Retrievers can't speak English, at least not in so many words.

Ticket, though, an 11-year old black Labrador retriever, who won the gold medal at the 2002 ESPN Great Outdoor Games and the silver medal in 2003, got her message across loud and clear a few months ago.

Alexandra Washburn, Ticket's handler, had every intention of retiring the champion retriever in June. The main reason for that is Ticket has back problems, a result of three fused disks in her spine. It's a condition Washburn has constantly worried would eventually catch up to her favorite retriever.

So when Ticket won the silver medal at the Great Outdoor Games in Reno, Nev. Washburn was quick to utter these words: "Ticket is officially retired. I've been saying that for three years, but this is it. I like going out this way, with a gold medal last year and silver this year. Next year I'll be watching the competition on satellite TV."

Evidently Ticket wasn't so enthused by the revelation.

If the retriever could have uttered it's own English it might have gone something like this: "Not so fast there young lady. I'm not done by a long shot."

Young at heart

It was a message that Washburn wouldn't get until August. Immediately following the Great Outdoor Games she and Ticket returned to their summer home in the Bahamas, where Washburn is a dive instructor.

When the two returned home and Washburn switched hats to retriever training, she utilized Ticket as a set-up dog while training a brace of younger retrievers.

"She was just having a blast and looking good," Washburn said. "And on the days when I would leave her in the kennel she would howl. If I left her at home, she thought she had done something wrong.

"I began to think, 'This dog doesn't deserve this.'"

Message received loud and clear.

Back in the game

Ticket is now back in the retriever trial game and will stay there until a different message comes along. As a matter of fact, Ticket will lead an all-star line up in the upcoming Super Retriever Series event scheduled Nov. 13-15 at Loudon County, Virginia's Glenwood Park.

It will be the second time the Great Outdoor Games has conducted a retriever qualifier in the east region of the United States. The first time was in North Carolina, an event that Washburn and Ticket walked away with, qualifying for their first Great Outdoor Games. The team is already qualified for the 2004 Great Outdoor Games so the competition is just a formality.

"As long as she is having a good time, why not?" Washburn said. "Against all my young dogs she looks better than any of them."

Which is almost amazing considering Ticket's age and physical condition. Typically retrievers start hitting a downhill slide, or at the least start giving indications that they really don't have the enthusiasm for long marks and long blind retrieves.

"I've not seen that in her, yet," Washburn said. "To this day she can't wait to do the long marks, so how can I say she doesn't want to do the work?

"She is the most enthusiastic dog I run, which is really something when the rest of my dogs are three and four years old. I expected to see (lack of enthusiasm) at some point. But that hasn't happened, much to my surprise.

"Right now, I will be proud to run her in Virginia. And if I didn't feel that way, she'd be at home on the couch."

This fall Ticket and Washburn will run a few field trials along with the Super Retriever Series and spend a couple of months duck hunting. Whether or not the team decides to compete in the Great Outdoor Games or just watch it on satellite television will depend on what Ticket decides.

"If it looks like she doesn't want to go back out then I'll know," Washburn said.