Evidence map›Paper›PMID 41142554›Full record

ArticleFrontiers in veterinary science2025

United States military working dogs from 2019 to 2021: analysis of causes of service discharge and decreased service life.

Dakota Discepolo, Brian Farr, Desiree Broach, Andrea Henderson, Angelina Gerardo, Jessie Dyer, Eric Best

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Frontiers in veterinary science, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.

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1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

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3 · Its place in the literature

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0 citing papers in PubMed.

No citing paper in PubMed yet.

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

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5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

7 authors.

Dakota DiscepoloU.S. Army Combat Capabilities Development Command Chemical Biological Center, Edgewood, MD, United States.
Brian FarrDepartment of Defense Military Working Dog Veterinary Service, San Antonio, TX, United States.
Desiree BroachDepartment of Defense Military Working Dog Veterinary Service, San Antonio, TX, United States.
Andrea HendersonDepartment of Defense Military Working Dog Veterinary Service, San Antonio, TX, United States.
Angelina GerardoDepartment of Defense Military Working Dog Veterinary Service, San Antonio, TX, United States.
Jessie DyerDepartment of Defense Military Working Dog Veterinary Service, San Antonio, TX, United States.
Eric BestDepartment of Emergency Management and Homeland Security, University at Albany, Albany, NY, United States.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Introduction: Military working dogs (MWDs) are maintained by the United States Department of Defense (DoD) in effort to maintain readiness. MWDs provide valuable abilities which include explosive and drug detection capabilities as well as security support. However, acquiring, training, and maintaining MWDs requires significant investment of resources. Therefore, understanding the prominent causes of service discharge and associated causes and demographics associated with decreased service duration in the modern MWD population is crucial. Methods: To meet this objective, an extensive review was conducted of service discharge records of MWDs who were discharged from service in fiscal years 2019 through 2021. The causes of service discharge were categorized and subcategorized by Army Veterinary Corps Officers with extensive MWD experience. Service life and operational service life were calculated using lifecycle dates. Chi-square analysis compared frequencies of categories and subcategories, and logistic regression analysis was conducted on occurrence of the five most prominent categories to identify associations with breed, size, subpopulation, goal at procurement, outcome of service discharge, and duration of service. Results: The presented results include data on 1,230 MWDs who were discharged from service during the selection period. The five most prominent causes of service discharge were neuromusculoskeletal disease, training, fear-anxiety, neoplasia, and heat injury which accounted for discharge of 83.50% of the MWDs. Each of these prominent categories were significantly associated with at least one of the population characteristics analyzed and all of them were significantly associated with duration of service. ANOVA analysis comparing mean service life resulted in significant differences of mean overall service with main effects of breed ( Conclusion: These findings can inform mitigation strategies to prevent early or preventable service discharge in the future.

Indexed as

military working dogretirementservice dischargeservice lifeworking dog

Identifiers

PMID41142554
PMCPMC12548479

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.