The wife and I have just been reminiscing about our journey, (excuse the following ramblings ) we got eze in Jan 2015 she was born July 2014 so she is 9 in a few months, this season will be her 9th season as a working dog on our little syndicate and on various commercial estates. We may only work her on the syndicate this season as the shoot we have for the last few years enjoyed beating on is no more ......so to the question......when would you normally retire a beating dog ? We have been very fortunate that she has had no injuries whilst beating despite doing what we consider to be a lot of days per season so we are kind of thinking that maybe we should not push our luck with her and just do easy days on the little syndicate, although we could easily find other commercial shoots to beat on if we had a mind to
Any thoughts from my learned forum friends ???
Muddling along in the hope that one day it starts to make sense.
Good question IPS. I think you’ve got to play what is in front of you. Some dogs can carry on working hard into their teens, I’ve met a 16 year old lab (fed tripe his whole life) who still did full days. Others slow up well ahead of that.
I’d look for signs of stiffness the day after shooting and take a view on the number of days and how tough they are. They’re a long time retired!
I agree. Keep going while she is still enjoying it. You can give her more breaks during the day or even just do half days with her. They’ve a short enough working life as it is without making it shorter. I find they lose their marbles and start to wander off in a little world of their own even though they’re still physically able.
She will tell you! I used to forcibly retire mine at about 11 but now I let them choose and it all depends on the dog. Some seem to want to go out almost until the end and I find them something to do for a few minutes before they go back to the dog box and snooze remembering past glories. I had one who clearly thought I was not safe to let out shooting without him by my side to keep an eye on me and deal with anything he thought too difficult for the younger dogs! It kept him happy.
I was going to retire my first Cocker when she was 11 but I came downstairs in picking up gear and she did cartwheels down the hall so she had another full season's picking up. The second worked up until the day she died at 11.5, my current oldest is 12 in June, worked last season full days sometimes 6 or 7 drives.
The Flatcoats were different, one worked until she died of cancer at 10.5 the others tended to retire themselves around 9 yrs old.
It's a bit of a "how long is a piece of string?" question!
In life, it is important to know when to stop arguing with people and simply let them be wrong.
Some dogs learn to pace themselves better than others. That can bring its own challenges, especially if they know the ground well they can pull to areas they know hold birds rather than work methodically through cover. My old lab got better at pacing herself, she wouldn't go out flat out and come back flat out as she did when she was younger. She also had the experience to not waste a load of effort - after a while they know as well or better than us when a bird is hit and when it isn't.
I like the idea that whilst owners are stood around at elevenses the dogs are discussing the relative merits of us retiring.
PRH wrote: ↑Fri Apr 21, 2023 9:29 am
I like the idea that whilst owners are stood around at elevenses the dogs are discussing the relative merits of us retiring.
I've had a couple who obviously thought I should never have started, never mind retire, when they have worked hard to produce a bird and watched me miss!
Well, one of the shoots we enjoyed beating on up until it folded two seasons ago is up and running again new syndicate new keeper. The keeper and i have a mutual friend who it seems has been talking to said keeper about Lynn and I and eze of course, he contacted me earlier and enquired as to if we were interested in beating........er aye go on then sonit seems that we are up and running again
Muddling along in the hope that one day it starts to make sense.
) we got eze in Jan 2015 she was born July 2014 so she is 9 in a few months, this season will be her 9th season as a working dog on our little syndicate and on various commercial estates. We may only work her on the syndicate this season as the shoot we have for the last few years enjoyed beating on is no more 
......so to the question......when would you normally retire a beating dog ? We have been very fortunate that she has had no injuries whilst beating despite doing what we consider to be a lot of days per season so we are kind of thinking that maybe we should not push our luck with her and just do easy days on the little syndicate, although we could easily find other commercial shoots to beat on if we had a mind to 
It kept him happy.
sonit seems that we are up and running again 