Sydney Dodd did research on spirochaetosis in livestock and studied veterinary bacteriology.
His thesis was: Spirochaetosis in Fowls in Queensland. In addition to taking charge of vaccine production, his research work was notable for spirochaetosis in livestock and is credited for recognising its bacterial cause in pigs which was published in 1906 as . In 1905 after returning to South Africa he became the assistant government veterinary bacteriologist to Arnold Theiler at the Daspoort laboratories in Pretoria. The Queensland Government engaged Dodd in 1907 as Principal Veterinary Surgeon and Bacteriologist, following a cattle tick conference in May of that year. In 1911 Dodd was appointed the first lecturer in veterinary bacteriology at the University of Sydney. 
