The wellness of active dogs is greatly diminished by musculoskeletal diseases and conditions. These pathologies include osteoarthritis, degenerative joint disease and spinal cord disease. Regenerative medicine affords new opportunities to improve the wellness of dogs. The transplantation of mesenchymal stromal cells is an emerging therapy in regenerative medicine. These cells mediate their therapeutic effects, in part, through the action of cell-surface enzymes, termed CD39 and CD73, which help to improve regeneration of tissues through their regenerative properties. However, progress in this field in relation to dogs is undermined by the lack of validated reagents to and functional characterization of these enzymes, limiting the quality assurance of mesenchymal stromal cells derived from dog tissues for use as therapeutic cells.