About the Authors

Lisa J. Wallis

Roles Formal analysis, Investigation, Writing – original draft

Affiliation Department of Livestock and One Health, Institute of Infection, Veterinary and Ecological Sciences, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, United Kingdom

Alisha Murphy

Roles Formal analysis, Investigation, Writing – original draft

Affiliation School of Veterinary Science, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, United Kingdom

Gina Pinchbeck

Roles Conceptualization, Funding acquisition, Methodology, Supervision, Writing – review & editing

Affiliation Department of Livestock and One Health, Institute of Infection, Veterinary and Ecological Sciences, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, United Kingdom

Jenny Stavisky

Roles Conceptualization, Writing – review & editing

Affiliation VetPartners, York, United Kingdom

Louise Buckley

Roles Conceptualization, Writing – review & editing

Affiliation Deanery of Clinical Sciences, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, United Kingdom

Carri Westgarth

Roles Conceptualization, Formal analysis, Funding acquisition, Investigation, Methodology, Project administration, Supervision, Writing – original draft, Writing – review & editing

carri.westgarth@liverpool.ac.uk

Affiliation Department of Livestock and One Health, Institute of Infection, Veterinary and Ecological Sciences, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, United Kingdom

Competing Interests

This research was funded by DEFRA including the post of LW. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, or decision to publish, and provided limited comment to the drafted manuscript. CW has conducted consulting for MARS Petcare, Royal Canin and Forthglade. LB runs Brucella canis RVN, a social media-based page to raise awareness of Brucella canis (BC) among stakeholders, improve access to evidence-based information, support owners of BC positive dogs, and runs workshops for rescue organisations to improve pre-importation protocols for BC. JS works as a Clinical Research Manager at VetPartners Limited. This does not alter our adherence to PLOS ONE policies on sharing data and materials. The remaining authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.”.