In many remote Northern Territory communities camp dogs, usually free roaming and in large numbers, have become part of the landscape.

Like any pet they are part of family life, and in Aboriginal communities they often have important cultural significance too.

But controlling populations can be a tricky task, especially when the nearest vet is hundreds of kilometres away.

"Overpopulation brings a whole suite of challenges including poor welfare, so sickness and illness in the animals," Bonnie Cumming from Animal Management in Rural and Remote Indigenous Communities (AMRRIC) said.

"It can be quite difficult to find enough resources so they can become quite skinny and have a lot of competition."

Increased competition for food also leads to heightened aggression in dogs, which have been a factor in the deaths of at least three people in remote communities in the past 10 years.

"We're also looking at parasite control, so some parasites can be transferred from animals to humans, so it's really important we focus on those ones particularly," Ms Cumming said.

In a bid to try and curb animal numbers and improve community health AMRRIC have developed a census tool to better track and treat camp dogs and cats.

One of the problems of overpopulation is that dogs often do not get enough food. ( ABC News: Kristy O'Brien )

Ms Cumming was in the remote NT community of Wadeye, about 400 kilometres south-west of Darwin, to assist local rangers to conduct the census for the second year in a row.

"We were able to run a report from [last year's census] and make some recommendations in terms of how often vets need to be coming and the duration and what they should be targeting when they do come to the community," she said.

Animals treated as data collected

Over the course of a week, Ms Cumming and local Thamurrurr rangers visited households and recorded the numbers of dogs and cats, their rough age and health.

They also used the opportunity to ask owners if the animals have been desexed and, if not, if they would like it done while the vets were in the community.

"When we're collecting the information about their animals we're also treating their animals for parasites," Ms Cumming said.

"So we're offering their dogs some medicine and that helps to treat them for ticks and mites and also intestinal worms.

"Everyone's very open to receiving that."

AMRICC are training the local Thamurrur Rangers to conduct the census. ( ABC News: Georgia Hitch )

Thamurrur ranger Boniface Nemarluk said there was a noticeable difference after the program was rolled out for the first time last year.

"It's working, all them dogs from last year we done and it's getting good now," he said.

"Most people got a lot of dog, they're always cheeky, some people don't have a dog, but have cats but the problem is the dog walking around."

Ms Cumming said most importantly the data meant AMRRIC could make longer-term management plans.

"It's been a bit sporadic with animal management but we've got from the census that we were able to do last year we were able to obtain some funding for future programs," she said.

"That means we will have consistent programs going forward and that can only benefit the community."