The Dog Aging Project - Early Findings from 27,541 Dogs

The Dog Aging Project (DAP) is a community science project through which volunteer dog owners share information about their dogs for the purpose of scientific research intended to identify the biological and environmental factors that maximize companion dog health and longevity. The project is primarily funded by grants from the National Institute on Aging, a part of the National Institutes of Health, and is an open data project, meaning that raw data are regularly made available through periodic public releases. The first public release contains data on 27,541 living dogs, including physical activity, environmental features, behavior, diet components, medications, and health status and history of the dog, and demographic characteristics of both the dog and owner. Compared to most veterinary research, which is performed in specialty centers where serious and rare diseases are overrepresented, this cohort has been recruited from the community and therefore represents dogs with more typical health experiences. This presentation will introduce the DAP Pack to the veterinary community, including signalment and geographic distribution of enrolled dogs, and will describe findings about health status and most frequent diagnoses among study participants.