Merry meanderings # 13 Not that kind of dog

All the essentials in the boot 5-4-09

 "Now.. you has all heard the talk about my Boy Bugler and The Understudy goin off and doin Workin Tests. They's both been pretty stuck up about it - my Boy Bugler even get a bit big -headed just cos he got papers. (OK I know - I am a proud daddy and he is a chip off the old block but I ain't let on to him about this little story or he'd be tooooooooo much).

Gettin a pep talk 5-4-09

Off to the 'off'

"Well, back in the day when I was just a young whippersnapper with no idea of what excitement my life did hold in store for me, I too did spend a spring doin "workin tests". She did say it was the kind of thing a would-be bestest gundog should do so off we went - Her & me & the Big Boss. As soon as I did get in the boot I smelled something odd: all those 'things' we were takin. Where were we goin? We did go a long way in the car and when we got to There it was just as I'd thort - a very suspicious place. Lots of cars and dogs with their peeps. All looking very serious.
"Not a good sign" I said to myself.
But She did tell me it was ok and that I should just be brave and be myself and all would be fine.
I went along with that. All us dogs and our peeps then left the cars - and we left the Big Boss ("Not my thing" he said - I grew a little uneasy when I did hear that.)
I did not know what was coming. This was not like anything I had done before in my time. I was very suspicious.
But I did go with her quietly.
I didn't see much of what was goin on 'cept a dog would go off with its person to do something and then come back and the next would go.
Soon enough I found out what they was doin tho cos it was my turn.
I went with her into the woods and she made me sit, then did take my lead off and give me my usual instruction:-
"Go seek!" She did say.
"Do what????" I said
Well, She did repeat Herself.
I looked around, at the wood ahead, at the strange human standin' next to Her, at the other strange peeps either side behind her - ahead at the wood again.
"You want me to go huntin' as if I'd not a care in the world and leave you? Here? With these strange humen? You has gotta be jokin?"
I gave Her my best serious I-cannot-do-that look.
But "Go Seek!" She did say again.
"Ahhhaa" I said to myself. She did mention Test when She was talkin to the Big Boss. This  must be the Test.
She was tryin' to see if I would look after Her through thick & thin, stick close to Her when there was Danger about.
Well, I was gonna make sure I passed that Test cos She my Person and I Her bestestgundog..... I stick with Her through Everythin......... There were a few smells of interest so I did just sneak a few paw lengths to either side of her - but no way was I goin' further than that. Didn't want her to worry about the strange humen.

Focus!

After I did pass that test a man did fire a gun; I looked; he did throw a dummy into the bushes. Well, I knew that She did love nothin more in all the world than when I did bring her somethin. So when She did tell me to "go fetch" I thort that since She was so stressed, I'd go get that dummy fast as I could and bring it back to Her and make Her smile. So that what I did. The strange human did say:
"He's got a good nose" and She did smile even more.
I s'pose I passed that test too then.
And then it was our turn to leave the wood. I was so relieved that I had looked after Her so well and not let Her down.
We did do two more tests after this one. Each time it was the same: long journey, lots of strange dogs and peeps and havin to do the things in the woods. I sensed that She was a little more comfortable with the strangers so, when She did say "Go seek", I did go just slowly a little way away from her for the second test; She said I was a good boy after so I spose I did judge it right. I trieved the dummys even quicker. The last time we went I thort I could go a little further away from Her when She gave me my instruction because She did look quite relaxed - but I not went far or fast cos I wanted to make sure I was still close enough to Her to keep my eye on Her and the strange humen. She told me again I was good boy and, again, I did please Her with givin' Her the dummys very fast.
"He'll make a good beatin dog" the judge did say when I finished my last test.
She was over the moon. I had passed all the tests. I was already a good beatin dog but now the Judge had told me I would be one She was really really pleased.
That's humans for you!"
Now - since I did pass all my tests and not bring home papers, just What Did My Boy Bugler get papers for??????
Obviously I not that kind of dog............................."

Merry Meanderings #12 Three mousies and two Weasels

"
When I was tellin you about the indoor huntin which Waifacat did provide for me I did mention the time she brought in many mousies and  weasels in one day. I gonna tell you that story now....

"You lookin at me?" WaifaCat 20/7/15

A few years ago the very Senior mother of The Big Boss was in a place where she needed to be looked after. The Big Boss's people did come here often to stay so they could visit the Senior mother.  One of these peeps was what I would call "a town person": she not one to pick up a fork in the stable (though she did pick up forks quite happily in the house) and help; I never did see her in those rubber boot things what my Person do wear all the time. She was not really a doggy person either though she was always kind enough in an odd way. Just always talked to us like we were 'foreign bodies'.
Anyway, WaifaCat did not have much time for the strange peeps and did mostly just walk through the room they were in and go about her business as if nopawdy there.
"One day as all the peeps was sittin at the table and eatin their first meal, Waifa did stroll through and drop somethin on the floor: the Town Person did see this and suddenly made a very loud sharp noise and point.
Well, that seemed to me a signal so I did go where she did point - and there was a mousy just runnin behind our sofa! I did catch it and give it to my person. And the peeps did carry on eatin and talkin.
A little while later WaifaCat did stroll through and put somethin down on the floor again. The Town Person did make the loud sharp noise again and pointed to a cupboard. I did trot over to investigate. I larfed cos there was another mouse in the corner.
I did catch it and give it to my Person.
And the peeps, after a little while of making silly noises, did settle down and carry on doin what they were doin.
I went back to sleep.

Soon I heard a little noise and the pesky cat did come into the kitchen again with another mouse which she did put down on the floor under the table where the peeps were all sittin.. This time the Town Person did jump up and she was angry and she did make much fuss and noise and did leave the room. I caught the mouse again and did give it to my person - again - and I did give Waifacat a 'Look'. She did pull a face at me, Honest she did.

Pilot oblivious to the peeps

Puddy Cat in sun puddle

Well the visiting people did go off to see the Senior person and the rest of us did go about as we usually do.
Later the peeps did come back and everypawdy did sit outside cos it was a lovely day.
The Town Person had become normal again and was talkin and talkin.
Pilot and Puddy Cat snoozed in the sun while the peeps talked.  The town person did talk about the mornin mousies and say how much she scared of them and then she talked about a cat from her town who fetched its person a weasel. WaifaCat was gone.

WaifaCat's weasel

Well, the afternoon did go on and then my person did see WaifaCat coming up to the front of the house where we was all sitting with something in her mouth - which she did take into the house and put down on the floor.  It did half smell - worse than anythin I has ever smelled before..... When my person did come in and see it she did be very surprised. "A Weasel!" she did say. And She did take it back outside to show all the peeps.The Town person did make sharp noises again. Lots of them.  Well, I did larf but WaifaCat was not pleased. My person did take the weasel away and Waifa wanted to take it further into the house to give to the Town person herself - she didn't realise everyone was out in the garden!
Well, WaifaCat was a wild cat before she did come to live with us. She not one bit stupid. She did disappear again. For a long time. All the peeps did go indoors and do indoor things and much later, much later indeed they was eatin and the Cat did come back from her huntin.
"You watch this" she said to me as she walked past with another weasel in her mouth - I know it was one cos it did smell as sharp as the first one. And I did watch that clever cat. She walked past me into the kitchen and under the table.
"Errrugh" said the town woman very sharply.... as WaifaCat did put the smell weasel down on the floor under the table where that woman was sittin.............. and that woman did make some very sharp strange noises again. I think she did not like the weasel.
Well, it was all too much for all the other peeps. They did larf and larf and cat did look so very pleased because for the first time the town woman did see the pressie which she had brought in for her.
"See" Waifa said to me "She make all that noise cos she is really pleased with my pressie... she know it special and she did say about that other cat who was so clever and did fetch a weasel. Well I a very clever cat - cos I did catch her two............"

She never did catch another one. She never did go near the town person again when that person came to stay. I don't know why and she not tell me, but I think I can guess..............!
Bet you all can too."

Merry meanderings #11 What is a Gundog?

Martin shoot 28-12-2012

"My twitterpal Winston T Whippett from Massachusetts US of A did ask a very good question the other day.
Such a good question that I thort I would make the answer the theme of my story tonite...
What was his question?
"What is a gundog? Can you tell me something about that please?" he did say.
"So, with apologies to all my pals who do know better than me, I tell you what I think a Gundog do be.......
"Basically it be a dog what does work for the 'Gun' - that is, of course, not The Gun what does go "bang!" but for the human or huwoman who do carry a gun and want to shoot something with it for sport - not cos they is nasty people. The somethings that they shoot are pheasants, partridge, grouse,duck, geese, rabbit, hare & sometimes - tho not in our part of the world - deer. They not do this all the time but only in what they call the "season" which do start on 12 August with Grouse and go through till 31 January.
There are many different jobs which a gundog do have to do and there are a number of different dogs which do work as gundogs.
The dogs is grouped into:-
Spaniels - which might be Springers, like #TeamGunner, cockers, Welsh, Clumber, Field (these v.rare now), and Water (also rarely seen), Brittany (rarely seen)
Retrievers - which are Labradors, Golden Retrievers, Flatcoat Retrievers, Setters - English and Irish
and 
Hunt, Point & retrieve dogs - which include Vizlas, English Pointers, German Pointers (which are either wire haired or short haired), Weimaraners and some others which don't come readily to my mind cos I not seen them about here.

Greetham Shoot 15-12-2011

The Retrievers' work is the easiest to explain: when a bird is shot, wherever it do land (dead or still alive & runnin - which is often pretty darned fast considerin how it got to its legs from the air) it is the job of the retriever to find it and bring it back to the human - quickly and cleanly (it not very good form to find the bird and then go on a little exploration with it.... not good form either to taste even the teeniest bit of the creature)

 Same applies to ground game - rabbits and hares. Tho' they never do drop from the sky! But they can still scarper pretty quick when they is not well shot...
Until the creature is shot, the retriever don't have nothin' to do but sit quietly and wait. It must therefore be a very patient dog. When it is not sitting and waiting but is walking somewhere with its human it must walk by that human's side at all times. Without a lead.
The job of the Hunt, Point & Retrieve dogs is to hunt over a broad area of land - think of a 5 acre field and the dog might be going from side to side in a pattern not  many miles away from it's person. When it sniff game (that's the birds and 4 legged ones too) it must stop instantly and lift one front leg to indicate where the 'game' do be. It then must wait till the 'Gun' do come close to it - which might take a while depending on the conditions underfoot - and then, on command from it's person, must flush that game so the peep with the gun can shoot it. When given the instruction it must then go and retrieve that game - the same rules applying as to the Retrievers mentioned above. Simple really. *Rushes & hides under table in case any HPR pals comes to beat me up for gettin in wrong*

Waiting for the 'off we go' Fulletby shoot Dec 2011

The job of the spaniel is to find all the game for the peeps to shoot, in every kind of terrain and weather. It must hunt methodically about 10 yards or so either side of its person sniffin out the game wherever it do be and when it find it, it must not chase it but must  'see it away' and then get on with findin more game. When it do come across shot game which has dropped in the area it must pick that up and take it back to its person - uneaten. It must do this for as long as it is told and then must stop and stay with its person till the next 'hunt' begins. Quite often it is asked to help find lost game which the retrievers can't find or if they are not anywhere near where the game is lost.
That be it basically.
The way I sees it, we spaniels have the most work to do cos we is on the go most of the time and the hunting can be quite hard if there be lots of thick bramble and woodland to go through. We certainly does get very fit by the end of the 'Season'.
A steady dog - one that sticks to its job and don't get excited and flibberty jibbery and chase everythin' is worth its weight in gold. I have always been a very steady hard worker which is why I is called The Bestest Gundog."

There you have it Winston - that's Gundogs in a nutshell tho I happily answer any questions chaps might have. About this or any other subject on which I might have some knowledge......."

Merry meanderings # 10 Health check

Gunner June 2014

It'll be two weeks on Tuesday that we got the diagnosis of Gunner's cancer.
On the drive home from the vet that afternoon I was certain that Gunner had only a very short time left with us. The vet almost said it would be kindest to put him out of his misery there and then!

Gunner 19 July 2015

What a good job I suggested
bringing him home for what little time he had left! The following day, having checked with our own vet that it was OK, I started Gunner on 5mg of steroids once a day, a few days later upping the dose to twice a day. Since then he has perked up to the point where, if I hadn't seen the pictures of his insides for myself, I would not believe how 'ill' he really is. For the past 4 or 5 days I have more or less had to restrain him from doing too much because it affects his breathing if he runs around too much! His lungs occupy only about a quarter of the space they should. He doesn't actually want to run but he certainly trots very quickly from A to B and his interest in just about everything else in his world has increased almost to where it was before he felt poorly! He even insists in joining in with the youngsters for "group training" where he patiently waits for his turn and if I try and give him something 'easy' to do he gives me a very knowing look and moves exceedingly slowly in the direction I have asked him to go! On the other hand if I give him a 'normal' task he goes with utmost speed! He never was a daft or lazy dog and he's not going to start being one now!!!

Gunner & Bugler 16 June 15

I know that he isn't actually well but it is difficult to reconcile his much improved state with what I know to be the true state of affairs.

Gunner June 2014

Four weeks ago his appetite, to give another example, was definitely suppressed - he would approach his food with little interest and eat maybe a half of what was in his bowl. The difference in expression between June last year and June this year shows how depressed he was just a month ago. Today his appetite is such that he gladly ate twice the ration he would have eaten this time last year and was still looking for more. This is a well known effect of steroids but since the cancer 'eats' away at the flesh and he is beginning to look rather bony, I'm happy for him to eat as much as he wants!
He can hardly believe his luck. It's almost a case of :
"Ask and you shall receive........."
All I'm really saying is that, thanks to the steroids, the dog does not appear now to feel ill. I've never lived with a cancer patient before so I don't know how typical this is. It does, however, create an amount of emotional turmoil. Part of me is relieved that Gunner is 'relieved' and wants to believe that actually he is going to be fine. Yet I know that is not the case and it's only a matter of time. More turmoil because how much time? I can't forget how 'sick' he is inside but I'm certainly not going to let that colour the rest of his days/months/years with us - particularly when he is being such a bright little button himself.
As a big "thank you" to Gunner for being the dog he is I am going to try my damnedest to treat him like the dog he has always been. That way he won't know the difference - and he deserves that ....

Merry meanderings #9 Indoor huntin

Waifa December 2010

Waifa December 2010

"You all know my catpal Waifa? She not been here all my life but she certainly been around for a long time now. She was Pilot's pal when he still here but since he went she did adopt me. Like She did adopt the Peeps. We not know where she did come from but one day the Humum did see somethin on the bird table; and the next day there it was again; and the next;and the next. And then one night the stranger was in the hen house - and ran off quickly. But she stayed around and gradually over many months she did gain confidence & moved from the hen house to the shed to the porch to the scullery to ----- the rest of the house! Now she be the boss & go where she like..... pfft. We has spent a lot of time educatin her but before she did learn how to behave indoors she was forever bringin her playmates indoors. Least I

Waifa's rabbit May 2011

think they was mates cos she'd bring them home and let them run around all over the place.

It's behind there, honest

She'd bring them home and drop them on the floor and they would run all over the house. Sometimes they was mousies but mostly they was bunnies. Waifacat always when she do bring somethin indoors do give a special

No - it behind here now

squawk. Then the cry would go out:
"Gunner -  go fetch.."

Out with the pesky thing

And off I'd go, huntin' all over the house for the mostly rabbit. It would always go behind somethin where the peeps couldn't see it. I s'pose they was scared babbits cos they would run from one place to the other and I would run after them to try and get them and sometimes peeps did have to move the furniture but always in the end I did catch it and give it to Her and She would put the pesky thing out. I still  not know if Waifa did do it to give me some work to do - cos mostly it was always in the time when I wasn't 'really workin' or if she did do it just to be norty.
She still do it now but not so often..... there was a day when we did have visitors and she did bring in 5 mousies and a weasel in one day.... but that another story.
She a funny catpal....

Merry meanderings #8 Power napping

1/11/14 Woodhall shoot "Do I have to put up with this?"

1/11/14 Woodhall shoot "Just havin a power nap*

 "Any workin' dog will tell you that theirs is a funny old game.
Bushbeatin' is the strangest of all. Imagine havin' a whole week of exercise in one day - and then imagine that exercise includes covering all kinds of ground and, often, water too. There's a lot of sittin around and waitin' it's true but after the waitin' comes the runnin'. Now, I has been lucky to work on some big Shoots in my 7 seasons; some days there were only one or two of us spaniels in the beating line. We had to find birds in the thickest wood, bog, bramble and hedgerow with big ponds and deep dykes & ditches.

8/11/14 Langton shoot: "Found a handy bag.."

 "We might do anythin' from 5-8 drives in a workin' day in every kind of weather. A typical drive would be about a half hour. That's a lot of hard huntin'. And then there's the Boss peepin on her whistle tellin me where to go & what to do so a chap has to keep his wits about 'im. Can't just do what I like....
At the end of the drive we beatin dogs sometimes has to 'find' the birds what have got shot & lost along the way. There are pals who just pick up but they's often well away from us.
"Anyway, the long & short of it is that a bushbeatin' dog is a very busy dog. And you gotta grab your rest where you can otherwise a chap'd never last the course.
"On most shoots we get carried from drive to drive by some kind of wagon - we do call it the beater's bus. Mostly they's wobbly, rustic old horsetrailers or tractor-trailors what do jerk and joggle all over the show.

21/11/13 Mareham shoot: "Power nappin..."

"Very early in my career I learned that this was the only place a chap could get a bit of shut-eye. She do call it my power nap. Every time I get on the beater's bus (or a car boot, cos sometimes that what the wagon is) I does shut my eyes and drop off till the wagon do stop. Mostly on my legs cos then I can stand square and brace myself. Peeps do always larf at me; say I's like a 'puter with a stand-by switch.  Well, 'tis sort of like that cos the moment that the wagon do stop I wakes up with a start and is ready to go again as if it were the start of the day. Sometimes it's handy if there's somethin' to prop my head up on; a bag or a knee do come in very handy. Mostly I'd just shimmy close to the end of the wagon, stand square and drop off. Those little power naps were what did keep me goin...

01/02/14 Woodhall Shoot; Cocking Day: Resting a weary head

PS to the previous:

"I know how you feel pal" said Gunner

Bloody Basil January 2014

Apropos of the last tale - I just came across these pictures taken in January 2014 on one of the shoots we work on.  Basil did not have a docked tail. These pictures show what happens to a working dog with a full tail. And Basil's didn't make such a mess as Gunner's - mainly because he was not such a bramble-basher. Basil had his tail docked in February of that year.