# Coming to an End



## Loisiana (Jul 29, 2009)

I guess my mind has truly decided that Conner's obedience career is winding down. I cut down his front box two nights ago to fit Flip. 

We're still entered in shows here and there, but it's not the priority in my training anymore. It's kind of a sad feeling even though there's no reason for it to be.


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## AmberSunrise (Apr 1, 2009)

It is sad. It is always sad, but when they either cannot or do not want to show anymore, or when they start to stress about showing it is kindest.

My King was retired before he was ready and I needed to keep him active in training to keep his spirits up. 

My Rowdy was never really retired but died due to surgical complications and trained a few days before he went in for surgery.

Casey was retired from agility because he just could not get it through his head that ring barriers applied to him and laps did not equal opportunity - he still demands his training time though - he still goes to my obedience coach and works but may never go in to a ring again. I could have corrected him, but he's such a happy boyo it was kinder to just retire him. Now that his weight has dropped back, he may go into Rally.

But still it's sad. Their lives change without the structure of going different places, training and getting well deserved rewards - I don't really think any of my dogs have enjoyed retirement.


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## cubbysan (Mar 13, 2007)

I always think of that when I see an older dog out there - how sad it must be when they are retired.


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## Loisiana (Jul 29, 2009)

I have to keep reminding myself it's just his competition career that's ending, I still have my dog. And as far as I know he's a healthy six year old with a long life ahead of him. I actually found myself looking at dog memorials earlier. I hope I'm not having some kind of horrible premonition.


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## RedDogs (Jan 30, 2010)

Loisiana said:


> I actually found myself looking at dog memorials earlier.


As long as that's not another secret activity...we're okay.


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## 2golddogs (Oct 19, 2009)

I understand. However, Connor has a long and healthy life ahead of him.


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## Megora (Jun 7, 2010)

Keep training for fun, even if you stop the shows.  

Compared to training a young puppy, working with an efficient fully trained dog can be a confidence booster for you and they thrive on playing the special "game" that you have been playing with them since they were puppies. 

My thirteen year old guy couldn't even sit all the way down to the ground because of his ricketty old hips, but he could still shake a leg when it came to making sure he got a turn at strutting after I was done with the upstart.


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## JDandBigAm (Aug 25, 2008)

Talking about dog age, what is the average age of Goldens being retired from the obedience ring? I realize it can depend on the health of the dog but what would you say?


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## AmberSunrise (Apr 1, 2009)

Goldens in good shape can be shown at 10, 11, 12 .... My Rowdy was still running agility at 12.

Other dogs retire younger,some later. It depends on the dogs and how they age.


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## Loisiana (Jul 29, 2009)

My boy's so sweet...I brought him in the dog room last night and we did three fronts and two finishes and he was so excited he actually started howling! I love my Conner 



Happy said:


> Talking about dog age, what is the average age of Goldens being retired from the obedience ring? I realize it can depend on the health of the dog but what would you say?


I think I normally see golden around here being retired at about 7-9 years. I don't think it's so much for health reasons, I think for most people they've taken their dog as far as they are going to by that point, and have a younger one coming up that they're ready to focus on.

That's pretty much how it is for me. Conner doesn't have much else to earn title-wise at this point. He has his UDX, OM1 (needs 9 more utility points for his OM2), and Obedience Hall of Fame. The only thing left for us to seriously work towards would be an OTCH. But it's taken us two years to get the 24 points that he does have. So I've decided instead of making myself broke trying to campaign him enough to earn those points and get myself stressed out in the process, we're going to cut back and show just for the enjoyment of showing. So we're just hit and miss with a few shows and he seems happy that way - he never was big on lots of repetitive showing anyway. And I'm working on paying off the mound of debt I collected showing him before I bring my little kangaroo out!


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## hotel4dogs (Sep 29, 2008)

Seriously consider showing him in Rally for his RAE if he still loves to go to the shows! Not for the titles, not for anything except to reward him for all the great times you guys have had together.


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## Augie's Mom (Sep 28, 2007)

hotel4dogs said:


> Seriously consider showing him in Rally for his RAE if he still loves to go to the shows! Not for the titles, not for anything except to reward him for all the great times you guys have had together.


I would agree, you can go for an RAE or the Rally Master when that comes out.


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## Loisiana (Jul 29, 2009)

Anybody who's ever seen me in rally will know that would be torture for both of us. I'm a horrible rally handler, and that makes my dogs not great rally dogs b/c they don't know what's going on with their crazy momma.

As long as he's able to compete in Open and/or Utility I'll keep entering him occasionally there. I might see if we work any better in rally together in the future, but as long as he's enjoying himself in regular obedience I have much more fun with that. Heck he got HIT his last time out, I won't throw in the towel completely for him.

We're entered Saturday. There's four trials over the weekend, but I just entered the one for Saturday afternoon. That way we can drive over that morning, show that afternoon, and come back that night.


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