Alex Washburn will be "Ticketless" in her third consecutive trip to the ESPN Great Outdoor Games presented by Dodge when the retriever competition begins this summer in Madison, Wisc.

For the past two Games, Washburn and her decorated black Labrador retriever Ticket have struck gold and silver, respectively. Yet after watching Ticket perform at field trials over the winter and into the spring, Washburn made the decision to sideline Ticket for the Games.

	Washburn and Ready placed third at the Great Outdoor Games qualifier in Stuttgart.

"It came down to realizing that she can't handle a compact schedule of rigorous competitions like we have at the Great Outdoor Games," she said of the qualifier, semifinal and medal round competitions. "But she will continue to compete. It will instead be at other trials."

The decision is justified, considering the fact that Ticket is pushing 12 years of age.

In the three-event Super Retriever Series qualifier leading up to the Great Outdoor Games, Washburn ran three dogs: Honda, Ripper and Ready. It was the latter she chose to run in Madison.

"Ready does really well in all-age trials and that is one factor that led me to choose him," she said of the 4-year-old lab. "We'll see how well he does. He's somewhat immature, but the games will be good experience for him in the future."

Ready had a warm up at the Stuttgart SRS qualifier, where the team placed third with 114 faults.

As for the time remaining between now and the games, Washburn plans to train Ready daily on a field trial course at her northern Mississippi farm. The regime will include running marks from 75 to 400 yards and more, along with the standard round of doubles, quads and triple blinds.

In late May, the two will part company, with Ready taking off for Canada and Washburn traveling to the Bahamas where she spends much of the summer. The team will meet again a week prior to the games when the training will resume.

Ready has big paws to step into and that factor is on the mind of Washburn.

"It will be different without Ticket," she said. "Ready is sure no Ticket and there will never be another. I had planned to retire Ticket after winning the silver last year, but I decided to wait until the last possible opportunity to make the decision."

The decision has been made and the next dog is ready.