Resolutions!

Sunset 31.12.17

As the sun goes down on the dying embers of 2017 I find myself subconsciously - or maybe fully aware - mulling over the things that need to be tweaked - or completely overhauled - in order to make 2018 A Better Year than the one just fading out.
The list could be very long - full of righteous intentions, grandiose promises and impossible ambitions....... or it could be very short and to the point.
I think I shall go for the latter.
So....
The one thing I shall aim to do in 2018 is write on this blog rather more frequently than during 2017. There's a lot goes on in this little world of mine & I would like to share it with you all.
You will, of course, be the first to learn if I stick to my New Year's Resolution.
Wish me luck!
My wish for you is that you have a happier, healthier and more prosperous year than the one just gone.
Happy New Year to you all.

From puppy to working Gundog

"You mean I just gotta wait........."

Well..... it finally came... just over 18 months from his first serious training session Skipper's inaugural day at 'work' arrived..... Not that he was aware of that.

Waiting...... again

The whole day passed without incident - which was just what we needed to start his career. He spent it all at heel, observing, listening, following (yawning and sleeping during the long waits between drives) and digesting new experiences - loading on and off the beaters wagon, strange dogs and people doing even stranger things, more birds than he's ever seen in the totality of his life, hares and deer springing up ahead of him....... no wonder he fell asleep straight after dinner..... and slept all evening..... So much stuff to process. There'll be plenty of time for hunting in the weeks, months and years ahead. For now I just want him to take it all in and realise that shoot days are nothing to get excited about. With luck and a following wind he's got another 8 seasons ahead of him....... plenty of time to unpack all the wonders of being a working gundog. For now.... it's enough for him to think of himself as a Walking Gundog.


Happy Gotcha Day Jaunty

Five years ago tomorrow we brought this little bundle of fun home........ His character and personality have just grown from strength to strength. The world would be a duller place without him xxx



Ooops - we forgot to pin his ears down



HAPPY GOTCHA DAY JAUNTY

We still forget to pin his ears down before he goes out!

THAT time of year again

In February every year I pack away the paraphenalia that goes with bushbeating - thornproof waterproofs and gloves, flagstick, canine (emergency) medical kit, on-the-beater's-wagon water container & bowl etc and switch off the early morning alarm settings. The months that follow seem to drag at first - no excitement of hunting, flushing, clambering through seemingly impenetrable hedges, staggering over thigh-high brambles, kale and sundry cover crops.... - just the steady, repetitive training (or re-training) to get the dog(s) back to calm, obedient, whistle-sharp focus - or something similar!
As the months slip by and autumn approaches time begins to quicken; with the falling leaves come the game-birds.....  everywhere - including on our drive from the neighbouring shoot! Time to keep a sharp eye on the dogs - can't have them chasing!
It may have been in the diary for months but 'our' first shoot day always comes as a surprise! Not for me, of course, but for the dog!!!!
Bugler should have guessed there was something afoot when breakfasts started to feature in his daily routine. Normally the dogs only get one meal a day - in the evening. Maybe that's why he was excited yesterday morning when I loaded up the car with all the usual beating-day gear and told him to jump in.  
Luckily he didn't know where we were going or he'd have been spinning round & round like and idiot in the back - in a few weeks he'll have sussed out the various routes and then he'll get seriously spinning about a mile away from our destination! Very annoying.....
We soon reached the yard where we - guns, beaters, pickers-up - meet & he sat quietly in the back until, when it was time to get going, I returned to fetch him. He exploded out of the truck with a yelp of excitement, landing on the ground, leaping up and squiggling round before sitting down - all in the same second! Told to 'heel' to the beaters wagon, he could hardly contain himself , squiggling and wagging so much that I think his back end got there at the same time as his nose! And he only got more excited as the day went on.


"Can't hear a thing under here"

The warm wet summer has provided ideal growing conditions for the 'cover' crops. The maize is probably 12 foot high, kale, sorgum, mustard, grasses - all well up to thigh-high. Plenty tall enough to hide all sign of lanky Bugler....... Added to that, the rain of the night before had thoroughly soaked every blade and leaf making the dog instantly soggy and ensuring maximum noise distraction - you can't blame him for not 'listening' to a whistle which is impossible to hear above the noise of rushing sodden undergrowth!!!!  All in all, it's amazing we got to the end of the day in one piece - or one pair..... and He Was Exhausted... tucking single-mindedly into the leftovers of his lunch box.....

He had a sore eye to show for his efforts - face whipped by sodden undergrowth poor lad  - but within a couple of hours of returning home and sleeping quietly in his kennel, he was up and ready to go again - or so he thought.
Luckily we are not out again till the weekend so he'll have proper time to recover his energies.. he's got to remember it's THAT time of year again and he needs to pace himself or he'll never last through till the end of January!

Happy Birthday Jaunty

 So ... he is now 5 years old and maybe, just maybe, he is beginning to grow up.
This is his serious pose... windblown and looking like any other spaniel really.....

 This is the Jaunty I see quite regularly - looking up and saying "What was it you wanted me to do?" It is not unusual for us to have a break-down in communication - I say something and he does something else..... and then he looks at me all innocence as if to say: "Well, I thought I had understood perfectly!"

 And then there is the wet Jaunty: he can't resist getting wet. It doesn't matter what the 'wet' is in - bucket, river, trough, dirty pond, puddle, tin bath, any bath - he just jumps straight in (yes, even in a bucket!). He'll drop his (hard) ball in the water container for the sheer pleasure of having to retrieve it from the bottom - he doesn't mind going right underwater. Perhaps he's half fish.... it wouldn't surprise me. Come to think of it, maybe that is why his ears are always so smelly....

Last, but by no means least, there is the crazy Jaunty. He jumps for fun...... up and down, up and down, up and down without halt until he starts doing something that seriously requires forward movement - like running for instance. In mid-air he squizzles round 360 degrees, or almost, and lands only to jump again. This is why he now does agility; it gives him plenty of opportunity to jump but with a purpose!

Happy 5th Birthday to my crazy, happy jaunty Jaunty xxx

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SKIPPER !

The little pup turned 2 yesterday

Skipper (Liver & White) with his two brothers & Mum 30.6.2015

...  with all the excitement of Jaunty & Nell's litter being born amidst the sadness of Gunner's illness - Skipper was destined to be a special chap.
He has not disappointed.
In many ways he reminds me of  the young Gunner - always eager to please, his own 'person' but in a generous, honest way. On the other hand, he carries so much of Jaunty's boisterous joy in the sheer pleasure of life that there is no doubting his parentage!
As Chris-the-trainer reminds me from time to time .... he is a trainer's dog and could be very difficult to handle if not kept firmly in his place! Ah well..... I do try.
He has had more hours of one-to-one training in the past 18 months than Gunner, Bugler and Jaunty combined! If he doesn't live up to our expectations when he enters the world of the working Gundog there'll be nobody to blame but his handler! Chris-t-t says he is potentially the Best Dog he's known... no pressure there then!

Springing through the meadow 16.6.17

It's a good job the dog doesn't know what's ahead of him! For now he is happy doing his school and homework, vyeing for pack leadership with Bugler and generally trying to put Jaunty in his place - something which Jaunty, since all he wants is a quiet life, is happy (usually) to let him do!

Skipper is always 'up' for anything and loves everything.... except wet.... wet anything. He doesn't like going out in the rain, sitting on wet grass or walking through puddles. So for his special birthday treat I decided to take him to the river so he could learn to love water!!!
Luckily, it was a warm day. Fortunate too that one of his favourite 'things' is retrieving - made all the more so because he gets to do very little!

Finally throwing himself into the water !

Armed with large yellow floating dummy and long cord we arrived at an appropriate access point on the river bank - a gentle slope down and not too big a drop from bank into water. At first I just dangled the dummy a metre or so away from the edge and, try though he did to reach it without getting his paws wet, the bank gave way and in fell the dog!! In trying to scramble out he fell back in and got thoroughly soaked all over! With a bit of encouragement he gave up scrambling and turned round to reach for the dummy, grabbed it gingerly - and then scrambled out! We repeated the exercise - each time throwing the dummy, on its cord, further out and after a few retrieves the dog was beginning to enjoy himself. He showed no sign of giving up or losing enthusiasm, quite the contrary. So off came the cord. No matter where the dummy went, Skipper happily fetched it; eventually realising that leaping in was much quicker than dropping in off the bank!


Who doesn't like water?

What was particularly pleasing was that he at no time left the bank until told to retrieve and each dummy was delivered straight back to hand - no messing, no dropping, no shaking. We ended on a better note still - I sent him into the river without having thrown the dummy and then threw it in over his head for him to retrieve... he didn't hesitate.

The dog who didn't like getting wet discovered he loved water ...!!!!!

What a lovely Birthday Surprise!!!

Ducks have done a Runner

Until quite recently we have had a mixed flock of 5 Indian Runner Ducks and about 15 Call ducks.
But it's silly season for ducks -  the females go broody and lay eggs all over the place and the males spend almost their entire time chasing around after the females the minute they leave their nests. It's totally chaotic.

Even more crazy is that three of the Indian Runner ducks trot around the fields whenever the dogs are not in evidence escorted by one of the male Call ducks. The male Indian Runner prefers to spend all his time by the home pond.... actually I think he is visually impaired - but that's another story!

 So, for most of the day, when the dogs are not in evidence, the three girls and their escort can be seen trotting hither and thither across the fields looking for tasty treats or just basking in the long grass.

Until a couple of days ago when I noticed there were just two trotting around...... and only 4 Runner Ducks waiting to be shut up at night.

Then Yesterday there were only three waiting to be shut up with the others......

So, the question is... where are the other two. Surely not brooding on a nest somewhere. After all, a Call duck would not mate with a Runner would he? And if he did and eggs that were laid actually hatched - what would be the result????   I don't think it is anything to do with Charlie Fox because he would have taken the lot, not just one at a time....
Have the ducks done a 'runner'?
Will they reappear as suddenly as they disappeared?
Watch this space....................................

Happy Birthday Bugler

Congratulations to Bugler on his 4th Birthday.

As these photos show, he's finally lost his puppy-face and actually looks quite mature and sensible!

He's a lot like his father to look at, particularly since his markings are identical, and has inherited many of his traits. He's totally honest and always anxious to please, easy to teach and a joy to handle: - apart from just one thing - he develops a rather explosive pop of speed whenever he sees a hare, rabbit or pheasant in front of him.

This is something which our trainer assures me we can re-programme before the start of the next Shooting Season! I am looking forward to this because it was the one thorn in our working partnership through the winter months. It's not exactly that he chases them, it's more that when he sees them he just cannot contain himself and literally explodes after them. A mix of exuberance and excitement. As soon as that initial explosion is over he comes straight back to me as if nothing had happened!

He's a sensitive little soul who loves a cuddle and responds joyfully to praise. He doesn't like loud bangs and whistles sounding off close to him and took an aversion to working tests last summer despite having behaved calmly and well the previous year - even winning some minor prizes. So, we're not doing them any more!

Shoot day noises and people, however, bother him not one little bit. A complex chap in a way.

He's an excellent bush beating dog. Never having been 'Picking Up' on a shoot,
he has not made the connection between guns shooting birds and those birds needing to be fetched as quickly as possible - which is a far more annoying habit than exploding after hares! And one which is impossible to re-programme!!! It is very nice to have a dog who sticks to his own job without trying to do everyone elses as well!

I'm looking forward to the next four seasons with him - as well as all the months in between!!! I'm sure Gunner would be proud of him too .....

Spring has sprung

Damson blossom

Following a dry and relatively mild winter, spring has arrived this year with a vengeance.
The primroses on the bank along the drive have been flowering merrily since early February, vyeing with the snowdrops for sheer showiness: for the first time we have had daffodils, crocuses, primroses, snowdrops and aconites all blooming together. No sooner had the snowdrops fallen away than the hyacinths leapt into bloom.
Now it is the turn of the blossoms. First to flower was the Victoria plum tree closely followed by the yellow and greengages and, latterly, the damsons. Judging from the tiny buds appearing already, apple and pear blossom will not be far behind.

Hyacinths surround the mulberry bush

The orchard is a magical place; often in the early mornings we will see muntjak deer picking their way daintily across the grass, nibbling here and there - occasionally rose bushes, but that's a small price to pay for sight of them.... Or a hare will spring onto the lawn, sit bolt upright on its haunches and sniff the air before bounding merrily away again.... Pheasants strut archly across, the cockbirds ruffling their plumage and letting off their shrill cry. When the dogs hear that sound, their heads snap round to try and catch sight of the teasing birds....  In the ash and beech and chestnut trees the woodpigeons go about their canoodling and preening whilst the jackdaws dive noisily down to the ground to pick up yet more makings for the nest they are hopelessly building in our chimney yet again. We lie in bed drinking tea and listen to the sound of their labours trickling down the chimney to the fireplace below.... when I go down I find not just twigs but dung, loft insulation, horsehair, pig wool, straw, leaves, bits of ribbon and string and sometimes balloon! One day I expect to find an egg or two as well!!!


Victoria plum blossom

Now that the clocks have gone forward we awake to the increasingly loud and varied dawn chorus... and as I go about the yard during the day I wonder "When will the swallows arrive this year?" because then it is not long before spring gives way to summer......

There is a different air about the place this year - more peaceful in the absence of lots of little trotters helter skeltering about the place. The pace of life is a little more restful too now that we don't have to pack up and go off to markets and food fares..... Spring may have sprung with a vengeance but we are definitely a little more retiring ......