Retirment Age

[rusty&biscuit]

Hi everyone, just read this article and found it very interesting: http://silvia.trkman.net/agilityisgood.htm

Would love to hear everyone's thoughts/opinions on the retirment age for agility dogs; my first ever dog is now 12 (well, in a few days!) and even though she's not slowed down a huge amount, I have decided to retire her from the competition ring, and have cut back on her walks and everything. But after reading this article I'm not sure it's the right thing to do? Sorry, paranoid doggy mum here :D :laugh:

[Tassie]

Good question. I think there is no simple answer - it depends so much on the individual dog, and their history and their attitude.

I know of one mini poodle who was retired from competitive agility at 9, just because she was 9, and then moped for a couple of years until her owner decided it was unfair, and brought her back in - much to the dog's delight. :laugh:

I've competed in jumping with a 12.5 year old first BC - but he was fit, reasonably lean, and competing in UD, so training and jumping anyway. Thata was years ago.

Now my dogs see their chiro every few months, although she's retired now - so they see a holistic vet who does massage and acupuncture. This is in addition to their normal vet. My skinny minnie 490 mm 15 kg BC bitch was still running happuly and as successfully as normal (given the crap handling of her handler) in Masters and Open. She will be 11 at the end of this month - but has the OK from her vet to keep competing as long as she wants to. His attitude was - be guided by her. She'll get a couple of acupuncture treatments before the trial season begins in March - and then we'll just play it by ear.

I have to say, I'm a bit of a worry wort, and I've always been conservative with my dogs - so not huge amount of training - minimal fetch games etc. etc. And they've been on Joint Guard prophylactically for years. And they don't start juming till the growth plates have closed - etc. ec.

Kirra has nothing to prove in terms of titles - they're a bonus if they come. We try for Qs, or at least avoiding DQs :laugh: - but we run mainly cos we can, and aim to have fun and run as well as we can technically and as fast as I can manage her. So I'm in a fortunate position where she doesn't owe me anything, and there's no pressure on her.

She's also still competing in TSD and Rally, and we're still trying to get time to play some more with DWD. So there's quite a bit of cross-training, I guess you'd say.

[Agility Dogs]

GREAT ARTICLE.

My dogs will retire when their either lose the desire or they lose the physical ability to run.

My girl is only 6.5 years old, but has been retired for almost 16 months due to an injury caused by faulty equipment. She is about to make her comeback and the fire in her eyes when we are training is beyond belief.

[ness]

I retired my oldie from agility (who is now 12.5) when she gained her final leg towards her last open title. She was 10 or so at the time. I saw no reason to risk her in a high impact activity for the sake of it week in week out. She still enjoyed it. She still enjoyed coming to training and running short sequences but I guess to me you do resort to looking after their bodies.

She isn't retired from life. She would still get twice daily off-lead walks/runs. Trips to the beach. Lots of swimming. Little bits of training at home.

She is still a sound 12.5 year old and has no real physical limitations.

I have seen many young dogs injured doing performance activities and see no reason to subject my oldie to that risk. She enjoyed it but she didn't live for it as some other dogs do.

We then started with tracking and she has her first two tracks completed towards her TD title and gained her novice Rally-O title in 3 straight trials. I may dust her off and give her a go in Advance this year.

[staffylover81]

I retired my staffy when she was 12 not due to the fact she couldn't do agility anymore but because she has started getting cataracts and at clubs that had really bad lights she couldn't see the jumps and kept running into them and I didn't want her to get injured so I retired her had it not been for this I think I would still be trialling her

[Pretty Miss Emma]

I had to retire Emma just before she turned 12 but only because she went blind within about 3-4 weeks. I think she would have still happily done it if she had been physically able (other than her eyes she was in good shape at that time).

[canine fun sports]

Rabbit was just over 13years when she retired. I retired her because she was starting to misjudge her take-offs and at an evening trial, she misjudged to top of the scramble. An eye site issue, I have assumed. She is now 16 and gets around pretty well. I have kept her active, with lots of exercise and a few days ago she still managed to dog a couple of scrambles (slightly lower height than competition height) and she was just so pleased with herself. Keeping our dogs as acive as possible definitely keeps them younger - physically and mentally. Same though happens for humans.

Cheers,

[rusty&biscuit]

Thanks so much for the replies everyone :D Have been taking Cherry out on her normal walks now...either 4.5km around the block, or a 2km hike, and she's so happy! She is leaner and fitter than she's ever been too. So I might let her do games now and then, as she does still really enjoy it, but doesn't really live for it.

Tassie, Cherry is also on the smaller side, 450mm and 15kg. Biscuit gets the chiropractor in every now and then, so I'll have to get her to do a treatment for Cherry as well if I can afford it :)

Ness, that's where I've definately gone wrong; retiring her from life. But not anymore!

CFS, wow, 16, she's doing great!! And to retire at 13, especially for a large breed, that's excellent. I now understand about keeping active to keep younger - I always say that's what I want to be like when I'm old...and after reading this article, I'm like...why not do the same for Cherry?

Thanks again everyone, I am finding this all very interesting, and still working on forming my own opinion on the matter

[Guest Clover]

I have been stewing over this for days, well actually years in re: to flyball. It seems these days it is completely except able to run a dog / compete with it until you see problems or worse still until the dog physically cannot do the sport anymore . Even then a lot of people won't retire their dogs. I have always personally thought that retirement before problems crop up is the way to go.

2 of my dogs are retired because of personal reasons not that they can't happily compete anymore. Clover was a forced retirement after tearing a cruciate at the park, and I would never compete with a dog after that injury. Elvis was retired 18 months ago as I noticed him slowing down at flyball, and sleeping for days after a comp. Just recently he has had his knees checked and they are not the best. I am kicking myself for not retiring him earlier.

The pup I'm not even keen on starting at all, or if I do it will only be for fun not to compete.

[canine fun sports]

I have been stewing over this for days, well actually years in re: to flyball. It seems these days it is completely except able to run a dog / compete with it until you see problems or worse still until the dog physically cannot do the sport anymore . Even then a lot of people won't retire their dogs. I have always personally thought that retirement before problems crop up is the way to go.

2 of my dogs are retired because of personal reasons not that they can't happily compete anymore. Clover was a forced retirement after tearing a cruciate at the park, and I would never compete with a dog after that injury. Elvis was retired 18 months ago as I noticed him slowing down at flyball, and sleeping for days after a comp. Just recently he has had his knees checked and they are not the best. I am kicking myself for not retiring him earlier.

The pup I'm not even keen on starting at all, or if I do it will only be for fun not to compete.

Decisions on retirement are going to be different for every dog.

Rabbit, retired at 13 still wanting to do agility. Like me, she is an addict. I continue to do agility with quite severe pain in my knees. I would not give it up for anything. I may be deluding myself, but I am confident that I can see the same enthusiasm for the sport with Rabbit. Equally, Jynx was not as keen. She loves agility, but I had to be careful to keep her out of stressful situations. She was quite happy to retire and be a home body and just enjoy occasional training sessions at home. She is keeping fit hooning around the back paddock. Sparkle was retired soon after we became aware that she no longer enjoyed travelling - she was fine until we did our trip to WA.

Murphy will probably continue to agility into her old age. Pace will probably spend more of her time hunting rabbits in the back yard, or perhaps I should branch out into some gundog work. I know I will have to keep that active brain of hers busy, but she is more dedicated to hunting than agility.

The point I am making is that each dog and person is different. If your dog loves agility there is no age at which they should be retired. Any activity and training will help keep your dog younger - increased activity will reduce a lot of joint problems, and keeping the brain active will also delay canine dementia.

Just keep one thing in mind when you kick yourself for not retiring Elvis earlier than you did. If you had retired Elvis earlier his knees would probably be more painful for him now. The fitness and muscle strength from the exercise has probably kept his knees healthier for longer.

Cheers,

[Tassie]

LOL CFS - i think my feral little Kirra (whom you've seen running) is going to be like Rabbit - and it may well be her eyes that let her down. Fortunately down here our trials are almost all daylight ones. I have noticed she sometimes seems to struggle a little when jumping into a low sun, or a low set of lights. But as we're running for fun, we just ignore that and go on to the rest of the course. At Launceston Royal last year, both Kirra and Ashley and Kendal's GSP Lucy completely missed a weave entry - the weave poles were a grey colour, and the angle was straight into a low set mobile light tower. Poor puppers. :)

We'll keep having fun this year, as long as we're having fun. :D

[Guest Clover]

Oh I could have kept running him (like a lot of people) and instead of a partially torn cruciate he could have had a fully torn one instead. I won't be a part of a sport where nothing is policed, and lame old dogs can be ran into the ground. Each to their own though.

[leopuppy04]

I'm looking to retire or semi-retire leo from agility at this years end. He will be about 9.5 then. A few reasons - by this stage he will have (hopefully!) finished all of the titles I would like to gain with him in the way of agility events. He jumps the 600 height and while I am careful, I can see the impact this has on his body and his longevity and health is far more important to me. He will however continue to compete in the games events when they are available. He still loves his agility. The other reason is a financial one, as I just can't afford to run 3 dogs in agility, however 1.5 - 2 dogs (ie: one masters dogs entered in everything and one up and coming dog) is much easier to manage!

He will however continue to do obedience/ rally and any other sport I may wish to ensue with him until he physically cannot do it anymore. He is still very must a young boy mentally so I don't see the value of retiring him 'just because'. Age is just a number! LOL! I might begin some tracking with him, some herding or maybe even some dog dancing. I'm a big believer in keeping him mentally active that's for sure!

I do however think it is dependant on the dog however. Don't be surprised if you see Kinta still running around the agility rings at 11- 12 yrs old! She is extremely fit, extremely agile and doing agility at that age for her shouldn't put as much stress on her ligaments and joints as it would Leo. so I think it's all horses for courses and dependant on the dog. I mean, Kinta is the dog who could have started obedience competitions at 12mths old because mentally she's that sort of a dog. Tahli at 2.5 is still at least 12mths out of seeing the inside of an obedience ring. She just doesn't have the mental capacity for it yet!

[canine fun sports]

Oh I could have kept running him (like a lot of people) and instead of a partially torn cruciate he could have had a fully torn one instead.

Just keep in mind, it was not the flyable that caused the partial tear in the cruciate ligament. This injury is associated with degenerative changes in the ligament itself. If anything the jumping has probably delayed the injury, because the healthy, well exercised muscle will have absorbed a lot of the concussive forced on the joint. Sure, you need a period of healing, and in a cruciate injury it is not the ligament itself that repairs but the strengthening of the fibrous tissue around the knee that develops. but continued exercise (not excessive) is important to minimise the development of degenerative joint disease.

I have seem many dogs return to agility competition after cruciate injuries. But it has to be managed well with appropriate physiotherapy.

[Sayreovi]

Interesting reading, though I am going backwards, I am bringing my boy (8 years) out of "retirement" for agility and scaling back his participation in flyball even more to basically nothing very soon. He is still extremely fit and healthy but finding him enjoying flyball less and less, so will be participating in sports he will enjoy more.

I've found agility to be alot less stressful on the dogs body than flyball. In agility at least the dog can run at their own pace and are able to collect themselves and take off/land correctly. Flyball it's a constant bounding strides and alot of pressure on the front if they don't have a good turn on the box.

As long as he continues enjoying agility and remains fit then we will continue, though as he ages more I will be keeping a closer eye and may even start him in NADAC where he can jump lower rather than 500 in normal agility.

I don't know of any sport that is policied in regards to the fitness of the dog (apart from ET but that's not really a ongoing sport)

[megan_]

Interesting you say that tollers - fergus' physio says that by far the most injured dogs she sees do flyball

[Sayreovi]

Not surprised really . Alot of dogs are taught to go fast and hard, and owners tend to forget about a proper box turn being one of the most essential things to get right and that it doesn't involve a dog slamming into the box and being forced into a turn that way. There is no point having a dog that is super fast going to and from the box if they spend 2-3 seconds actually getting the ball.

I fell into that way of thinking with my first two many years ago, but with my girl I did so much foundation work with my new found training techniques that she has one of the best turns I've seen and has a style that will (hopefully) avoid any type of injury :)

Edited February 10, 2013 by tollersowned