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BCSnob's avatar
BCSnob
Explorer
Jul 10, 2014

Peg and her retirement

My Peg is 11, an age around which working sheepdogs will be retired from competition. I keep watching for signs that it is time to retire Peg; I don't want her being outrun or defeated by the sheep. She has taught me so much; I owe it to her to let her go out looking good.

During last weekend we were in NY for a sheepdog trial; each dog got two runs. We were running against about 95 dog/handler teams from Ontario to FL including many that are nationally ranked. Peg finished 11th and 1st in her two runs and looked great (and I held up my end of the team). We probably got qualified for this year's national finals in this one weekend. Not too bad for an old lady. She clearly is not ready for retirement.

Her daughter, Nell, ran well but we didn't have any luck. We ended up with a sheep that tried really hard to run off the course in our first run and I had a few costly handler errors in our second run. She did catch the eye of the judge (previous international champion). Later I heard that he like Peg and like several of Peg's pups he had seen earlier in the year.

Mark
  • corgi-traveler's avatar
    corgi-traveler
    Explorer
    Jul 12, 2014
    Congratulations! Goes to show age is just a number. The working relationship between dog and handler is very complex, and difficult to understand if you haven't walked that path in person...but they do tell you when they have had enough.

    The corgi herding community had a sad week....one of the greats of the breed, a DC (dual champion, both conformation and herding) crossed the Bridge at the age of 14 1/2. I count myself lucky to have seen this dog (and her litter brother, also a DC) run many times, including several runs at 11+ years of age.
  • Deb_and_Ed_M's avatar
    Deb_and_Ed_M
    Explorer II
    Jul 11, 2014
    I have a friend in his 70's, whose Bucket List goal is to have run a marathon in each of the 50 states. He's only 7 states away from that goal :-)

    My point being that there are "senior" individuals of all species who are still star athletes. Go Peg, GO! Best wishes to ALL of you!!
  • BCSnob's avatar
    BCSnob
    Explorer
    Jul 11, 2014
    I checked our points and had forgotten about some we earned last fall (still part of this season). I think we'll be ranked in the top 50 in the country after the new points are added. The top 150 qualify for the finals.
  • Code2High's avatar
    Code2High
    Explorer
    Jul 11, 2014
    It definitely sounds like she's not quite ready to leave competition.
  • Scottiemom's avatar
    Scottiemom
    Nomad
    Jul 11, 2014
    Congrats to you, Peg and Nell. Wonderful dogs and I'm sure they love what they do.

    Dale
  • chele's avatar
    chele
    Explorer
    Jul 10, 2014
    Congrats Peg! You are clearly in tune with her. You'll know when it's time to retire her.
  • Dog_Folks's avatar
    Dog_Folks
    Explorer
    Jul 10, 2014
    You are a caring and sensitive dog handler. You will know when it is time for retirement.

    In the meantime, our thoughts and wishes for her continued success are coming your way.
  • brirene's avatar
    brirene
    Explorer
    Jul 10, 2014
    Thanks for posting this. Congratulations on Peg's continued success, and good luck with Nell. You clearly love, and are proud of your dogs, and this seems to be a fascinating pursuit.

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