Retirement

That's the thing isn't it, their heads want to work but their bodies suffer for it. Hard to find a balance.
I used to get slagged off/made fun of for how much walking/fitness I did with my older dog, yes I may have made him too fit/overstimulated him, but he's the one who looks and acts a lot younger than his contemporaries. I appreciate genetics has a lot to do with it as well.

With my current youngster I'm definitely going to put the work in early in terms of strength/conditioning/supplements as soon as she is old enough.
 
I'm starting to think about this for Fizz as she's 7 next year and she's had a few niggles this year....this is of course presuming we get back to racing in the next 12 months.

She is thankfully not a dog to put herself at risk and although she doesn't turn she also doesn't slam the box. I've asked for her to stay in our 'slow' team moving forward so there's less pressure but over the next few years she'll likely become more of a 5th dog but she'll keep training until she starts to struggle. She doesn't really try when it comes to speed at training and she's a nice steady dog for younger dogs to train with so until she tells me that's too much she'll at least do that side.

I am planning on trying agility again with her just for fun and to start building her fitness back up as I suspect she flyball won't happen in 2021.
 
CorvusCorax said:
That's the thing isn't it, their heads want to work but their bodies suffer for it. Hard to find a balance.
I used to get slagged off/made fun of for how much walking/fitness I did with my older dog, yes I may have made him too fit/overstimulated him, but he's the one who looks and acts a lot younger than his contemporaries. I appreciate genetics has a lot to do with it as well.

With my current youngster I'm definitely going to put the work in early in terms of strength/conditioning/supplements as soon as she is old enough.
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Luckily ours are with my OH all day so are out and about . I try to do 10 mins training every day in summer.
Hopefully that will be enough. She can be the stooge dog when training the youngsters too, although she hates that.
When will you decide is the best time to step up the workload with the youngster, developing joints v conditioning?
 
Annette4 said:
I'm starting to think about this for Fizz as she's 7 next year and she's had a few niggles this year....this is of course presuming we get back to racing in the next 12 months.

She is thankfully not a dog to put herself at risk and although she doesn't turn she also doesn't slam the box. I've asked for her to stay in our 'slow' team moving forward so there's less pressure but over the next few years she'll likely become more of a 5th dog but she'll keep training until she starts to struggle. She doesn't really try when it comes to speed at training and she's a nice steady dog for younger dogs to train with so until she tells me that's too much she'll at least do that side.

I am planning on trying agility again with her just for fun and to start building her fitness back up as I suspect she flyball won't happen in 2021.
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Tawny’s sister had to retire from flyball last year, it seems a very high impact sport.
 
I'm having to face this with my older collie, 9.5 yrs. She is quite a laid back dog until she is 'working'. If with the sheep she won't stop running, seems to get high on it and if agility training she puts her all in. However now she is coming up stiff afterwards despite being on Yumove plus so reluctantly I have to accept her competing days are almost certainly over, such a pity as she is a lovely dog to run. I have noticed her slowing down quite a bit this year probably because we haven't been to training or shows so not as fit. She is quite happy as a couch potato but hates to be left behind.
 
Clodagh said:
Tawny’s sister had to retire from flyball last year, it seems a very high impact sport.
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It can be, it does depend on the dog, their conformation, training style etc. Some dogs continue well into their teens while others struggle to reach 10. I'm hoping she will continue into her teens but she's a pet first and flyball dog second and luckily our team captains have the same ethos. I worry probably more than I should as she is so careful (we are talking about the dog who will just stand still at the box and take the ball if she deems it too wet and slippy) but I'd rather keep her happy and sound long term.
 
Clodagh said:
Luckily ours are with my OH all day so are out and about . I try to do 10 mins training every day in summer.
Hopefully that will be enough. She can be the stooge dog when training the youngsters too, although she hates that.
When will you decide is the best time to step up the workload with the youngster, developing joints v conditioning?
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I don't really do anything high impact until I see what the x-rays are like at 12 months but you can start doing small things before that.
 
I know it's a different sort of work but my last older agility dog 'retired' to rally after having his spleen out and not working out if he went slower he could run for longer. That seemed to suit him, it still gave him the 1-1 work he craved but at a level his body could deal with. Hoopers is another thing I'd look into for a dog who still wanted to work but at a lower level.
 
Stiff Knees said:
Peril has an on/off switch and becomes a couch potato when she gets home. She relishes her rest as much as her exercise.
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So does T really, she doesn’t pester much. Except I always do a bit of training when i go up for my shower, hiding dirty socks ? so she feels I should do that as soon as I get in and runs up and down the stairs and glares at me.
 
Mynstrel said:
I know it's a different sort of work but my last older agility dog 'retired' to rally after having his spleen out and not working out if he went slower he could run for longer. That seemed to suit him, it still gave him the 1-1 work he craved but at a level his body could deal with. Hoopers is another thing I'd look into for a dog who still wanted to work but at a lower level.
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What is rally and what is hoopers?
 
Errin Paddywack said:
I'm having to face this with my older collie, 9.5 yrs. She is quite a laid back dog until she is 'working'. If with the sheep she won't stop running, seems to get high on it and if agility training she puts her all in. However now she is coming up stiff afterwards despite being on Yumove plus so reluctantly I have to accept her competing days are almost certainly over, such a pity as she is a lovely dog to run. I have noticed her slowing down quite a bit this year probably because we haven't been to training or shows so not as fit. She is quite happy as a couch potato but hates to be left behind.
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I try to sneak out without the left behind ones seeing. They know it’s happening as they recognise my clothes but it feels less brutal if I load the pick up while OH takes them out a short way.
 
Clodagh said:
What is rally and what is hoopers?
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Rally is sort of like obedience, you have different exercises based on obedience/heelwork exercises but also sort of trick stuff too, so you have sit, down, stuff like that but you also have send the dog round you while you're walking, stuff like that. It's not as formal as true obedience and there's a more different exercises to think about so it keeps their brain ticking but it's done at walking pace so it doesn't tire them physically. If you have a dog used to working with you they pick it up quite quickly. In competition you have a course to work your way round in your own time and at each number is an exercise you have to do before moving on.

Hoopers is similar to agility but you only have hoops, barrels and tunnels that they go through/round in a course the same way. It's quicker than rally but similarly low impact on joints. I haven't tried it but my instructor has with her 10yo retired agility dog and he's loving it. She's started scentwork training with him too.

If you search on YouTube you'll find both rally and hoopers. Neither would be my first choice sport but for a dog needing a slower pace of life they're ideal.
 
islander said:
Our Lab has a fantastic nose but has developed a hard mouth and is now retired from the shoot. He looks so miserable when OH gets dressed up in his tweeds and the sight of a gun makes him so excited. OH tries to sneak out of the house but the Lab knows!
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They really do. Could he go beating?
 
Like most things I think a day too early rather than a day too late. When I had terriers, used for bushing not Earth work, they did miss it in their adage but it was the right thing.

I compare to two stories always. 1) a friends working lurcher, who it was very clear was time for the sofa but they kept her going and she ended up killing herself in a head on fence post collision as simply wasn’t agile enough anymore with age. She’d taken a turn far too tightly and it was inevitable what happened next. She wasn’t agile enough anymore, she’d slowed up, she was stiffer and her eye sight was wearing out a bit too. 2) an associate, friend of a family member, who kept Swedish valhunds as working stock dogs on their small holding. I never knew much about them or their dogs until owning corgi and relative talking about similarities. They had an old dog who in the mind could still move a herd of arsey bullocks, but in the body could not anymore. He was very high drive, so they worried when it came time for him to hang up his boots. He came off worse for wear when on the job, and was very lucky to have lived. It was a bed in front of the aga from then on.

I don’t have any working dogs anymore so don’t have the challenge, but fully understand what a hard choice it is as there are so many factors to try and consider and weigh up in terms of getting it right. I do think sometimes the issue really is the mind can still do the job, the drive and determination still makes it want too, but the body simply cannot and that’s when accidents can happen.

you will know when the time is right, as we tend to with most things.
 
Minor league compared to working dogs, but my two have been doing a great deal of dummy work around fallen trees/in cover this week. Last night, Zak was just ‘off’ so will be having a moochy walk today, no work. He gets over stimulated and too hyped up. He’s a bit hobbly, too. It’s easy to forget they’re over 10 when they’re belting around woods.
 
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