[nagdu] Guide Dog Age and Retirement

[Tracy Carcione]

Hi Ava.
My Echo retired at 11 and a half.  She probably started slowing down a bit
when she was ten.
Ben will be 9 this October.  He's still trotting along at a good pace.
Amba was still doing well at 9, before she developed cancer.

When Echo started to slow down, I put in my application to TSE, with a
hold on it.  It was more than a year before I activated it, so I think I
had to redo the physical.  I was glad to have most of it done beforehand. 
I think it made the wait shorter.
Tracy
> Hi,
>
> I have a question I hate to ask, but I guess my curiosity overrides my not
> wanting to know.
>
> How old were others' guide dogs when they first began to slow down a bit,
> and how old were your dogs when you retired them? Does anyone have a guide
> dog who is still working (or has been in the past) at 9 years or older?
>
> My Lab guide Cocoa is 9 years old, and I know she is slowing down a bit.
> Though she still loves to work, her energy level is slowly dropping, and I
> am nearly certain she will retire perhaps by the end of this year, maybe
> early in 2014.
>
> My first dog retired at 6, but from a minor medical condition that didn't
> affect her quality of life a bit, just meant guiding wouldn't be the best
> idea.
>
> Is 9 young for a Lab to begin slowing down? Is 9 or 10 young for a Lab to
> retire? I will do what is best for Cocoa, and when retired, she will still
> stay with me at home, though I may wait to apply anywhere for a successor
> dog until (a long time from now) when she passes on, I'm not sure.
>
> I just don't know -- 9 sounds so young, yet so scarily old, for a big dog.
>
> Thanks.
> Ava and Cocoa
>
> Sent from my iPhone
> _______________________________________________
> nagdu mailing list
> nagdu at nfbnet.org
> http://host.nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/nagdu_nfbnet.org
> To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for
> nagdu:
> http://host.nfbnet.org/mailman/options/nagdu_nfbnet.org/carcione%40access.net
>