Deja Vu

 When you've got a dog and his son you keep looking for similarities and differences, things the youngster inherets from the father. It is tempting to romanticise and see 'the future' star in the young dog... clearly the  youngster is going to be Oh so much brighter, faster, cleverer than the father. That's why we breed them.... There is absolutely no logic at all. We humans just want it to be that way. We breed 'the best' to 'the best' to get 'even better'.
Obviously.
Well... maybe once in a million times....
So, of course, we all asume we are that one in a million.
And obviously the son of The Bestest Gundog is going to be The Very bestest Ever Gundog. We wouldn't have bred him otherwise.

In order to achieve that status he has to inheret much from the father.
We look for signs.
There are some....... (we grasp at straws)

On 6 September 2007  this very blog reported on an incident which could have been Ghost or Gundog. Look back to see the story. It was smart. Tv's switched on in the night and all that.
Just this weekend a similar situation occurred.
We had visitors. One of them retired after dinner to the computer room. Some moments later a large volume of noise erupted. Obviously from the computer room. I thought. At first.
Or!
Maybe not. It gradually dawned that it was totally uncharacteristic of that visitor to make so much noise.
I went to investigate. I discovered the large volume of sound emanated from the kitchen. More precisely, the TV in the kitchen. Actually, now I think of it, a larger volume than I'd ever been able to conjure up from that TV.  There on the floor were the Boy Bugler (son of Gunner) and a few pieces of plastic which, when gathered up, remotely resembled the remote control! Bugler was grinning from ear to ear. "Look what I got, look what I got!" he seemed to say "I switched on the TV".
Jaunty was looking very guilty on the settee with, at his feet, the case which had once contained my specs..... "Nothin to do with me" he seemed to say as he looked at me, pleadingly. "Honest - just a game....I think" his eyes said.....
Back in 2007 I was prepared to think the ghost might have guided Gunner's actions. Here in 2013 I knew no ghost was involved. Something else had guided the pup's actions. Surely it is more than coincidence that the son should replicate his father's 'misdemeanours'....... Did Gunner pass this particular experience on to his son? If so... how? Is it something transmitted in the genes?A kind of family fetish?  Or just coincidence? I'm inclined to think it has to do with the genes ........
I hope it has to do with the genes. I hope that those same genes will manifest in good ways as the months go on..... Obviously I want the baby dog to be a perfect, but slightly enhanced, replica of the grown up dog..... It won't  happen. I can see that already..... There is only one Bestest Gundog.
But let's hope the son comes close....... eventually....   Meanwhile, we have these instances of Deja Vu...