When To Retire........

[ness]

GET OVER IT huh . I knew you were waiting for me to slip up so you could say but you said .

ETA. I took my non-retired but on rest from agility BC out to agility and she wanted to work at about 200% enthusiasm. God she was just FERAL.

Edited October 3, 2007 by ness

[Guest Clover]

Go Ness . You will know when she has realy had enough.

I have been thinking about this for a while re: Clover, she will be 9 in a couple of weeks. At the park she is happy enough to hoon with the others for a few minutes then spends the rest of the time just wandering slowly and sniffing around. Loves her nanna naps during the day, and is in bed by 9PM. Get her to a Flyball comp and she goes nuts . I did a bit of Obedience at the park last night with her and she was keen. Whilst she is still happy and keen i wont retire her.

The worst sight is seeing a dog dragged into the ring and not wanting to be there, and trotting into the ring then realy struggling .

[Ptolomy]

The worst sight is seeing a dog dragged into the ring and not wanting to be there, and trotting into the ring then realy struggling .

A dog doesn't have to be old to have this happen!!!! and I couldn't agree with you more - its not a pretty sight.

[leopuppy04]

- see Ness - all you have to do is *threaten* retirement and just look at the results you reap!!!!

Like me - threatening to take Leo to the sausage factory..... although I think he clued on to that one !

[oceanaussi]

Very interesting topic! I've got an 8-year-old Kelpie X. She was great in agility but as a X not allowed to compete in Australia. I went to Germany a few years ago and she competed there - winning a European title for X-breeds. She also did the Schutzhund successfully. Unfortunately she got HD and after the operation we did a lot of physio until the vet cleared her to do everything again. But I also moved back to Australia, so there's not much I can do with her here.

I can notice she's getting old. Although I don't really have the choice of retiring her or not, I decided not to join an agility club anymore. Due to her condition I don't want her to jump anymore. I've got a little agility course at home with the things she liked. I have a few jumps in there but only the long ones. The walks are shorter these days too as she goes to sleep straight afterwards. I'm doing more obedience training with her and these days try to keep her mentally occupied rather than physically.

I do more obedience, I tried light-tracking but she's hopeless at that. She still has days where she runs around in circles and jumps and carries on but other days she just wants to lay out in the sun. We do a lot of swimming and she absolutly loves it but she doesn't know when to stop. I can see that she's getting tired and I really have to drag her out of the water because she doesn't want to get out but I'm afraid she'll cramp or gets too exhausted - and she's a far better swimmer than me.

I think you should just take it more easy. Your dog will want to please you as well, keep that in mind. Just see how it goes. Good luck!