Gunner's just over a month into his 7th bushbeating season and enjoying every minute of it. However, the effort he puts in takes a greater toll on his limbs than either of us wants to admit. The past 5 weeks have provided a relatively gentle lead-in. From now on though the 'work days' come thick and fast; some weeks we have 5 days booked. I'm not entirely sure that the human side of the team can cope with that (!)but I'm certain it would be too much for the 'faithful friend'. He would obviously disagree..... Being a typical spaniel, he would work all day every day regardless of aches and pains.......
Understudy #1, Jaunty (AKA "The Norty") was picked for the job over two years ago. I did a lot of research into finding "the right pup": Talked to a number of 'experts' about what to look for: Found a litter: Made three visits and still agonised over the final selection. He's well named: Jaunty by name and by nature - an irresistably lovable dog. But is he ever going to be a trustworthy working companion? He's intelligent, quick to learn, hugely enthusiastic - and a real trial to train. He's tested my patience and my resolution every step of the way. Fortunately, a bushbeating colleague told me the tale of how one of his best dogs was 2 years old before the penny dropped. I've carried that in my mind throughout Jaunty's education! Now he's turned two and the Norty is the "Not-so-Norty" and I'm entertaining the notion that he could be a very good Picking-up dog. He is tireless, resilient, boundlessly energetic and beautiful to watch. His occasional hunger to see what the rest of the world has to offer suggests that bush-beating would not be his metier! However, he's still very much a play-dog and approaches life as a wonderful game so I think it will be next Season before he joins 'team Gunner' in the Field!
Understudy #2 is Gunner's boy Bugler. If ever a dog was bred for the job this one was. I had always hoped that Gunner's offspring would carry his good traits and this chap certainly does that in buckets. What he has uniquely though is a built in turbo which charges all those traits. Gunner was happy to learn; Bugler is a sponge. Gunner is steady: Bugler is steady-on-speed; Gunner hunts with enthusiasm; Bugler hunts as if his life depends on it. In contrast to Jaunty, Bugler has been a pleasure to train. He's absorbed and remembered every lesson - his main drawback has been having a handler who doesn't think quite as quickly as he does!
So the decision has been made. The #2 will supercede the #1 and join his dad at work this season. Interestingly he's the same age his dad was when he first started work! The plan is that he will work the alternate days when Gunner is booked for a string of consecutive dates. It's not quite so straightforward because he needs to start on small, well contained shoots. He's such a livewire that he could easily pop his cork and go wrong - wasting all the training.
His first day will be Wednesday 12 November. It's a shoot that Rory-the-Trainer attends so it it all goes belly-up I'll have someone to hold my hand!
We'll see how we get on and take it from there.
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