Demographic Description of Domestic Dogs Population (Omsk, Russia)

Abstract

The aim of this article was to describe population of owned dogs in Omsk (Russia). The article includes data on the abundance, age and sex ratio, breeds and size of owned dogs. In addition, we studied freeranging dogs. We conducted door-to-door survey of dog owners using stratified two-stage random sample. A total of 1 583 households were interviewed and 23 % of them were found to be dog owning households with a higher proportion in one-story residential area (72 %), than in the multi-storey residential area (11 %). The overall number of dogs in Omsk was estimated to be 78 774, dog density was 911 dogs/km2. About 27 % of owned dogs was always allowed to roam freely in the one-storey area; in multi-storey area this practice is extremely rare (2 %). The ratio of male to female dogs in the multi-storey area was 1:1. In the area of one-storey buildings owners prefer males (62.5 %). The average age of the population was 3.8 years. In the multi-storey area of Omsk owners have mostly purebred dogs, preferring decorative medium and small dogs. In the one-storey area 51 % of owners have mongrel dogs and among the purebred dogs they prefer watchdogs and guard dogs

Keywords

• owned dogs
• abundance
• sex ratio
• age structure
• breeds