Hardly a drop of rai
n has fallen during September: the ground is baked hard and crops are struggling to poke their heads through the caked and crumbly soil: hedgerows are drooping under the weight of berries and birds have all but given up visiting the garden table - although there are daily queues for the bath!
n has fallen during September: the ground is baked hard and crops are struggling to poke their heads through the caked and crumbly soil: hedgerows are drooping under the weight of berries and birds have all but given up visiting the garden table - although there are daily queues for the bath!Precious' piglets - now three weeks old - are flourishing in the unusually warm autumn sun. Having yet to experience rain or mud, their young life is an endless idyll of balmy days and - growing quickly - already they are nibbling mum's food to supplement her diminishing supply of milk.......
It's not just the sunshine which has been warming things up either: the imminent arrival of babies tends to increase the temperature levels too and Delila - the next in line to farrow - has been enjoying a few bespoke cooling sessions...... somehow wallows don't always hit the spot and a spraying hose is just what a woman needs at such delicate times.....
Meanwhile, the 5th season (shooting) has just come round again: at the end of January we wondered how we would pass the long months till the new season started.... plans to diversify into new areas with agility training never got off the ground as we decided to focus on honing hunting skills. To that end we took part in three Spaniel Working Tests as a prelude to becoming Field Trials Champ
ions! A little more clued up now, we realise that may be a very distant dream. From the outset, Gunner's training has centred on turning him into the bestest (Beaters) Gundog in All the World. In that it has been very successful; but a Field Trial Dog is a totally different animal and one, I think, we can never turn him into. (But we will not entirely give up.......)
ions! A little more clued up now, we realise that may be a very distant dream. From the outset, Gunner's training has centred on turning him into the bestest (Beaters) Gundog in All the World. In that it has been very successful; but a Field Trial Dog is a totally different animal and one, I think, we can never turn him into. (But we will not entirely give up.......)So, Friday saw us turn out for the first day of the New Shooting Season. As I pulled up in the Farmyard where we all meet he quite sat up in the back seat of the car! Once out in the yard he was his usual cautious self but far from shy in trotting up to greet everyone. In the Beater's bus he sat calmly upright and expectant. Waiting for the first drive he sat bolt upright: all a-quiver and nostrils dilating as his little tail dug a hole in the dusty stubble...... and when the
work started he was away: alternately bouncing up to check where I was and nose down to suck the scents up into his quivering nostrils...... flushing the first bird was like the starting gun going off: suddenly he seemed to remember it all and he was away, confident, secure and happy as a lark. His enthusiasm was countered by a little more need for whistle control but is was delightful to see him work with such decision. Training paid off when he accurately picked a 'runner' from 3 or 400 yds off in a barren drilled field: insufficient training saw him told off when he wrongly pegged a poorly pheasant in the heavy Kale cover (how to teach a young dog to know the difference between a wounded running partridge and a sickly 'can't fly' pheasant remains a dilemma): got forgiven when he found two lost ducks after the pond drive...... was truly exhausted and could hardly put one foot in front of the other before that pond drive (thought he'd pulled a leg muscle, so difficult was it to put one in front of the other)....... collapsed in a contented heap under the table when we got home at the end of a warm, sunny, delightfully happy day.
work started he was away: alternately bouncing up to check where I was and nose down to suck the scents up into his quivering nostrils...... flushing the first bird was like the starting gun going off: suddenly he seemed to remember it all and he was away, confident, secure and happy as a lark. His enthusiasm was countered by a little more need for whistle control but is was delightful to see him work with such decision. Training paid off when he accurately picked a 'runner' from 3 or 400 yds off in a barren drilled field: insufficient training saw him told off when he wrongly pegged a poorly pheasant in the heavy Kale cover (how to teach a young dog to know the difference between a wounded running partridge and a sickly 'can't fly' pheasant remains a dilemma): got forgiven when he found two lost ducks after the pond drive...... was truly exhausted and could hardly put one foot in front of the other before that pond drive (thought he'd pulled a leg muscle, so difficult was it to put one in front of the other)....... collapsed in a contented heap under the table when we got home at the end of a warm, sunny, delightfully happy day. Is there a life as good as a working spaniel's life......? Hunting being his bestest purpose under heaven, the next four months will doubtless pass like the merest puff of dust.......but then maybe the dog will realise that the seasons turn ...and return... and every year for the foreseeable future has five.......!
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