Clean Run Magazine - February 2009 - 5

Editorializing… Observations, Anecdotes, Opinions and a Silly Little Thing Called Bias By I. Martin Levy, MD We see what we see. Or do we? It is what it is. But is it really? It is our nature as human beings to try and make sense of our environment. We search for predictability. If the sky is gray, will it rain? How about blue, can I travel safely today? Then someone makes an observation, and the next thing you know a red sky at sunset is delighting sailors and at sunrise is worrying those same mariners. An observation, made over and over again becomes an accepted truth, and then one day as scientists come to understand, they support or refute that truth. It made sense, both observationally and politically, that the earth was the center of the universe. Copernicus could attest to the fact that observer bias creeps in where you least want it. Yet, accepted theory finally gave way to mathematical modeling and astronomy, and now the earth revolves around the sun. Agility has come a long way from our beginnings as a demonstration event at the Crufts dog show in the U.K. Changes in training methods, handling systems, rules, and obstacle design have led to a sport that is infinitely more challenging. Along with these changes, we have seen opinions arise on everything from approaches to contact obstacles to the height of the slats on those contacts. For instance, everyone knows that the tire is dangerous and that the two-on/ two-off position is the most reliable way to go. And rubber—a rubber surface on the A-frame is undoubtedly better. Oh, really? There is no doubt that when things go wrong on the tire, they look horrible. The kind of horrible you don’t forget. My Penny (a.k.a. the Pennamaniac) struck the bottom of the tire with her chest and somersaulted 360°—a jaw-dropper. But it is an anecdote nonetheless. I observed it, I know it happened, and I know it looked bad. Still, it was only one exposure among thousands that weekend. And three years later when we looked at the injury data collected from the agility community (see CR February 2007), it wasn’t the tire that was high on the list; it was our good friend the A-frame. And what about the old reliable two-on/two-off position? The square dog gets to the bottom and looks like a hyperextended gymnast. We practice the position over and over. Are we sure it is good for that type of dog with his structure and conformation? In the mid-1980s there was no doubt that artificial surface was bad for football players. It was responsible for infections, caused concussions, and just plain hurt the knees of football athletes. Well, the truth is: the infections resulted from the pond water that they used to clean one of the fields; a frozen field in Green Bay, Wisconsin, is harder on the head than the artificial fields; and an artificial grass field can be tuned to the softness of your favorite mattress. Selection and observer biases nearly resulted in banning fields that can be used where weather conditions would make playing on natural fields difficult or dangerous. Well, folks, it is time. There are lots of observations and lots of opinions about agility. Lots of decisions are being made based on those observations and opinions. And let’s not forget the myriad variables. Unfortunately, there is a lot of inadvertent observer bias as well. Often we are making choices about training, rules, and obstacles based on conjecture. While these conjectures may ultimately be supported, they are nothing but good hunches at this time. Most observations are, at least, a little biased. That doesn’t mean they are bad. Observation starts the investigational ball rolling and if someone doesn’t observe, there c an b e n o opi n i on an d n o data. The trick is to make sure the desired result do es not influence the observation. The two-on/two-off position is good for most conformations of dog structure, but not all. Square dogs may suffer from that position. Whoa, another opinion. It is time, people. It is time to look at conjectures and trends and determine if there is truth. Nutrition, training, handling, and rules need to be formally evaluated to protect our fuzzy buddies. Our community has the skill sets, size, and desire to test these trends. Everyone has the ability to fill out forms. I challenge us all. Design the studies, fill in the survey forms, compile the resulting data, and let’s separate opinion from fact. I. Martin Levy, MD 5 I. Martin Levy, MD, lives in Ardsley, New York, and is a human sports medicine orthopaedist. His areas of interest include anterior cruciate injury, biomechanics, and sports epidemiology. He uses that experience to evaluate obstacle safety and dog injury patterns in canine agility. He has four Border Collies that participate in agility and Frisbee. Contact him at Frzbdog2@aol.com. February 09 | Clean Run

Clean Run Magazine - February 2009

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Clean Run Magazine - February 2009