Ethics
The project was approved for ethical standards by Comissão de
Ética e Bem-Estar Animal (016/2020), Faculty of Veterinary Medicine,
University of Lisbon, Portugal. All owners gave written informed consent
for study participation and were free to withdraw at any time. Owner’s
confidentially was ensured by a system of assigning a number to each
dog, concealing the public disclosure of personal details. All
procedures were conducted according to national legislation and animal
welfare standards.