Other Hunting > Bird Dogs
When to retire a bird dog
Labs07:
So this was my dogs 10th year in the fields with me. He is 11 now and still has lots of drive but is much slower than years past.... he has some trouble getting out of stream beds now and needs some help with that from time to time. He is still in very good shape but doesn't recover very quickly from hunts anymore. Just looking for some ages of dogs that you've retired in the past. Thanks all!
GoBeavs85:
Great question! Looking forward to the responses.
I could see changing how long you hunt him and being careful about the terrain you take him to.
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Special T:
I think your hunting buddy is now a fair weather hunter.. fields, shallow ponds and moderate weather. He probably can accompany you on a few early season outings next year if you keep his weight in check, keep up on the glucosamine and such. My hunting buddy had to do that this year, so we have been hunting my dog, whom is getting long in the tooth at 8. Fortunately our other hunting partner has a 2 year old laberdudle whom is getting the hang of it. Hopefully she will be in her prime by the time I have to start over.
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vandeman17:
We started phasing out my folk's (mainly mine) bird dog when she was 8 and she was completely done by 12 or so. When we saw that she started to struggle a little bit and didn't recover as well, we just became more picky about the type of hunts we would take her on and how often. Towards the end, the only hunts she went on were with short hikes, easy swims and plenty of recovery time. She is now 2 months short of her 16th birthday and still going.
Skyvalhunter:
As you know some of it is breed dependent. My Brit is 10 and does well but has slowed down. He still does strong on our hikes but next grouse season it will not be an all day hunt like he's used to.
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