A performance dog can do many activities in their lifetime, especially now when there are so many sports to choose. It’s not really possible to do “all the things” at the same time with the same dog anymore, at least not on a higher level. This might mean that a dog has multiple careers that might overlap at times, but how do you decide when it’s time to step away from a particular activity?
The first one is easy and probably the happiest of reasons- you stop because you have met your goal for a particular sport. This usually means finishing a title or championship, but might also mean a planned retirement after a big event. Now that almost every sport has numerical multiples available for the top titles, there might be more encouragement to keep going indefinitely, but I think many of us still have a stopping point in mind for some sports. For me this is a usually a champion title in the breed ring to a FCAT in Fast CAT. Yes, you can keep going but there’s only so much time and money and honestly other things are more fun for me. .
The next one is a little harder- stopping because your dog either isn’t suited for a particular activity or because they just don’t like it. Many of you know that I got Elf because I wanted a big dog to run in agility. While Elf is amazing fast and athletic, she also made it really clear to me that the agility trial environment was just too stressful and that scent work was the game she wanted to play. This was a tough realization, but all sports are more fun if your partner wants to play too.
The last one is the hardest yet- realizing that your dog isn’t physically or cognitively able to play the game anymore. For physically demanding sports like agility, this can be really hard when the dog still wants to play the game but their body doesn’t cooperate. Silk and Gromit remind me of this every time I leave them in the RV when they know we’re at an agility trial. Sports like scent work or rally and activities like therapy dog visits can help ease the transition and there’s no reason you can still play safely at home or in a training setting, even if competition isn’t an option anymore. Scent work trials give the option of moving an upper level dog back to the lower levels of competition, which can be a nice option for senior dogs who don’t have the stamina for long searches anymore. Really though, I think most older dogs enjoy attention and time with their people most, and this doesn’t have to come in the form of competition.
What was the hardest retirement decision you’ve made for a dog?
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