The question is when is it time to retire your canine athlete? I guess the short answer is when they tell you it’s time.
Telling your friend that it’s time to retire is never easy. My wife’s Labrador retriever, Paige had to retire early from her Flyball career because of an eye injury from hitting the box too hard.
Paige
Meet our Paiger Black Dog. Paige was born sometime in June of 1997 and she is the sole reason both my wife and I got so involved in Flyball. Paige has always been kind of a wacky dog and sometimes we call her “Crazy Paiger.” However, she is a jewel to have around and can bring a smile to your face just to look at her. Paige was trained in Obedience, Agility, and Flyball but really only enjoyed flyball. She played with a passion unmatched by many and truly loved the game.
Paige started her Flyball career on April 1, 2000 in Charlotte, NC and earned her FMX title on August 17, 2003. She was voted Most Valuable Player of Region 14 for 2004.
When we first started training Paige for Flyball, Flyball was very new to our region and no one had any experience. Looking back now, I suppose we should have brought someone in that had experience to gain some knowledge but that is water under the bridge now. Consequently, Paige never was trained a proper box turn.
I don’t remember the exact date, but a couple of years into Paige’s Flyball career we noticed that she was hanging one of her back legs. It wasn’t very noticeable and she didn’t look like she was in any pain but we had her hips checked just the same. Our vet found that Paige had what looked like pretty advanced hip dysplasia and suggested several options for surgery. However, we wanted a second opinion and requested a referral to Auburn Veterinary Medical School so that Paige could be seen by an orthopedic specialist.
Paige was seen by both an orthopedic and the sports medicine vet for evaluation. The recommendation from both vets was that Paige should continue her Flyball career and surgery was not recommended at this time. We were told that the best thing for Paige was exercise and keeping her weight in check, which we always have. We were also told that Paige would tell us when she was ready to stop playing.
Paige continued her Flyball career for another year with no problems. However, we did notice that she was starting to hit the box harder. From watching her, we could see that she wasn’t slowing down as she did before her hip problems became so advanced. She would squat down when coming into the box kind of like putting the brakes on but now she was just smashing into the box to stop. It wasn’t long after this that we noticed a cyst in her left eye like a dark black dot about an eighth of an inch in diameter.
We took Paige back to the vet and then to Auburn to see an opthalmologist. The opthalmologist told us that the cyst was caused by blunt force trauma probably from hitting the box so hard. The decision to retire Paige from Flyball was then taken from our hands and we were told that if she continued to play she would more than likely need eye surgery. Paige’s Flyball careen was over.
When Is It Time?
Paige’s retirement was an easy decision for us because of her injury, but for those dogs that have no sign of injury when is the right time? If you’ve retired a dog, please provide your experience and explain when you knew it was time.
Larry
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Hi Larry,
We just had to retire our Lab Rowdy - who in his prime ran 4.2. He ran up until this last spring, when I noticed he was not running the same, and he just seemed “off.” One weekend at home, he would barely walk around - and this is a dog that was ALWAYS running full bore. So off to the vet, and it was determined he was in kidney failure - something common in Labs. We changed his diet, and meds helped him. He could probably still run part time, but, I don’t want to put any undo stress on him. So now he stays home with the sitters…Justin misses running him, but, at least we know he will be with us longer.
I’m debating that question with 2 of my dogs. My oldest is 11 and she’s has always done flyball for the love of cheese & me. Like you we started when folks had no clue, she has a killer box turn, and always has though it was never trained. She runs down barking, gets her ball and lopes back to get her cheese. She can only pass about 4 dogs or go first. She runs 6’s, she’s fairly consistent, she doesn’t hurt herself and she’s fun for me to run but it’s not like she lives to play flyball. I have to really remember to keep her in good shape b/c she’d like to eat more and do less in general as she’s an old girl. She’s got ~45,000 pts. She will still run faster over 13″ (which she ran as a height dog) than over 7″ jumps. I keep thinking I should be retiring her, but she’s still able and if she didn’t want to do it, she would tell me.
My other dog is 9, has had a TPLO on one knee and lives her life in a gonzo fashion. Her turn is just okay, she had a box slam style until we retrained shortly into her career. She’s got over 50K in points. Sadly does more damage to herself in everyday life, at least the flyball course is rather safe for her to run on. I like to say she has no sense of self-preservation. We struggle between her being healthy & injuring herself, and that makes putting her on a lineup an iffy thing. She could be fine or she could be out from yet another different injury. I suspect she will retire before the 11 yr old, which is sad because she LOVES flyball so much.
For me it’s sad because it’s the passing of an era and a reminder that their time with me is short. They’ve had pretty long careers, and I am proud of them. So I have been trying to take each tournament one by one, and enjoy what might be their last races. In some ways I wish I did have a clear sign like you had with Paige.
Yeh, I know what you mean, Larry and all others who
have had to retire a dog.
Sadie, my very first (and best) Flyball dog ran in her last
tournament last weekend at the Championship. She has
been such a great dog for many years, incredibly fun to
run because she is so passionate about running.
Unfortunately, she has Progressive Retinal Atrophy,
which is a genetic disease that prevents her Retinas
from growing new cells. As her old cells die, she’ll go
blind. She probably has a month or two of limited sight.
It was incredibly heartbreaking to run her for the last
time. She was great, even 80% blind, she found her
way to the box and back. The only problem was that if
she bobbled, she could not find the ball.
I’m just glad that she’s otherwise healthy and happy,
and her contribution to our Flyball club is not even close
to done.
It is so sad when they have to retire, especially, the ones that really love to play.
Paige is 10 and in otherwise in good health. We still exerciser her and she loves playing ball. She pops and cracks a little sometime and we give her a Glucosamine, Chondroitin, and MSM pill daily. Every now and then, we can tell that she’s in pain and we give her a dose of Metacam, but she has more good days than bad. Her eye is almost back to normal and no surgery was required. As far as we can tell, she’s enjoying her retirement.
Just wanted to thank every one for their comments.
I am green to the sport and my black lab is almost 5.
I have often wondered how long he will be able to compete. This post did give me some idea and also told me things to watch for with his health.
Again, Thank you
In many ways, this question is similar to when should we put our dogs to sleep.
At first you might say that it’d be easier to call it quits on a sport career, given that death is more serious than retirement. But for that same reason, I think some might keep a dog in the sport longer than is optimal.
I think most people make the decision based upon personal gratification. I.e. if the dog still gratifies our existence more than we are pained by their suffering, we’re likely to keep the dog around. We do this with ourselves and our family members, it’s not just dogs.
But when the feelings of mercy and guilt and pity overwhelm the joy we get from having our loved animals still alive, we make the hard choice.
To quit the sport is to admit and reinforce the dog’s age and thus the proximity of death is just that much closer. It’s also more difficult for the animal’s age and slight deterioration to outweigh the joy we get from them competing and the joy they get from it too. The joy doesn’t fade quickly, nor does the deterioration happen all at once.
A big event, like an injury or a near-miss, is usually required to push us to make that hard choice. We never notice how softly we age or gain weight or lose weight when we look in the mirror each day and the change is small. It’s only when someone else who hasn’t seen us in a while mentions something that we get jolted into noticing.
Perhaps it’d be wise to mark a day on your calendar and on that day take photos and videos of your dog in action. The next year, on that day, do the same and compare.
You just might avoid the big injury or the close call.
Another thing to consider: performance dogs usually live for the sport they were trained for. Sometimes, it is enough to let them just play. They might not be “competitive” any longer, but they still like to get out onto the course. When it is no longer fun for them, they need to be retired. Sadie LIVED for flyball. Because of limited eyesight now, not only is it dangerous for her, but it frustrates her. I don’t want the sport she lived for to become the sport she dreads. She’s been too good to go out like that.
As our team dogs approach retirement I start running them less in tournaments (maybe as a back up for a green dog), then no longer in tournaments, but still use them in practice. They’re terrific at teaching new dogs passing and running side by side. Since a new dog can usually only do an exercise 5 - 6 times before they are brain dead this works out great for the older dog. Just a few leaps over the wide hurdle for the passing exercise or a few runs down the lane. Mentally and physically exercises the older dog, they feel included and useful… and isn’t that all most anyone wants, especially as we age… to feel included and useful.
I had to retire one dog at the age of 4. She loved flyball but she became quite ill after her last tourney. After numerous trips to the vets in a short time she was diagnosed with cancer. She got to play until about 3 months before euthanization. Some times these things don’t creep up but they come full blown. In may ways I was glad it happened so quickly.
I did retire my acd this past April. She had TPLO 2 yrs ago and her other leg was showing some wear. After a couple months in retirement she became very snarky with the other dogs in the house. We spoke to our vets including the holistic vet and they all agreed she needs her job back. We ran her 2 months ago (part time) and she was so happy. You could see it on her face. One week later she had her second TPLO. We knew the knee was going to blow out if it wasn’t already. By blowing out the knee we could do surgery. My acd will be back on the lanes in a few months and at the age of 9 yrs she will be quite content.
Sometimes the dogs will tell you if they want to retire and some times they will tell you you screwed up and want to keep playing. Foster no longer has a knee to blow out which is why she will get to play again.
You really have to know the dog and their attitude, love of the sport, etc… when you make a decision like retirement. At times, it is better to retire them but sometimes it is not the right call. We have done both and the decision always sucks.
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