I think it comes down to the dog and his/her condition. Our old TJ got his herding title at 10 1/2 years of age. He had finally settled in long enough to pay attention....LOL....the evaluator absolutely loved him, and so did the competition. She offered to buy him, that to us was a compliment. Of course, he was not for sale. EVER! The following year he was rooting for his son, who was competing in the Veterans class at the National. How many can say that?? These guys lived long, and were in great shape their entire lives. * Ileana * Inquest GSD's, Home of : 2 x Sel EX AM CH & Sel CAN CH Karizma's Cacique of Inquest TC, aka DEXTER Kaleef's Expensive Date (major pointed) aka JACKIE In a message dated 2/15/2011 12:19:13 A.M. Eastern Standard Time, bedkar@xxxxx writes: Michelle Edling has shown the top Belgian Terv's in the US for years..... she usually doesn't start campaigning her boys until they are 5 or 6..... We have been friends for many years and no one loves her dogs more than Michelle. Spy (the male in Group tonight) is a National Specialty Winner and Multiple BIS winner. He is as vibrant and as healthy at 10 as you could wish any dog to be at any age.... and he adores Michelle. We have had the pleasure of competing in Group with Michelle and Spy....some times we win and sometimes we lose.....but I never mind losing to Spy. Kay R ----- Original Message ----- From: LeBrowngsd@xxxxxxx To: cashe90@xxxxxxxxxxx, showgsd-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxx Sent: Monday, February 14, 2011 8:22:34 PM Subject: [ SHOWGSD-L ] Re: Westminster Don't know but I do know that the Belgian Terv was born in 2001. Will she ever retire the dog or will she show him until he drops dead in a dog show ring? Lee Brown ============================================================================ POST is Copyrighted 2011. All material remains the property of the original author and of GSD Communication, Inc. NO REPRODUCTIONS or FORWARDS of any kind are permitted without prior permission of the original author AND of the Showgsd-l Management. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Each Author is responsible for the content of his/her post. This group and its administrators are not responsible for the comments or opinions expressed in any post. ALL PERSONS ARE ON NOTICE THAT THE FORWARDING, REPRODUCTION OR USE IN ANY MANNER OF ANY MATERIAL WHICH APPEARS ON SHOWGSD-L WITHOUT THE EXPRESS PERMISSION OF ALL PARTIES TO THE POST AND THE LIST MANAGEMENT IS EXPRESSLY FORBIDDEN, AND IS A VIOLATION OF LAW. VIOLATORS OF THIS PROHIBITION WILL BE PROSECUTED. For assistance, please contact the List Management at admin@xxxxxxxxxxx VISIT OUR WEBSITE - http://showgsd.org SUBSCRIPTION:http://showgsd.org/mail.html NATIONAL BLOG - http://gsdnational.blogspot.com/ ============================================================================