Greyhound trainer gives his dogs Viagra in race-betting scam

Anthony Fowler, 61 greyhound trainer, gave his dogs Viagra and Marijuana in a race betting scam. Mr Fowler said they would “run their heads off” when he gave them Viagra at unlicensed meetings and he would place bets on them to win. But when he wanted them to lose he would feed them Marijuana because it would slow them down.

Viagra

This would improve the betting odds on his dogs and he could then give them Viagra or Nandrolone the testosterone based drug used by athletes to improve performance to increase speed at another race.
Now he has been convicted of two charges of causing unnecessary suffering to a dog and two charges of administering drugs knowing it might cause injury.

John Ellwood, prosecuting for the RSPCA, told the court: “He admitted in interview that he fed his greyhounds cannabis when he wanted them to lose races. He did so by boiling the cannabis.
“When he wanted the dog to win the race he injected it with a drug which turns out to be Nandrolone, which is a testosterone derivative.

“He explained Nandrolone and travel sickness pills would affect the way the dogs would run. In particular, he showed the officer Viagra tablets which, according to him, make them ‘run their heads off’.”

Mr Ellwood said police ­interviewed Fowler in September last year after receiving reports he was involved in selling cannabis. Fowler told the officers he was drugging his dogs and police informed the RSPCA.
Fowler was later interviewed by an RSPCA inspector – by which time his greyhound Jake had died.

He explained the dog had injured its shoulder at a race meeting and a vet said fixing the shoulder would be costly. Mr Ellwood said cannabis could cause convulsions and hallucinations in dogs. Viagra could cause inflammation of the blood vessels.

Fowler had initially denied charges against him but he changed his plea to guilty at Hartlepool magistrates. No mitigation was given and Fowler, of Stockton-on-Tees, is due to be sentenced after a probation report has been prepared. He declined to comment after the case. The court did not explore how much he was alleged to have made from his scam.

Speaking after the case, Trudy Baker, founder of Greyhound protection group Greyt Exploitations, said: “I have never heard of Viagra being used before. But there been eight cases of dogs testing positive for cocaine in the last three years. “The industry is self-regulating. It is just not done properly.”