anyone any ideas on why a hard worker wheeler of almost 5 years old would suddenly not want to work??  he has just had 5 months off and last season like every previous one he was working well but having had him out twice in the last couple of weeks he has shown no interest in working/pulling or running at all.  both times coming in hardly even out of breath, he seems well in himself checked him over cant find anything untoward, but am taking him to the vet and chiropractor to be on the safe side as it is all very peculiar!  any ideas

Is he one of those red guys by any chance that like to retire early
I know there is a saying RED DOGS DONT RUN I didn't believe it till our big red boy stopped working. Used to be great at wheel. Now he will run about half a mile and go into walking mode, I tried and tried and tried again putting him in different combinations but have finally given up and will now just take him out on the scooter for a very short run after the rest of the dogs have had their run. 
Favorite position is lying on his back with all 4 paws in the air 

yeah he is!  but he used to love working so much!

  Well so did mines 

Ahhhh, so Asha is a red under the grey then

Keep offering him a run, he may pick up when it gets colder, mine get posatively barmy then.

Our lead dog who is red/white just gave up one day after nearly four years. We took him out of lead and put him in wheel for a while to see if he would pick back up wanting to be lead again, but he never did. As soon as we put him back up front he just refused to work. So he's very happily a wheel dog now, but will try to lead from the back. The dog that took over from him is also a red/white and is loving it, and was a dog that refused to run for 18 monthes when we first started to train him, now can't get enough of it.

Jan.

it was 2 degrees when he ran on saturday! 

2 deg, you lucky lot

Kel

Maybe he's gone on strike cos he wants his cups of tea back ! 

x

Mel

ha ha i did think of that, you know what a sensitive little soul he is!  but he seems quite happy ans settled following our house moves etc.  it is very worrying actually as you know how much he loved running and he was actually pretty good at it too! 

When you tried to run him, were you out with another team or by yourself?

Maybe a little chase would get him kicking in again?

x

another team??  chance would be a fine thing! 
no, training alone as always. 

You should have come across and joined us at Ae this weekend 

Cya
E 
www.sleddog.info

Just a thought, although I'm sure you have,

Checked his teeth ?

Maybe if you can let him watch the team leaving & returning a few times, it might kick start him if he thinks he's left out.

Have the others got quicker off the start ?

Maybe taking everyone out for a easy mile a few times, making it lots if fun on returning with lots of praise and cuddles regardless of how it was ?

I've got three reds who run well, but they have their off days, so we leave them out & they feel they're missing out, so next time they're up for it.  I've even got some greys who are the same.  Think we're all like it at some point 

hi,
yup i have checked him all over and just got back from vets who charged me £30.00 to tell me i have a very healthy dog!    have had some samples taken from his feet to rule out bacterial/fungal infection as they look "odd" to me.

nope, dont think others have got quicker, i use a quad to keep speed down and kept them really slow, to prevent them being over keen and hurting themselves.  the more i slowed the team the slower he got!  we only did just short of 2 miles and he was not up for it from the off. 

am not going to be running him for a little while until i know there is nothing physically wrong with him, he has a chiro appointment on friday so he will get to see the others go off without him at the weekend so will see how this goes.

always give lots of praise etc even when they all run like three legged donkeys! 

beginning to suspect that my recent house moves and changes in my life etc has upset him more than i thought and he is not as happy as settled as he appears and it is more emotional than physical  perhaps i should be looking for a shrink for him next!