We know our dogs are often vital to the smooth running of your farm business. We have partnered up with TeamMate who have been busy doing farm dog research for a number of years to bring you some results and tips to ensuring the health, safety and longevity of your dogs while they are working hard. Part 1 of a three-part series.
Lori Linney is a senior veterinarian at Vetlife in Alexandra, in Central Otago. Originating from Canada, she has had a keen interest in working dogs for over 25 years. As a veterinarian Lori runs a busy surgical theatre with a special interest in orthopaedic and soft tissue surgery, rehabilitation and medicine. She and her husband farmed sheep and beef in Southland before moving to Central Otago 12 years ago.
Lori was the lead veterinarian for the TeamMate working dog project which had twelve Vetlife teams collecting data every six months from ~700 dogs and has been involved from its beginnings in 2003 alongside the Working Dog Centre team at Massey University. The project produced a huge amount of data which Massey University has been utilising and publishing in research papers with a PhD student. The information gathered from the project will help provide baseline data for many projects in the future.