You are asked to participate in a research study on the frequency of injuries to dogs involved in agility competitions. The study is being conducted by Ms. KL Cullen from the Biophysics Interdepartmental Group at the University of Guelph under the supervision of Dr. JP Dickey, Dr. NM Moëns and Dr. J Thomason. Results from this research study will contribute to an improved understanding of mechanisms of injury in canine agility, and are part of Ms. Cullen’s PhD dissertation. This study is sponsored by the Ontario Veterinary College Pet Trust.
If you have any questions or concerns about the research, please feel free to contact Ms. Kim Cullen, Student Investigator at kcullen@uoguelph.ca or Dr. Jim Dickey at jdickey@uwo.ca.
PURPOSE OF THE STUDY
The purpose of this study is to describe the injuries that are occurring to dogs participating in agility events. We are interested in knowing more about what types of injuries are most common (such as muscle strain, ligament sprain etc) and what part of the dog’s body (e.g., shoulder, toes, etc) are most commonly involved. We are also interested in learning how the injuries occurred – such as whether or not there was a specific event that contributed to the injury (e.g., collision with handler, or specific piece of equipment on course).
We would still like you to complete the survey if your dog(s) has(have) not had an injury playing agility. It is important to understand how 'big' the problem is, which means we need to know about the injuries that are occurring within the context of understanding how many dogs play without ever having an injury.
This information will be used to guide the development of future research questions, as part of Ms. Cullen’s PhD dissertation, which focuses on examining the biomechanical risks of injury to dogs participating in agility events.
PROCEDURES
This survey will take less than 20 minutes of your time to complete. We would be happy to share the findings of this survey with you if you are interested. You will be given an opportunity to sign-up to receive a summary of the research findings before you finish the survey.
If you agree to participate in this study, we would ask you to answer some questions about you (your age and how long you have been training agility dogs, for example), and questions which focus on your dog’s participation in agility events. The survey will collect information on any injuries your dog has sustained while participating in agility (either in training or competition). You will have the opportunity to enter information separately for each dog in your household that has participated in agility events.
You will be asked to provide your dogs’ registration numbers for the Agility Association of Canada (AAC), United States Dog Agility Association (USDAA) and/or UK Agility (UKA) - if you play in AAC, USDAA or UKA agility. We will use these ID numbers to retrieve additional data about the number of trials you and your dog regularly attend. We will be collecting the following information from your dog’s record: owner’s name, dog name, dog breed, trial date, events entered at the trial, which events received qualifying scores, host club, and judge. This information will help us to estimate injury rates for dog agility events.
POTENTIAL RISKS AND DISCOMFORTS
The survey will ask you to reflect on any past injuries your dog may have sustained while participating in agility events. While this may remind you of a potentially distressing event, the risks involved in completing this survey are no more than would be encountered in everyday life.