When to retire an old hunting dog?

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Mushki

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My hunting dog is close to 11 years old now. Up until last year she could out hunt all dogs we have worked with except my brothers shorthair, that dog is something else. My old girl is shorthair/lab mix and does it all. She is mainly a flusher but will point every so often just to make sure I don't miss. Last season she would run out of steam after a few hours hunting upland. Somehow she was fine hunting ducks but she always did love to swim. We just had our grouse opener this weekend and after the morning hunt she would just nap and take the afternoon off. She is visibly sore but loves to hunt still. When she go tired she would mainly walk along but once a bird flushed she pushed hard as she ever has for awhile.

I guess my question is, when do I retire her. Right now I see that she still loves her limited role but I kinda feel as though I should leave her rest. I don't want to hurt her. She is my first hunting dog. As a kid we had a few, but they all "ran off" when they got older. I didn't know thier true fate until my dad told me it was time to put my dog Hope down this weekend. This brought about this debate. Right now everyone else beside my dad only has seven year old dogs or younger so no first hand experience.

Putting my dog down is not an option. She is healthy but old that's all.

So when do you retire a dog?
 
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Sounds like it's time to cut her back on activities. She's probably arthritic. Some exercise is good, but too much will hurt her. Talk to your vet about supplements for her joints.
Putting a dog down just because it can't work as well as it used to is pretty cold, you ask me. She's served you faithfully and well and now it's time for you to give back. Take care of her, she may have years of companionship left in her.
 
Putting a dog down is so personal that only the owner can make the decision.
It is "what is best for the dog and its quality of life"!

Retiring a dog from what it loves to do is again a quality of life issue, but this decision can be decided different ways.
Can you limit the amount of time in the field?
Can you limit the roughness of the terrain, temperatures the dog will be working in?
Perhaps more rest breaks? Part of one day in multiple day excursions? Watching more closely to see if the dog is in distress?
Working the dog alone so it isn't in competition with younger dogs?
Maybe retire the dog to a comfortable bed and short walks, and a soft life at home?

Your call, best of luck with your decision.
 
Last year was my older (13 years) Springer's last for hunting. He developed a nasal tumor over the past 5 months and is on his last weeks.

I've hunted him with the younger Springer for about 5 years, but had reduced his stints in the field down to two hours a day as of last year. I'd planned on reducing that to one a day before the tumor.

I wouldn't put him down just because he couldn't go all day.

He was as excited opening day of Dove seaon this year as ever, just didn't get to go.

Give some thought to getting another dog while the old one can still put in an hour: you'll be amazed at how much the old dog will teach a young one.
 
I have a Lab mix with some Chow thrown in there someplace. She's over 12 1/2 now and lately I notice she lays around and sleeps a lot more than she used to and is not as spry and agile. I just let her take things in her time and rest as much as she wants, she deserves it for being such a faithful companion that she has been. I can't even think of losing her.
Were I you, I would consider retiring Hope, but I'm sure she will let you know when.
 
A couple years ago we added another dog the family. Hoping the old girl Remington, Husky/Rottweiler [age 14] would teach the new one [2 years old rescue dog] named Blue , Husky/Lab.
Remington 2 more years and Taught Blue to be a real dog. Heck Blue didn't
even know how to chase a ball when we got him.
Now he can roam the property and not go beyond plus guard our home just like the old girl did. Minus the chicken problems :)

My point being what ever the job of your dog it can be passed on to the new kid on the block.

Blue has his job of teaching my daughters dog to have a brain now.
Long story and longer project. May God help us on this one.
 
Thank you all for the advise so far. Just to be clear, I have zero intention of putting Hope down. She has been a good friend over the years and will continue to be until her quality of life becomes painful without any chance of relief. My question was only about retiring her from hunting. I plan on only taking her hunting once a day for as long as that seems to be the right thing to do. I just got an home and got an earful from the wife. Joint supplements are on order, thanks to all that suggested them. I hope they relieve Hope's soreness.
 
I had a sweet little black lab that was a hunting maniac. She lived to hunt...probably the birdiest dog I've ever owned. She'd hunt ducks, pheasants, just about anything you wanted, as long as it had feathers.

As she got older, (around eleven or twelve) it became evident that she just couldn't go all day like she used to, but it would've broken her heart if she had seen us pack the guns into the truck and drive off without her. So, we wouldn't push all day like we did when she was younger. It eventually got so we'd just do an easy hunt in the morning, give her an anti-inflamatory that we got from the vet, and then we'd usually call it off for the rest of the day.

It wasn't that big of a deal if we didn't hunt all day. She had certainly paid her dues during all those years. The least we could do was lay off when she laid off so she wouldn't feel like we went off hunting without her.

Even when they're seniors, those great old hunting dogs still like to go out and walk the fields, even if we only go a couple hundred yards or so. I think they love being out just as much as we do.
 
When my German Shorthair Iris was about 12 she slowed way down and I could tell she couldn't keep on like she used to.
I figured that she took me hunting with her. I didn't take her hunting with me so we went from hunting hard all day to half days and finally when she was about 14 we hunted an hour or less. then not at all.
We lost her when she was 16. she had a good long life.
Now Heidi is 12. She is having trouble getting up and I really don't think she could hunt for any more than an hour.
Me and Heidi have started hunting eurasian doves in the back yard. She gets every bit as excited and has as much fun as we ever had hunting Pheasants. but she doesnt have to run nearly as much.
One of these days she wont be able to do that. I guess then she will be my oversized lap dog.
I owe it to both of my old bird dogs to make their last years as comfortable as possible without taking away the one thing they love to do, Hunt birds.

Good Luck
Wingmaster
 
I've had 2 beagles in my lifetime and walked and hunted them with other like dogs (approx. 20 other beagles of all ages) all their life. Our hunting trips consisted of dusk to dawn and hunting birds and rabbits. It was common for our dogs to have bleeding tails from going deep into the briars for game. Dogs don't know when to stop thus the expression "working like a dog".

Knowing what I know now they would have been retired from hunting somewhere around 5-6 years old. The retirement would have consisted of shorter hunting times in areas that aren't so hard for the dog hunt. This of course is my experienced opinion. They lived around 11-12 years.

I'm of the idea that the heart has only so many beats in it's lifetime if you work the dog hard his/her heart will beat much harder using up those precious beats thus shortening the dogs life and then there's the other things such as skeletal and blood issues.

We did the "old dog teach young dog" all the time, it works and they become a family after the alpha omega thing has been hashed out.

Added 9/15:
There was female beagle which was blinded by a skunk. She was left to run free and would hunt on her own in a large wooded area bumping into trees and using her nose and ears to the maximum. She was an excellent hunter and lived longer than the ones that could see, go figure right? I think she lived longer 'cause her blindness slowed her down which in turn kept her heart rate much steadier. Like I said she was left to run free and the others were penned. She came and went as she pleased but would stay home with the other beagles (her family). You could hear her miles out on a quiet day and she would always find her way home.

Was hunt'in on a cold winter day one Christmas and lost one of my dogs. He may have gotten side tracked by deer or it was so cold and windy he couldn't hear or smell me anymore. So I got concerned as it was a few hours before dark. I got in the truck, took a ride to a very knowledgeable guy and asked him what he would do. He said go back to where you lost him, take his dog box (the box we made to haul them around in the truck) and lay it there with the front door facing south then put your hunting jacket in there, go home and come back and check it early in the morning. I remember it was a blustery night I hated to leave him but it wasn't my land and I didn't have permission to build a fire and camp out. I left the house at 2am got there at 3 and there he was all curled up inside my jacket in the box. He was so happy to see me I gave him a nice steak that day.

One of our dogs would sometimes get real quiet while in the heat of freshly put up rabbit, very unusual for this dog as he was a leader. So I investigated by getting in those thick briars and found him having a sort of seizure laying on his side with his tongue out and foaming a bit. By the time I got to him and I mean these briars we're so thick I had to push hard to get in there (I never used machetes as that messes up the hunting environment) he popped back up and ran that rabbit like nothing ever happened. Doctors couldn't figure out why and we didn't have enough money to figure out why. He was like that his whole life. Also it wasn't uncommon for me to find him brushing the final bit of dirt on top of one of my freshly shot grouse. He would always leave the legs just peeking out the ground a bit, LOL. Our dogs would bring the dead rabbits back to us most of the time but if they put up another rabbit they wouldn't.
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rwsmith said:
A little activity close to home will make her very happy. The best thing for her is to be needed and loved.

I know a lot of people don't view hunting dogs as 'pets' but they are still loyal as the day is long.
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I think for most of us, the bond with our hunting dogs are much closer. We spend a lot of time in training them and take pride in their development. I would not be hunting birds without my dog. The pleasure of hunting birds is watching the dog do its work.

My dog is approaching that age when she is slowing down. This season, I'm going to limit her time in the fields. The hunting field is covered with waist high grass which makes running hard on the dog. She literally has to leap vs running through so it gives her a workout and its hard on her joints. I will try two hours at first and see how she does. Skip a day and try again. I will try stretching it as the season wears on as she gets into better shape.

My dog has always had mild joint problems. She takes 1000mg of glucosamine as recommended by her vet (vet also stated chondroitin was useless). After hunting, I will also give her one low dose aspirin (must be unbuffered. Most aspirin are unbuffered; there is only one that I know of which is buffered - Bufferin.)
 
I agree with others that an old field dog has earned some easy hunting days. I've killed a lot of birds and if I need to give up a few to give one of my old dogs a few more days of joy that's just fine with me.

And in my experience there is nothing that gives a well-hunted field dog more joy than a day in front of a gun, however effective a day that might have been.

My old Rebel dog, gone over a year now, was deaf as a post his last year or so. When I hunted him he would lose me if he got too far out (he was a wide dog) and upwind. He'd usually look for a bit and then head back to the truck but it was still very worrisome. I hunt some remote country up north. I extended his career for another season by getting a Garmin Astro, so that I could always find him. A purchase well worth the money.

You'll know when it's time. I will say this--you will never regret one more day afield with an old dog. Never. The worst regrets in life are for things you haven't done.
 
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I've hunted a few dogs over the years. They will try to hunt even when they shouldn't because they are hard wired to do it. There is no off switch. My last dog was 13 and she went deaf. She still wanted to hunt but I couldn't get her to come in with a whistle and she would get lost so I retired her. I had another dog coming along when she retired. It's really hard to leave them home because they know where you're going and can't understand why they can't go anymore.
 
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I understand how you feel and know you will NOT put your beloved fur child, Hope, down.

Retire her and let her chase birds and squirrels in the back yard, and take her for short walks.

She will want to go hunting with you when you load up the truck but after a few times of not going, she will figure it out.

Check with your vet to see if a Rx of RIMADYL will help her deal with the soreness.
 
We humans may think the dog is getting too old to continue its activities. A hunting dog loves to hunt. If it were my dog I'd let it do what it likes as long as it can. You can still probably tell how much the dog loves to do what it's been trained to do. If it has to nap afterward, so be it. Don't we all, as humans, do the same thing? I'm close to 70 years old, my shooting, as well as other activities I love, is nowhere near as good as it was when I was younger but I still do it and I also nap in the afternoon.

Let the dog be as happy as it can and allow napping as needed. If I were told to stop doing what I love I'd be truly depressed.
 
I've had bird dogs since my first own dog, Tammy an English Setter I bought on my own at 14. I had to put down my last, Ruger a Brittany with bad kidneys at 9 years old a couple years ago. I haven't the heart to replace him yet either.

When my dogs have got old and slowed down they let me know themselves and semi-retired themselves. I still took them hunting but would give them a break when needed or put them in the truck and hunt other dogs. They'd appreciate it and not complain about being left behind most times.

You have the right idea about your dog and bless you for being concerned as too many hunters only push their dogs for the game and dog work has always been my main stay with hunting.

Listen to what your dog is already telling you and the years after he's done hunting can be rewarding times as well.
 
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