# Retirement age from competition



## laukaouda (Jun 26, 2002)

At what age did you retire you dog from competition from Schutzhund? 

N. California is a pay to play area, where we pay club dues plus $20 per session for protection. Generally I don't see many dogs past 6 yo working. 

Phantom is my spayed, four year old, West German line female. She's in fantastic physical shape, loves protection but I'm wondering if I should start thinking about her next sport or retirement. When she retires her primary purpose is be our hiking, snow shoeing, swimming companion. I don't want her body too tired to keep up.

I'd love to work her for at least another 18 months. I need to V in obedience :smirk:. Our last score was a 97-91-100 under Wolfgang Henke. Since I love to track and she loves to bite, we need some time to tidy up our obedience. 

Christina
-typos due to the big goofy sable trying to "help" me type.


----------



## szariksdad (Jun 25, 2010)

One of our club members has her 7yo still out there working and also doing agility. So I think it depends on the overall health of the dog and if they want to still compete.


----------



## Elaine (Sep 10, 2006)

I would not pay any attention to the dog's age and look at the dog herself. If your dog is still fit and willing, there is no reason to retire.


----------



## lhczth (Apr 5, 2000)

When to retire your dog depends a lot on the dog. I retired Treue at 5 because she started having issues with the wall. This is when the spondylosis started affecting her even though her x-rays were clean. I retired Nike at around the same age, but mostly because I had her daughter to work and was tired of fighting some previous bad training mistakes. Vala will be 7 in July. I haven't decided yet what I will do with her. She is in excellent physical condition and absolutely loves the work, but she is an idiot over the jump and fast on the long bites. More titles are not worth an injury to me. I will for sure do her FH1 and 2, but beyond that I won't decide until probably September. 

8 is pushing it for a dog to still be in good enough condition to continue to compete in this sport. After SchH there are other things they can do that don't require the same amount of physical effort that this sport entails.


----------



## VonKromeHaus (Jun 17, 2009)

I had to retire my APBT at 4 due to health issues. She still comes out and plays once n awhile though. I think it very much depends on the dog.


----------



## laukaouda (Jun 26, 2002)

Thanks for the replies. I'll watch Phantom over the wall as I think this is the thing that is hardest on the joints. Even at 4 we need to pull out the dog ramp for getting in and out of the truck.


----------

