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Updated: Jun 22, 2026

The Other End of the Leash: An Experimental Test to Analyze How Owners Interact with Their Pet Dogs
Published on: October 13, 2017
[Canine population dynamics: the potential effect of sterilization campaigns]
Marcos Amaku1, Ricardo Augusto Dias, Fernando Ferreira
1Universidade de São Paulo, Faculdade de Medicina Veterinária e Zootecnia, São Paulo, SP, Brasil. amaku@usp.br
Objective:
To analyze, through mathematical modeling, the potential ability of sterilization campaigns to reduce the population density of pet dogs.
Methods:
Mathematical models were constructed to simulate the canine population dynamics and project the results of control strategies based on several sterilization rates.
Results:
Even at high sterilization rates (for example, 0.80 year(-1)), it would take approximately 5 years to reduce density by 20%. Even so, other sources of population growth, such as the importing of dogs from other geographic areas, could outweigh the effects of a sterilization program.
Conclusions:
A program's effectiveness is contingent upon not only on the sterilization rate, but also the rate of population growth. Sterilization campaigns may potentially reduce population density, but this reduction may not be immediately evident.
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