# Getting out of dogs...



## Michele McAtee (Apr 10, 2006)

What are your experiences with folks, who have experience, decoying, training and being involved with working dogs and then decide they aren't going to do it anymore. 

Do you see these people generally leave it for good? Do they then come and go?

Broad topic in a sense, but I'm just wondering about this subject and am interested in others experience(s)


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## Julie Ann Alvarez (Aug 4, 2007)

One of my very good friends got out after loosing both of her dogs to cancer. She took off several years and then got back into it.

There is another couple of folks that I know who got out of trialing but still train together and show up to watch and encourage everyone else at the trials.

I think those that are into pretty deep never really get it out of their blood. 

Julie


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## Loring Cox (Sep 6, 2008)

Seems to be the opposite in Police K9. Everyone I know that has worked multiple dogs and has over 10 yrs experience gets out of it completely unless they get some type of official trainer position. Unfortunately there is a lot of knowledge in my area that goes untapped because they won't come out to training on their own time. I think a lot of it is that being around active dog teams reminds them of what they used to have...


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## David Frost (Mar 29, 2006)

Michele McAtee said:


> What are your experiences with folks, who have experience, decoying, training and being involved with working dogs and then decide they aren't going to do it anymore.
> 
> Do you see these people generally leave it for good? Do they then come and go?
> 
> Broad topic in a sense, but I'm just wondering about this subject and am interested in others experience(s)



I'll let you know definitively in 16 months. It's when I retire and I said I was not going to do anything with dogs. 

DFrost


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## Michele McAtee (Apr 10, 2006)

David Frost said:


> I'll let you know definitively in 16 months. It's when I retire and I said I was not going to do anything with dogs.
> 
> DFrost


Ha. 
See, and that there is my first response...as it goes with others when they say it too, "done with the dogs" laugh laugh. But actually, for some, it is serious. Done. Over.

Taking breaks in intensive training is a good thing IMO. Perspective.


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## Howard Knauf (May 10, 2008)

Loring Cox said:


> Seems to be the opposite in Police K9. Everyone I know that has worked multiple dogs and has over 10 yrs experience gets out of it completely unless they get some type of official trainer position. Unfortunately there is a lot of knowledge in my area that goes untapped because they won't come out to training on their own time. I think a lot of it is that being around active dog teams reminds them of what they used to have...


 So true. David will be the litmus test though.=D>


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## Matthew Grubb (Nov 16, 2007)

Howard Knauf said:


> So true. David will be the litmus test though.=D>


Hmm... I swear I've heard someone say he was retireing before but..... :-D


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## Mike Di Rago (Jan 9, 2009)

I was a handler for 10 years, handled two dogs. Said that was it. Got a puppy (this end of June) 2 years after my last dog died, and I will try at French Ring. Most retired handlers of our force finish and don't get back into dogs though.
Mike


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## Melody Greba (Oct 4, 2007)

Michele McAtee said:


> What are your experiences with folks, who have experience, decoying, training and being involved with working dogs and then decide they aren't going to do it anymore.
> 
> Do you see these people generally leave it for good? Do they then come and go?
> 
> Broad topic in a sense, but I'm just wondering about this subject and am interested in others experience(s)


Depends on why they got into dogs to begin with. Some people have a general interest, and then feel they can make money in it (when they leave, they usually don't come back); some people with general interest and could go either way depending upon how a local club or group treats them, their successes and what their other life priorites are; and some people have it "in their blood", and they have a hard time "leaving it" even when they're burned out.


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## David Frost (Mar 29, 2006)

Matthew Grubb said:


> Hmm... I swear I've heard someone say he was retireing before but..... :-D



A mere postponement is all this is. ha ha.

DFrost


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## Lou Castle (Apr 4, 2006)

On my department when your dog retired, you rotated out. All assignments, except the Chief's rotated. I managed to stay in K-9's by becoming the in–house K-9 trainer. Almost all other departments in the area had a maintenance contract with their vendor to do the regular training. We never had one of those until I was injured and could no longer do it. 

Most handler's, when they rotated out never did anything with dogs again. The only exceptions were those who came back, after promotion, as the K-9 coordinator, an administrative, not a training position.


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## Howard Knauf (May 10, 2008)

Lou,

That sounds like poor management. You're just beginning to get good after 5 years. Why rotate out and start the learning curve all over again with new handlers. Just don't make sense especially when things are really serious...I'd want a seasoned handler there instead of some greenhorn.

Howard


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## Lou Castle (Apr 4, 2006)

Howard Knauf said:


> That sounds like poor management. You're just beginning to get good after 5 years. Why rotate out and start the learning curve all over again with new handlers. Just don't make sense especially when things are really serious...I'd want a seasoned handler there instead of some greenhorn.


There ya go again with that common sense thing. LOL. 

Actually the K-9 assignment was the longest one on the department. Most others were three year gigs. It takes that long in some, such as Robbery–Homicide, just to make good contacts with your counterparts in other departments and to get the networking set up. Then – poof, you're gone. 

Bureau Commanders rotated every 18 months. 

It DID prevent people from getting burnt out and it did prevent those lowlifes who just wanted the special benefits that come with some assignments (in K-9's it's often the take–home car) from staying in an assignment forever. I know of some K-9 handlers who hate their jobs and their dogs. You need dynamite to get them out of their cars to do a search. They often don't show up at training and when they do; they arrive late and leave early. But they love driving back and forth on the Department's dime! 

I remember a Captain asking me why I'd ever want to work with a dog in the first place. "There's all that dog hair on your uniform all the time!" Yeah, Captain, that's why I became a police officer in the first place, so I could keep my uniform as clean as possible! 

The only advantage was that when it came time for promotional tests, officers knew more about how the entire department worked than if they'd stayed in one assignment for their entire career. But it's hardly worth the trade-off.


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## Howard Knauf (May 10, 2008)

> There ya go again with that common sense thing. LOL.


 I just can't help it.:-D




> Bureau Commanders rotated every 18 months.


 I have no problem with that. Common sense tells you why.=D>



> I know of some K-9 handlers who hate their jobs and their dogs. You need dynamite to get them out of their cars to do a search. They often don't show up at training and when they do; they arrive late and leave early. But they love driving back and forth on the Department's dime!


 I don't call them handlers. I call em slugs. Again...proper management should weed these guys out. Maybe thats why there's a 5 year rotation....you're sure to get the slugs that way. Baby with bath water and all that ya know.:mrgreen:

Howard


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## Jeff Oehlsen (Apr 7, 2006)

I got out of dog sports for a long while. I didn't mind it so much, always had a dog with me wherever I went.

I missed the good times training, we were a lot more dedicated than what I see now. We were always able to balance the training with life. When you work with people a lot, you just get better at reading each other, and knowing what is expected takes a lot of the wasted time out of it.

We watched video of what we did, that was always pretty fun, we were a lot younger and a lot crazier back then. We always had the philosophy that as long as we weren't kicking them in the head, it was OK.

I came back to a foreign landscape for sure. I had a dog that was Ok. He was not much more than a pet, but he would do what I asked him to do, and that was enough.

People were very judgemental. I would go to training and sit and watch, and then they would start packing up and I hadn't worked my dog. I would go and get in the truck and go home, puzzled as shit that this was happening.

After about a year of eating shit, watching the dogs do the same shit every week, and watching these same people make the same mistakes over and over again, I decided that no matter what, I would just do my own thing, and not worry about all the silly shit.

I had these same people try and "train" me. LOL Might as well try and control the wind.

Sometimes now that I am back doing sport, I wonder if I am still doing it because I am too old to do the other things I loved to do. Too old to play soccer anymore, it is just not the same, and it hurts an awful lot in places that it shouldn't. 

In a lot of ways I am glad that I am back, and found a sport that I really like, but I have a feeling it will end up the same as my beloved Schutzhund. They will dumb it down, and allow chickenheads to get the highest honors.

I just don't believe that any dog trained well enough should be allowed the honor. I think that the dog should have to stick or be ran off the field. Completely off the field.

Not too long ago I read an arguement from a well known Sch helper that did not believe that this should happen. I must be a sucker, an asshole to not have seen that coming. I think I have too much faith in people. LOL

That shocked me as badly as the first time I ever met a lab that didn't retrieve, as badly as the first stuffed toy temperament Dobermann, and the first time I watched a piece of shit cur get pronounced in the courage test, or the first time I heard a Sch IDIOT call a bite a grip.


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## Howard Gaines III (Dec 26, 2007)

*"Sometimes now that I am back doing sport, I wonder if I am still doing it because I am too old to do the other things I loved to do." *

Ah, age...My bet is that if you find the FIRE you will find the PASSION! 

After 27+ years of teaching I am looking into calling it a day. The fire and passion are not as strong as I WANT to see. Then there is the issue of age. Too many younger folks out there who aren't doing it with the same drive and loyality that I have brought to the table.

Spin it to dogs, find folks whose passion lines up with yours and the age factor goes away! I hang out with folks at both ends of the age scale, approximately 17 years + and - mine. Younger folks help keep me going, older ones allow me to pick their wisdom of their youth!!!


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## Howard Knauf (May 10, 2008)

Yes, well...Mr. Oelsen, How was your relationship with your Mother?

You almost brought tears to my eyes until the part about too much faith in people.:grin:

Methinks your ideal dog is a Pit Yorkie.=D>

Howard


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## Jeff Oehlsen (Apr 7, 2006)

Pit/yorkie ?? How much does one of them run ???


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## Howard Knauf (May 10, 2008)

A level III home protection pit yorkie costs a Gazillion dollars. And its a steal at that price. Bet you really want one now.:mrgreen::mrgreen:


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## Jeff Oehlsen (Apr 7, 2006)

Is it a mini pitX or a land of giants type x. I would need to get the shorthaired version.


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## Michele McAtee (Apr 10, 2006)

Sheesh. Here we are, talking all about getting all out of dogs, and you guys are all into them! Sounds like more so now than you were before.



Jeff Oehlsen said:


> I got out of dog sports for a long while. I didn't mind it so much, always had a dog with me wherever I went.


I like this. I like it even more that you got back into sports, too. I think Julie said it, this sport stuff just gets into the blood. 

But, of course, for different people, they have their different reasons for coming in, going out, coming back or not.


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## Bob Scott (Mar 30, 2006)

Hard to think of any time in the past forever that I wasn't involved in some sort of dog training/sport/hunting/competition. Can't forsee any stopping/slowing down or quitting in the future. There will always be something to do with my dogs.


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## Michele McAtee (Apr 10, 2006)

I know Bob, that is my general thinking, now that I've learned methods for training. I imagine it will take me until I'm well into old and older to get it down right. Thankfully too, because as it stands now, I want to always somehow be training a dog.

Started the thread more or less for experiences of others who had people they trained with who decided to get out and did.

From this thread, I've drawn the conclusion that the decision(s) to get out are likely personal and there's no point in trying to convince a person to stay in it if they are getting out "after this dog" or have already opted to get out.


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## Jerry Lyda (Apr 4, 2006)

Me too Bob. That's life.


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## David Frost (Mar 29, 2006)

Bob Scott said:


> Hard to think of any time in the past forever that I wasn't involved in some sort of dog training/sport/hunting/competition. Can't forsee any stopping/slowing down or quitting in the future. There will always be something to do with my dogs.


Which quite frankly is why I'm probably getting out of dogs when I retire. I can't think of anytime in the past when I wasn't involved in dogs. Day-in-day-out, I guess 40+years of a good thing is enough. 

DFrost


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## Michele McAtee (Apr 10, 2006)

Oh David, admit it, you're just sick of the fur everywhere. Lol.


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## Mike Schoonbrood (Mar 27, 2006)

So what exactly is the question? Whether people get out of dogs altogether, or people get out of protection dog sports?


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## Michele McAtee (Apr 10, 2006)

Michele McAtee said:


> Started the thread more or less for experiences of others who had people they trained with who decided to get out and did.


Mike, the above pretty much sums up the original op...but yaHOoo! we talked about other things too! 

Jeff O is getting a yorkipit I think, or at least he's looking into it anyway.


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## Howard Knauf (May 10, 2008)

Michele McAtee said:


> Mike, the above pretty much sums up the original op...but yaHOoo! we talked about other things too!
> 
> Jeff O is getting a yorkipit I think, or at least he's looking into it anyway.


 It's a PitYorkie...and its a short hair LOL\\/:mrgreen:


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## Bob Scott (Mar 30, 2006)

Hell, I even finished 5 dogs (4 different breeds) to their breed championships. 
Ain't gonna do NO dog dancing though!!!!


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## Michele McAtee (Apr 10, 2006)

Because you mentioned that Bob, thank you, to further define the OP, I'll use you as an example...

If Bob Scott said, "after this dog I'm done, not going to train anymore. I'm done with dogs." 

What do you say to him? Do you think he's coming back? lol.

(I know, just laugh at him like we do David, right? Tell him he's gotta come back for some dog dancing) 

Again, I believe the decision to "get out of it" is likely personal and how can it possibly be "up for any discussion" if a 
*dog person* makes up their mind to get out of it. ?


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## leslie cassian (Jun 3, 2007)

Twenty years or so ago, when the dog that was 'my' first dog, as opposed to a family dog, died of old age, I said I'd had enough. I wanted to be young and irresponsible and stay out all night and not have to be always looking after a dog.

I think it was a month before I took one of my friend's dogs out of her kennels - a big rotti - just to have a dog around. I had him for a year. Fostered a couple of other dogs and then realized I liked having a dog, despite the work, and was likely never going to be without one.

So, yeah, I'm back up to three now. 

Does anyone who truly loves dogs because they're dogs, not just because they're a means to an end - a job, titles, breeding, money, status... ever really get out of dogs?


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