Clean Run - November 2019 - 21

Let's Talk
About...
Performance
Enhancing Drugs
in Agility

By Cindy Deak

I am a 25-plus year veteran of dog
sports, my main sport being agility.
I have been around, seen a lot, and
heard even more. As a judge, exhibitor, trial chair, and writer, people tend
to talk to me. They tell me all kinds of
things; some I love to hear and to be
honest, some I don't.
About a year ago, I was judging a local AKC trial when an exhibitor acquaintance came up to me and asked
the dreaded "if you knew ________,
what would you do?" question. In
this case, it was "if you knew that
an exhibitor was giving their dogs
drugs to improve its performance,
what would you do?" My answer at
that time was something to the effect
of "well, I don't know they are doing
that, so I'll do nothing." I did not think
much about that encounter until a
few months ago.
I was at a large local trial running my
dog. As I exited the ring after a less
than stellar performance, an exhibitor pulled me aside and said to me "if
November 19 | Clean Run

you put your dog on a mild tranquilizer, you would have better control
in the ring." I walked away a bit surprised; surprised that this was even
an option. The very next day, another
handler mentioned to me that she
procured medicine from a particular
person to calm her dog down in the
ring, and I should investigate it.
I started asking questions and making inquiries of different people to
find out what was really going on.
Imagine my surprise when I found
out that more folks than I could have
fathomed are using different drugs
to enhance their dog's agility performance in the ring. I am not talking
about nutraceuticals or the latest in
the CBD craze; I am talking about
prescriptions from your vet (or purchased through out-of-the-country
pharmacies without a prescription) to
aid the dog in the ring. The stories I
heard about performance-enhancing
drugs ranged from pain killers to sedatives to steroids.

I did some research, and I found one
agility organization with a very thorough drug testing policy-the Finnish Kennel Club. Searching the major
USA organizations led me to nothing. I wonder, is it time to talk about
the use of performance-enhancing
drugs in dog agility (and potentially
other canine sports)? Think about
this; most large athletic competitions
require some sort of drug testing of
both humans and animals. Look at
sport horses; they consider mood
behavior-modifying drugs to be a
banned substance. Why? Because
a mood-altering drug can affect the
presentation and therefore, the result
of a race. Racehorses are tested after major races as are FEI Dressage
horses and some endurance horses.
Some states even do random drug
tests on the jockeys.
In dog agility, there are no current
rules against performance-enhancing drugs or testing for most events.
Does that make it okay?
21



Clean Run - November 2019

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Clean Run - November 2019

Contents
Clean Run - November 2019 - Cover1
Clean Run - November 2019 - Cover2
Clean Run - November 2019 - 3
Clean Run - November 2019 - 4
Clean Run - November 2019 - Contents
Clean Run - November 2019 - 6
Clean Run - November 2019 - 7
Clean Run - November 2019 - 8
Clean Run - November 2019 - 9
Clean Run - November 2019 - 10
Clean Run - November 2019 - 11
Clean Run - November 2019 - 12
Clean Run - November 2019 - 13
Clean Run - November 2019 - 14
Clean Run - November 2019 - 15
Clean Run - November 2019 - 16
Clean Run - November 2019 - 17
Clean Run - November 2019 - 18
Clean Run - November 2019 - 19
Clean Run - November 2019 - 20
Clean Run - November 2019 - 21
Clean Run - November 2019 - 22
Clean Run - November 2019 - 23
Clean Run - November 2019 - 24
Clean Run - November 2019 - 25
Clean Run - November 2019 - 26
Clean Run - November 2019 - 27
Clean Run - November 2019 - 28
Clean Run - November 2019 - 29
Clean Run - November 2019 - 30
Clean Run - November 2019 - 31
Clean Run - November 2019 - 32
Clean Run - November 2019 - 33
Clean Run - November 2019 - 34
Clean Run - November 2019 - 35
Clean Run - November 2019 - 36
Clean Run - November 2019 - 37
Clean Run - November 2019 - 38
Clean Run - November 2019 - 39
Clean Run - November 2019 - 40
Clean Run - November 2019 - 41
Clean Run - November 2019 - 42
Clean Run - November 2019 - 43
Clean Run - November 2019 - 44
Clean Run - November 2019 - 45
Clean Run - November 2019 - 46
Clean Run - November 2019 - 47
Clean Run - November 2019 - 48
Clean Run - November 2019 - 49
Clean Run - November 2019 - 50
Clean Run - November 2019 - Cover3
Clean Run - November 2019 - Cover4
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