as a model organism to investigate IRDs as it is sharing morphological and genetic similarities with humans. For these reasons, proper software, a canine reference genome of high quality, and smart implementation of bioinformatic tools and methods are a big advantage to increase chances of finding new causative genetic variants and subsequently enable faster detection of possible preventions of the disease or at least alleviating its symptoms via early diagnosis. In this project, a pre-existing pipeline consisting of Bash scripts was stepwise improved with the goal to increase its efficiency. After controlling whether previous data could still be reproduced with the old pipeline in a first step, the software was exchanged to more updated versions in a second step. A main change was the replacement of the mapping tool Burrows-Wheeler Aligner (BWA) from bwa mem to bwa-mem2 mem, and the update of deprecated Genome Analysis Toolkit (GATK) 3.7 to version 4.3 or 4.4. Thirdly, the scripts were adapted from using the older canine reference genome CanFam3.1 to CanFam4. In a fourth step, for automatization and fastening the running time, the pipeline steps were implemented into the workflow management system Nextflow. Additionally, this step was partly aiming to make the pipeline in concordance with the FAIR-principles. All steps were tested on the same test data set, a Labrador retriever family trio, in which one genetic cause for a canine form of the IRD Stargardt disease in a previous study had been detected, namely an insertion in the ABCA4 gene. Lastly, the workflow was also tested on a second data set of a novel IRD of unknown genetic origin on two sibling pairs of Chinese Crested Dogs (CCR). The adjustment of the pipeline shows similar results regarding the change of mapping tool. Introducing the new reference genome revealed a drop of average coverage by one read average for when using CanFam4, while other results were similar. Using the new reference genome increased the number of unknown variants compared to findings with CanFam3.1. However, the known causative variant for the canine form of Stargardt disease, an insertion in ABCA4 gene, could be found in all cases. The run with Nextflow produced identical results to when the respective steps were run with Bash scripts, but it reduced the running time. Running the workflow on the new data set (CCR) and subsequent annotation and filtering indicate new candidates which could be further investigated as a potential cause for this currently unknown cause for an IRD.

The purpose of this study was to determine if the animal bite prevention and zoonotic disease program in Pet Awareness With Students (P.A.W.S.) is an effective educational program for younger elementary children. An educational program was delivered and student learning was determined through a pretest and post-test. This program utilized the Classroom Performance System (CPS) to collect responses from first grade students. Responses were collected and compared to the second grade participants who used paper methodology. It was determined that these age groups had little knowledge of animal bites and zoonotic disease. Gender was not related to either pretest or post-test scores. The effect of bite history or having pets at home was also examined. It was determined via test scores that first and second graders have the capacity to learn the information provided. Stakeholder evaluation was positive and provided further impetus for future studies.

This thesis aims to investigate why reading out loud to a reading dog works as a reading promotion action. The focus lies at children from pre-school to middle school in Sweden. The theory that is used is Maslows A theory of human motivation. It is especially the three last steps that are used; love, esteem and self-actualization. The method to collect information was semi-structured interviews with six persons. Two librarians and four dog handlers. What I found was that the three last steps in Maslows theory were fulfilled. This means that this thesis shows that reading loud to a dog works as a reading promotion action because Maslows steps were fulfilled. Important to know is that this study was small and that further studies needs to be conducted to confirme this thesis results.

Twelve pairs of cadaveric pelvic limbs were harvested from skeletally mature dogs. Tibias were randomly assigned pairwise to two study groups: locking buttress screw fixation (LBS) and bone-screw-fastener fixation (BSF). A tibial plateau leveling osteotomy (TPLO) was performed. Each specimen was positioned in a servohydraulic testing machine to simulate physiological orientation and loading at the mid-point of the stance phase at the walk. Cyclic loading was performed for 30,000 cycles at 4Hz with a peak-load of 1000N. The cyclic test was then continued by stepwise increasing the peak-load at a rate of 75N per 500 cycles until failure of the construct. The findings of this current study suggest that stabilization of the TPLO with BSF in the proximal part of a locking TPLO plate provided similar biomechanical stability under cyclic axial loading conditions as the LBS. BSF may be an acceptable alternative to LBS for TPLO.

Surgical preparation reduces commensal bacterial load. Currently, no standardized preoperative ocular preparation method in the dog has been reported. Previous studies use culture-based methods to determine commensal bacterial populations. Recent reports suggest that high-throughput sequencing may be superior to culture techniques to determine bacterial communities in the eye and other tissues. The goal of this study was to describe the conjunctival commensal ocular microbiome and bacterial community using DNA sequencing and aerobic cultures of six normal, healthy dogs and investigate the short and long-term effects of an antiseptic protocol on the ocular microbiome. Samples were obtained prior to, immediately following, 24 hours following, and 4 weeks following ocular preparation. The Mississippi State University microbiology laboratory evaluated aerobic cultures, and the Gastrointestinal Laboratory of Texas A&M University performed DNA sequencing. This is the first study to show short and long-term effects of standard ocular surgical preparation on the ocular surface microbiome.

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) / The focus of this qualitative descriptive study is the experience of physically disabled young people as they transition into adulthood while living with a service dog. The cornerstone of young adulthood is transition. For any young adult leaving home, the transition involves inter- and intra-personal changes that affect future well-being. Unfortunately, the majority of young adults with congenital disabilities are less likely to be fully employed and to live independently than their non-disabled peers. To date, very little research about living with a disability exists from the point of view of young adults. Even fewer qualitative research studies exist that focus on service dog teams. This research report will add to the body of nursing knowledge about people with disabilities and their experience of transition in the areas of health, work/school, relationships and identity. The findings result from descriptive analysis of interviews with four young adults and one parent. Using qualitative descriptive methods, the researcher identified three themes that defined the experience of transition. It’s different now contained stories regarding life before and after obtaining the service dog. This theme included elements of personality development similar to any young adult in transition, such as identifying “who I am now.” Going places was the most personal theme, describing the social implications of going or not going places and the environmental and personal barriers related to learning to drive. Calling the shots centered on the ability to make choices for themselves and the dog, as well as to participate in age appropriate milestones, such as attending college and living away from home. The findings of this study will be useful to professionals who place service dogs with persons with disabilities, rehabilitation specialists who desire appropriate interventions to facilitate transitions, and nurse researchers and clinicians who desire to understand the bond between animals and human beings.

The goal of my thesis was to find out whether it is possible to distinguish among individual dog breeds from the protein analysis of their fur. This knowledge could be used, for example, in forensic science. In this work, there was also a comparison of the similarity of dog breeds with a wolf, which was domesticated and is considered as an ancestor of the dog. For this study, the hair of three representatives of sixteen dog breeds was collected. To analyse these samples enzyme cleavage was used a trypsin, and mass spectra were obtained by MALDI- TOF MS (Matrix-Assisted Laser Desorption/Ionization - Time of Flight Mass Spectrometry) and LC/MS-MS (Liquid Chromatography with Tandem Mass Spectrometry) methods. The obtained data were evaluated by the PCA (Principal Component Analysis) and LDA (Linear Discriminant Analysis) method. It was found, that individual dog breeds cannot be distinguished using both methods. KEYWORDS proteomics, coat, dog, breeds, mass spectrometry

This thesis builds on my bachelor thesis "Selected mammals in elementary and secondary education". It deals with the opinions of 8th and 9th grade pupils of elementary schools on the dangers posed by selected mammal species. Among the selected species in this work are brown bear (Ursus arktos), wolf (Canis lupus), lynx (Lynx lynx), fox (Vulpes vulpes), dog (Canis lupus familiaris), and wild boar (Sus strofa). All these animals are found in the territory of the Czech Republic. In addition to the perception of dangers posed by these mammals, the thesis also ascertains knowledge of and attitude towards these selected species. The pupils also expressed their opinions about dog breeds and stated whether they currently had a dog, or had had one in the past, and if so, what kind it was. The study was conducted on the basis of a questionnaire survey. Questionnaires were given out at primary schools in areas, where some of the beasts abide (brown bear, wolf, lynx). The work also contains information about individual mammal species that were studied as well as the introduction of the domestic dog, its domestication and an overview of dog breeds. Key words: bear, wolf, dog, lynx, fox, wild boar, breeds