Merry meanderings # 3 11 July 2015 "Gunnering the furnishings...."

 "When I did read Her last story it did make me laugh. Well, not all of it but the bit where She said I slept that first night without a whimper! I whimpered alright but She didn't hear me! Who was the tired one?
She had a notion that I should spend the dark time away from her in a crate; well, I scuppered that one. I made lots of noise till She let me out and after that She never did shut me in and in exchange I was always very quiet all night long.
She'd give me my bickies and I'd settle down & go to sleep.
Or that's what She thought.
I stopped myself from making a noise by chewing something.  Not just anything:  I was particularly fond of wood and wool.......
She didn't notice for ages. When I was a tiny pup I'd lie on the kitchen floor and chew the wooden chair legs and those bits that go between the legs. I often look at them now and remember the hours I spent doing that. They're all individually altered! What I like to call "gunnered".
When I got a bit bigger and grew a better bounce I'd climb up onto a chair and gunner the wooden arms - we've a few of those to remind me of that time. Personally, I think they're an improvement on the original.

 She must agree because She never did tell me off - or replace them.
Sometimes I see her fondly doing that thing with a cloth and smelly stuff; if She thinks She's improving my handiwork She is way wrong.
The other thing I liked was wool.
After I'd finished my bickies, if I couldn't sleep - or if I woke up in the dark and nobody was around I'd chew a rug. We had lots of wool rugs around the place just begging to be altered. Bein' a spaniel, I'm not too fond of sharp corners on things so I'd just alter those & make them a bit more friendly. Sometimes I'd remove their dangly bits - and sometimes I'd add dangly bits to otherwise very plain rugs.
I can't help noticing that over the years She has removed a lot of my most significant masterpieces but I've put a few bits in this story so's you get a flavour of my toothwork.
She say no other dog in this household ever did make such an impression on things.
Now that is one accolade I am most happy to acknowledge.
One day I gonna leave Her all my Gunnerings to remember me by.  That'll make Her smile.

Merry meanderings #1 July 10 2015 The Fickle Finger of Fate

Gunner and Lancer (aka The Best Dog in all the World)

Our meanderings start at the beginning. Gunner (I'd decided to call him that even before I set eyes on him) was our 4th springer spaniel and came to us from Inverness where he was bred by a friend of a friend -  fate brought us together.
His existence in the world was raised during a chance conversation regarding a family funeral. My friend knew I'd been keeping my 'eyes open' for another spaniel pup for a while so when her friend said he still had a dog pup from his bitch's litter she mentioned me and then rang me to tell me to ring him - which I did immediately - it was nearly 9pm and not a time I would normally ring a complete stranger. After a relatively short description of the mother and the pups I said I would have him. How to get him from Inverness to Lincolnshire? Again, fate played her part; the family funeral was to be in Danby and in 10 days time the wife was travelling down to make the arrangements; it was agreed that she would bring the pup down with her and we would travel up to Danby (a very apt place to pick up a potential gundog) to fetch him.
It was 19th June 2007.
We took a friend and made a 'holiday' of it, travelling via Whitby - where we were held up by a Tractor Rally - and Robin Hood's Bay where it was too foggy to see anything! I popped into an antique shop where I found & bought an 1820's coloured engraving of 'The Weary Sportsman' - it seemed an omen. It makes me smile each time I look at it.....

The biggest feet in town?

The little pup was full of bounce and spring and ran around the Danby house in great excitment, weeing as he went - glad to be free after his 5 hour car journey. Soon we were on our way home and when he was handed to me to put in the back of our car he looked at me as if to say
"Are you my mummy?" and the bond was sealed. From that moment, where I went he went......
On the journey home I said to anyone who would listen:
"If he's got the aptitude I think I'll try and train him to be a beating dog" - I hadn't a clue what I was talking about - I'd done a day or two of beating as a child in Norfolk but had no experience of gundogs and "what they do".
Gunner slept the whole journey home and the whole night - he may have whimpered a bit but that was all. The next day I took him to the vet. Getting him out in the car park I put him on his lead for the first time and he walked beside me as if he'd been doing it for weeks. No fuss. No bother.
"If that's what you want mum, then that's what I'll do".
The vet passed him fit and fine and gave him his injection; "He's a strong pup - big feet". "Thought I might train him for beating" I said "Do you know a local trainer I could go to?".
He handed me two telephone numbers. I rang them the next day; the first didn't answer but the second did. The fickle finger of fate again - I discovered later that the first man wouldn't have been our "cup of tea" at all.
"Bring him over in a couple of weeks and we'll have a look at him" said my to-be-trainer after giving me a few tips about what to do and what not to do.

Gunner brings me yet another big stone

And that was the beginning of it. Gunner and I spent the next 3 months learning some basics and by the time we went back to the trainer for our first 'formal' lesson Gunner could walk to heel on and off the lead, sit, stay, wait, go find (chew stix) and come to voice or whistle. I thought he was brilliant. Still knowing nothing about the shooting world, I knew he was going to be a star and was full of enthusiasm to turn Gunner into Gundog.
It was the start of a very interesting Journey together. Me and my perfect little puppy....!!
Oh - I forgot to mention his pal in the top Photo.
Lancer had been nicknamed "The Best Dog in All the World" by my niece - he really was the sweetest dog in all the world and never did a norty deed from the moment we 'rescued' him at the age of 11 months from a two up-two down starter home in Milton Keynes.... He was Gunner's first pal and clearly passed his good manners and nature to the pup. When Lancer left us to go OTRB it seemed natural for Gunner to adopt his moniker - with the Gun bit added 'cos I always knew he was headed that way!!!

"This is not the end....

Gunner 6 July 2015

Well - we were very lucky. Our Very Nice Vet rang on Monday (6/7) to tell us he'd booked Gunner into a Vet Centre in Grimsby for Tuesday morning. That was a relief.
"Soon we'll get to the bottom of what's up with him" I thought.
We did.
The young vet (YV) had spoken with our vet and received Gunner's clinical history from him on Monday. Nonetheless, he asked me to go through the whole story since I first noticed Gunner was not "right" - which I did.It wasn't easy to be chronologically accurate but I got most of it in sensible order. Then the YV told me exactly what he was planning to do.

"Vet's not much good at the poodle-parlour bit" 8 July 2015

 Firstly, he would take blood and analyse it. Then he would do 4 xrays, 1 each side and 2 from the 'bottom' of Gunner's chest. Those would inform him where to focus the ultrasound, which he anticipated would fill in the picture for him. If necessary he would put a camera down Gunner's throat to see if there was a blockage in his tubes which might explain his heavy breathing. I signed the consent form and went home confident that the YV knew exactly what he was doing and that the BestestGundog in all the World was in good hands. He said to phone him at 1430-1500 if we'd heard nothing by then.
As it turned out a very charming receptionist rang at 1345, told me all the work had been completed and that I needed to make an appointment to speak to Michael - the YV. The earliest I could get there was 1500 hrs so we agreed to meet then. 

"I'm watchin' you" 9 July 2015...

Michael took us calmly through all the work that he had done: explained the blood test results; showed us all the x-rays and then the ultrasound film. There had been no need for the camera down throat. He was calm, considerate and thorough leaving no question unanswered.
The conclusion was unequivocal.
Gunner has a 'bleeding' tumour close to his heart which is leaking fluid into his chest cavity, as a result of which his lungs occupy a fraction of the space they should. Basically they are collapsing. Hence the heavy breathing. Michael suspects there are further tumours outside the area covered by his ultrasound. Also Gunner's kidneys are not functioning as they should - hence the amount he is drinking. Although that is also a result of his blood haematology which shows an extremely low red cell count and equally high white cell count... resulting from his body fighting off the 'infection' from the tumour. It is also responsible for his anaemia, which in turn is the reason for his lack of 'bounce'. On the plus side, his prostrate is perfectly normal and healthy. So it's not all bad news - at least the prostrate hyperplasia was not the cause of all the other things.

#TeamGunner training session 9 July 2015

To say we were devastated is an understatement. Michael was of the opinion that we should end Gunner's suffering immediately though he didn't try to persuade us against bringing him home. His concern was that the tumour might suddenly bleed out and cause pain which we could avoid by taking action now.
I don't want my best pal to have pain but he's far from ready to leave us. He is on prednisolone which has eased any pain he might have had and for the past two days he has been happier than most of the past two weeks. So much so that he is eating two meals a day, joining in training sessions with the youngsters and generally strunning (think of a cross between a stroll and a run) around quite happily. He certainly doesn't want to stay sat in the shade where I 'put' him!
He is quite adament that there is "life in the old dog yet".
So the deal we've struck is that he will tell me when he's had enough. Until then we shall post a story a day on this blog for all his pals (in twitterland and across the world) who may not have shared all his history. After all, he is not The Bestest Gundog in All the World for nothing. And we'd both like to go back over "old times" .
Not all the stories will be as long as this one but we wanted to get all this recent history out of the way first so there are no questions in your minds about what/how/why this is going on.
We're happy to have you along with us and hope you enjoy our little meanderings over the next days, weeks....... however long we've got.

Had the Op but

So, the BestestGundog in all the world had his jewels removed on 17th June as planned, and at the same time, as requested, the vet took some x-rays. I asked him to because I wasn't liking the shape the dog was in. Literally. His ribcage had been looking distended and, with his diminished appetite, I suspected something going on inside.

This sun's a bit hot

The xrays confirmed my suspiciouns but the vet was unable to work out what was causing the odd picture.
"It could be fluid" he said, prescribing a course of water pills and a repeat xray for 10 days later.
This showed a picture which was a little clearer on the lhs of his chest but on the rhs there were a couple of distinct
 "bits that shouldn't be there".
Again though the vet was unable to distinguish precisely what those bits were.
"To be honest" he said "I've never seen anything like this before" (and he's not exactly a spring chicken!).
So he referrred the xrays to 'experts' in Newmarket. But they could not give us an answer about what's going on either. They recommended ultrasound and drawing some fluid off Gunner's chest.

1/11/14 Gunner waiting for the next Drive to start

Hopefully this can be done very soon because, even though he's on painkillers, it is clear my trusty pal is not feeling at all the thing. Each day becomes just a little bit harder - for him and for me.
Luckily, he's got a lot of pals on twitter who are crossing their paws for him (#spanielswithcrossedpaws) which is helping him to keep his pecker up #bowlhalffull
We all just want him well again - soon. Shooting season is not far off now......

All good things

Pepper - brother of Ginger, founding sow of the herd

Wurzel - brother of Mangal, founding boar of the herd

Back in April 2007 two curly coated pigs came 'back' to Lincolnshire to live with us at Rectory Reserve. Mangal and Wurzel were swallowbelly brothers from the first Mangalitza
litter to be born in England from the Austrian 'herd' of 16 or so imported at the tail end of the previous year by Tony York in Wiltshire.
Initially intended as 'weaners for fattening' it was only  a matter of weeks before someone was heard to mutter something about it being a shame to do that to such rare pigs and why didn't we "breed a litter".. Thus it was that not long after, Pepper and his sister Ginger came to stay. Ginger & Mangal became the founders of our herd whilst Pepper and Wurzel eventually fulfilled our original plan and joined the great pigherd in the sky.
Mangal was joined by Samson, Clyde and Black Banana, whilst Ginger's sow band grew to include Delila, Precious, Andromeda, Aster, Truffle, Victoria and Mrs Merkel.
All bearing 2 litters each per year.
A Lot of Pigs.
Whose history over the past 8 years is well documented through the backpages of this blog.

Ginger's 3rd litter

In 2007 the Mangalitza was largely unknown in the UK although the older generations of Lincolnshire 'natives' remember the county's extinct Curly Coat. Local and national media coverage plus our selling pork provisions across a broad range of markets and food events brought the previously unknown 'foreigner' into many people's consciousness.

Carefree piglets

By the beginning of last year it became clear that the herd needed to grow much bigger if their meat was to move to anything like a prominent position on the national menu. Equally obvious was the fact our mature years mitigated against our having the time or energy to invest in that growth!
With animals as in business there can be no half measures. We debated and explored the various options but in the end realised that the only way was 'out'.
For the past year we have been running down the herd and by end 2015/early 2016 we shall have just a small select group of 'pets' left.

Delila & family April 2011

Saying farewell to our breeding pigs was not a happy experience and already this year we are missing having bands of cheeky piglets running all over the place. However, the experience of living and working with these singularly charismatic pigs will stay with us. The indelible impression they have made may only become clear with the benefit of hindsight.
Hopefully though their numbers will continue to grow through the efforts of other breeders and we will be able to think fondly of the part we played in bringing the Curly Coat pig back to Lincolnshire..........................
Meanwhile, whether you're already a customer or have not had the pleasure of becoming familiar with our Mangalitza pork provisions make the most of the next 6 months.....

Meanwhile the Boy continues to shine....

#TeamGunner eagerly awaiting their afternoon 'run'

 No matter that he wasn't feeling very bright, there was no way The Bestest Gundog was going to be left behind when #TeamGunner set off on their fourth flurry into the world of Working Gundog Tests.
After incessant rain all day Saturday, Sunday morning "dawned" damp and misty.We set off early for The Bulwick Estate, Northants in the certain expectation of having at least some rain during the day. Better for the dogs though than the heatwave which we had enjoyed on Friday.
Unlike the previous events we have been to, this one was organised in conjunction with tests for retrievers ---

There is a lot of waiting to be done.....

and there were an awful lot of them (90+). By the time the chauffeurs and handlers for them and the 30+ spaniels, not to mention all the helpers for the day, had turned up the car parking area was very large indeed. The venue was an iconic piece of the best the British countryside has to offer - a panorama of rolling green hills and meadows for the Retriever tests and dense woodland providing excellent spaniel hunting 'ground'. How could a dog not go well under such conditions. Jaunty was drawn 16 and Bugler 25 of the 31 dogs, which included 10 'Open' competitors. The format for the tests was the same as previously except that the Open dogs had their first run before the Novices and 2nd runs for both followed on in the same order after an excellent cooked lunch catered at the bottom of the valley. The way the weather turned out it meant that all the dogs had a run in the cool with some scent as well as one under warm, virtually scentfree conditions. But it was a long day for 'man' and dog alike.

Little bits of paper that make it all worthwhile

First of  TeamGunner to go, Jaunty gave a (to me) dazzling display of spaniel hunting. Nobody would have guessed how 'hard' he is to handle. His retrieving was equally fast and accurate if a little too enthusiastic on the first dummy.If his handler had been more on the ball she might have been able to stop him running in! Nonetheless I was thrilled to bits with his performance. We can work on the error. Unfortunately that cost us any hope of a placing.
No such errors from Gunner's boy Bugler though.  His hunting was a little less exuberant than Jaunty's (particularly when alongside the gallery in the morning) but his retrieving was spot on, needing only one redirection from me in the whole day. With the competition being much tougher than on the previous occasions I was overjoyed, and just a weensy bit tearful, that he was awarded another piece of paper during the presentations.
Gunner, even allowing for being slightly below par, was not at all impressed with the day but I can't help feeling he would be as proud as I am of his son if he understood what the piece of paper represented.
There was a fair bit of snarling & growling from the youngsters when they jumped back in the car for the homeward journey; hardly surprising since they'd been running on tension & adrenalin all day. The BestestGundog decided he'd prefer the company of humans even though he wasn't really comfortable on the back seat! By then it may have occured to him that it might have been preferable after all to have stayed at home for the day!

C'est la Vie

 My perky pal hasn't been so perky of late. At first I put his quiet manner down to the fact that he was tired at the end of the shooting season. But he stayed quite tired.
So I attributed it to the youngsters: since my attention and time is now shared amongst the three of them, Gunner is only getting a third of what used to be all his.
But that didn't explain why he stopped eating his morning and evening treats. For the past 8 years he's keenly looked forward to half a dozen bickies at either end of the day.

But not any more.
Not a good sign. He's always had a proper appetite - never greedy but always ready for his food.
Maybe it was the change to raw feed?
But the youngsters are absolutely full of energy on the same diet.
Eventually I took him to the vet.
"He's just not right" I said.
Then tried to explain all the subtle changes.
When I got to the biscuit bit the vet's eyes lit up. Anyway, he took his temperature. "Nothing unusual there" . So he did a rectal exam. And that explained everything.
"He has benign prostrate hyperplasia" said the man. "You can google it". I did.

Not good. The vet gave him a hormone injection and prescribed steroids and within 24 hours Gunner was back to his old self!
And then went downhill rapidly when the injection and the steroids wore off.
We went back to the vet who took some bloods: the results were all over the place.
Only one thing for it.
The jewels will be removed on Wednesday next and I'm keeping everything crossed that the problem will then be sorted, blood will return to normal and my old mate, when he gets over the shock, will get the smile back on his face...
Fingers crossed..............