Merry meanderings # 19 The Understudy

Jaunty & brother Sept.2012

 One of Gunner's twitterpals @Sjnwoh asked if maybe I could tell a few stories to illustrate how norty Jaunty is. Or maybe why I call him the Norty... or, latterly, the Not-so-Norty.

It's only fair to start with a bit of context.

Gunner & Jaunty Oct 12

As soon as Gunner started working as a bushbeating dog he was 'marked' by a number of colleagues as a potential mate for their bitches. At 18 months he was too young but when he got to three years old, 4 serious proposals came forward. Since they were all working girls the timing was critical. Their 'dads' obviously didn't want the girls to miss the working end of the year so we were dependent on them coming into 'season' out of 'season'! In his 4th year those two circumstances did not occur! In his 5th year one of the possible mates sadly suffered a heart attack on the very last day of the shooting season. That year also our local shoot - the first we worked on - closed down; one of the bitches' dads worked on this shoot and he decided the future was too uncertain for him to breed another pup. Exit wife number 2.  Wife number 3 was the wonderful Meg - Bugler's mother - but that year she failed to 'take' on mating and had a phantom pregnancy.
Omens were not good.
Gunner was already 5. I was keen to have a pup who would understudy, and eventually take over from, him when got to an age where beating wasn't going to be the best option.

Gunner and Jaunty Oct 12

Clearly this mating business was too uncertain and time was passing.....  Gunner and I were not getting any younger!!!

Laundry maid Nov 2012

Taking the bull by the horns I decided to buy a pup. For the first time ever I looked into breeding 'lines' and pedigrees - and googled what litters were available. It had to be in 2012 - I wasn't prepared to wait another year! There were only 2 possibilities. One was in Cumbria; pups sounded good but a long way off from us. The other was in Norfolk - not far from my mother. Useful. I went to visit; they were just 2 weeks old. I went back 3 more times before finally deciding which of the two black & white brothers (in the first photo) to have. Jaunty just had a little extra something about him!!!! On October 21st 2012 we fetched him home. He was the perfect puppy. As soon as we arrived home I put the blanket he'd travelled in on my lap into his crate... he followed and immediately it was "his place". (Contrast with Bugler who had to be cajoled and persuaded into his - or Gunner even, who never ever settled in his). Jaunty would happily stay in there, eat his dinner in there, sleep in there all night long... he still happily spends a lot of time and takes his 'treasures' or dinner in there.... He wasn't particularly difficult to housetrain - although sometimes he simply 'couldn't be bothered' to do the right thing. I went

Ahhhh - so innocent & helpless Nov 2012

through a lot of newspaper and he didn't get beyond the kitchen until he was about 9 months old. He learned quickly though and was lovable to have around - everything was worthy of closer examination!!!! He got on well with Gunner and would follow him around everywhere, snuggling down when the opportunity arose. I don't remember him ever being an 'ear' nuisance. He was such a character that I started a file: "Things about Jaunty" -
- He chases leaves
- He tries to catch snowflakes
- He looks for the snowflakes when they fall on the snow

 "What's going on over there?"

 

- He stopped at the first sniff of new mown grass....
etc etc

I was confident that He would be the perfect Understudy; his pedigree was almost entirely red for all 5 generations; he was energetic, intelligent, lovable and keen.  He and Gunner got on really well with each other....
The future looked rosey.  They're both good looking dogs and would make a handsome pair .....
My expectations were high......

Me and my pal Gunner 11.12

 When Jaunty was 6 months old, Wife Number 4 came back to visit Gunner.
This time Meg has a faultless pregnancy and delivered 6 bouncing pups. That's timing for you. There was never any doubt that we would have one of the pups. The long awaited son of Gunner,
Bugler was born April 23 2013 (the same day that wife no 5 came to mate with Gunner. Molly delivered 9 pups but since she was not a working girl I never considered having one of them).  He came to live with us at the end of June. Jaunty took to him straight away and they soon became a team - known as "the pups" ever since.

A few months later I started referring to them as #TeamGunner.... and making all sorts of plans..............................

"How is Gunner?"

 We've had so much support from all Gunner's pals around the world on Twitter.
One of his followers suggests that there is a power in the combined spirit which supports us through hard times and I am beginning to believe that.
He's certainly amazed me.
It's almost a month since the Big C diagnosis. That day in Grimsby I really thought that, with so much rubbish going on inside him, he wouldn't be with us for more than a few days - a week at most.

 Yet here he is- pulling at my heartstrings more as each day goes by.
Anyway.... we went back to our vet this morning. I'm very lucky in not having had anything to do with cancer before now. I needed some reassurance about how to best look after my old pal.
As we walked through the door into his consulting room the vet said:
"I was only thinking about Gunner yesterday: to be honest I'm surprised to see him at all, never mind looking so 'well'"
It seemed that the report from the Grimsby specialist had made him believe (as it did me) that Gunner was not long for this world!

 David (our very sympatico vet) checked him all over: I mentioned a 'gunky ear' which had suddenly developed but which I'd cleaned up - much to Gunner's annoyance - on Sunday. He has a bit of infection - the steroids weaken the immune system so anything nasty that's going will take hold quicker. Note to myself to keep a closer eye on him - which will annoy him too cos he's not a dog that likes any sort of fuss!
Too bad Hey? He'll really love the Eardrops twice a day!!
The other thing I was not liking is the 'dandruff'

which he has developed. This too is down to the steroids.
I asked about bathing with baby shampoo. Gunner's face fell.
Luckily David also poo-pooed that idea.
"Give him fish oil and Evening Prrimrose oil; they have a dynamic interaction which will help  his immune system and his skin..."
The things we learn from our dogs.......
On the plus side, despite his bony appearance, Gunner's weight has remained much the same and 2 or 3 meals a day will 'do no harm'. He liked that bit!
His heart is beating strongly and his lungs are working better than expected. Having always been a fit and healthy dog is definitely working in his favour.......
David has taken some blood; "It's thin but still has a good colour" - we should get results back later tomorrow or Thursday morning....
We'll have a better idea then how he is getting on.....

Meanwhile, we carry on as 'normal' as we can. Gunner still enjoys his Struns (think strollxrun), his hunting instinct is not diminished if his energy and speed are! Main change is that, now if he finds some manky bit of rabbit or bird in the undergrowth, he is inclined to eat it rather than bring it straight to me as he's always done in the past.
That's the steroids again though - making him constantly hungry.
Ah well, we can't have everything......

Merry meanderings #18 More curly coats ......

Ahhhhhhhhhhhh

"So the piggies was here a while and they were all together and they were lovely. The Big Boss and Her did start to learn about pigs and their habits and much they did read in books and magazines.......
People did keep comin to see 'em which was fun.
In those days the Big Boss and Her did used to go shoppin in the Lincoln city.
One day they did go as usual, and, as usual when they did come home, they did go to feed the piggies.

Ginger and piglets

Usually when piggies know it is feed time, they come runnin' - like me at the moment, they is always hungry.
But only three piggies did come runnin' on this afternoon.... Then, all of a sudden, Ginger did rush out of the ark, do a twizzle, make a funny noise and did dash back into her ark.
"What's up with Her" Said The Big Boss?
"I don't know" said She who must etc....
Well, the other piggies did get on with eatin' their feed and still Ginger did not come back....
"You'd better go and look in the ark and see what's wrong with her" suggested the Big Boss.
He's always good with suggestions for other peeps to do.
So She did clamber over the fence and did go to the ark....
And she did cry out in alarm.....

Are you my mummy?

"We've got piglets, we've got piglets!!!"
"That's not possible" did say the Big Boss.
"They're definitely piglets!" She did say  "What do we do now???"
"I don't know" said the Big Boss "I haven't read that Chapter yet....."

Well, they did learn very quickly what to do with piglets! But the first thing they did learn was that piggies is ready to make piglets much earlier than the peeps .... and that was a very good lesson indeed and one they (mostly) did not forget over the next 8 years...... "

"And that could be a story for another evenin.............  perhaps!"

Merry Meanderings # 17 "So, why curly coat pigs....

"This is another one of those frequently asked questions..... all the time peeps do say - "Why you got curly coat piggies?"
It's a bit of a shaggy dog story so I hopes you all sittin' comfortably..

Mangal & wurzel 05/07

Once upon a time there was a native Lincyshire piggie... it was famous for bein' huge and fat and hairy - hairier than a spannl - . It was called the Lincolnshire Curly Coated pig and many people in this part of the world did have one at the bottom of their garden. They would love it lots and feed it more... Sometimes the pig would be 'paid' to a family in exchange for their labours so many people did call it a Wage Pig.  It did make them feel good if they could make that pig the biggest piggie in the neighbourhood,
"The bigger my piggie, the bigger my position" would say the person....
Some piggies were very huge indeed - local mythology do put some of them at 40 stone - don't know how big that is but I only 24kg and I am not small.... so it an awful lot of spannls....
Now.. I say "were" because there are no more of these huge great piggies in the world - not one... not anywhere.

Ginger & Pepper 05/07

But before there were not any of these piggies anywhere a large number of the female curly coated Lincyshire piggies went to Hungary (which is where I am all the time nowadays - so I not really understand how bit fat hairy piggies who no longer live here once went to where I am now..... odd...). But I gettin' off the story.
The Lincyshire piggies what did go to Hungary went there because the local pig in that part of the world was in danger of disappearing forever too. It was after the big fight which the peeps do call World War 1 and the starving people did eat nearly all the piggies....

Saying god nite to the anipals

So An Important Person in Hungary did look all over the world for a piggy that was like his piggies so that he could marry them together. He found the curly coats in Lincyshire and he was a happy man and did buy many of them.  The 'new' piggies were called Lincalitzas because his piggies were called Mangalitzas. Five state-run breeding stations were made for the new piggies and family trees were recorded and the people were very proud of their new piggies.
But then there was another big fight and after that new people did take over the country and did trash all the breeding stations and get rid of all the Family Tree records and the pigs all became known as Mangalitzas because now no person could tell which was Lincalitza and which was not.....
Time passed and the Big Boss, who has always loved piggies, heard that a man who loved rare breed piggies was trying to import some of these rare Mangalitzas from Austria and he did think it would be wonderful to bring the Curly Coats back to Lincyshire.... He offered his help to the man.
And so it came to pass that eventually the Mangalitza piggies did arrive in the South of England, and the Big Boss did go down to 'see' them and did come home with two.

Curly Coat pigs return to Heckington Show 07/07

She (who must be obeyed) was not displeased but pigs not being Her thing, nor was she over the moon....
However She did say that it was a shame to have two such very rare piggies and just fatten them for the kitchen! (I think sometines maybe She did wish She had kept her mouth shut - She quite often wish that - but that another story...)
Well, he needed no more persuading - within a matter of weeks the Big Boss did arrange for
the boys, Mangel & Wurzel to be joined by Ginger and her brother Pepper. They were all young and friendly and we all did love them.

Paparazzi pigs 08/07

And the local people were all so happy because the Big Boss did bring the Curly Coat Pig back to Lincyshire after 40 or more years...... The piggies was in all the papers and on all the TVs and radios ... it was A Very Big Thing in these parts --- and it all did happen around the time I did come to live here so piggies have always been in my life.....


There is more to this story but that be the next chapter ............................

Merry Meanderings #16 How did I get to be a beatin dog?

This is another question a lot of peeps do ask. Just How did I get to be a bushbeatin dog? I mean - a number of chaps might say "I want to go bushbeating" but, to be honest, I has never heard that. It is not a thing that a dog does think.

Not quite the finished article - yet

Well, one day when I was still young & had not nearly finished my schooling She was takin' us - that's me, my Pal Lancer and the Bossy Pilot, for a run across the fields. To be honest, Pilot wasn't really with us. He never was when we went for a run; he did do his own thing, keepin' an eye on where we all was and managing to go in the same general direction. Lancer, being a Good Example, stayed close all the time.
Anyway, we was goin' across a big field near the road what does go into the village and a car stopped. A strange, ruddy faced roundish sort of friendly man did call out:
"You ever do any pickin' up with those dogs?"
She was very surprised.
"Might do one day with the youngster" She did say "but he's not finished his trainin' yet, so I don't know"
"Well, if you want to give it a try, give me a shout!" and off he did go.
We didn't see him again for ages.

Waiting for the off......

Some of our 'mates' waiting for the off

Time and my schoolin' did go on.

Then one day, I was practisin "heel" walkin' along the road with Her and the same man did stop by in his car.
"You thought any more about what I said"
"I have" She said "This one's quite a steady dog I'm told, so we might be able to do something?"
"I'll let you know when we're starting and you bring him with you up to the yard"
And that was it really.
I don't know when he did tell her when was the right time but Winter did come and one day we did go up to the Yard.
It was all very strange; for Her as well as for me. The ruddy faced friendly man was there and did thank Her for comin; I heard someone call him Plum - later I did hear peeps call him a lot of other names too. I soon learned that he was the keeper and was 'in charge' which meaned he did do a lot of shouting and rude words.... but he was a good man and did also larf a lot. I liked him. He'd say:
"Gunner do this; Gunner do that. What you gonna do today Gunner!" and he'd larf....
She was the only one who wasn't a HuMan and I was worried. But all the men were very friendly men - they did try to fuss me but I soon showed them that fuss was not my thing. Then they did give me my space. There was just one that I did let scratch my bum; he was called Bob - you can just see him sittin' in the wagon in the second picture. He did go otrb two years ago now. He was a funny man - a lot like my pal Tony - always jokin and makin the other peeps larf. She did get on well with him once She did get to know him...
He did say to her one day soon after we started 'workin' with them:
"I'll give you 25 quid for that dog of yours!". She did get annoyed! That made him larf..... Sometimes if he did really want to "rile" Her he would say:
"Give you a tenner for that dog".....
He was my mate though; always if a bird got lost he would say :
"Come 'ere Gunner" or to Her : "Bring that dog of yours over 'ere!"
"Gunner'll find it" he'd say to the other chaps "won't you Gunner"..... Usually I did.

Switchin off between drives

The peeps that did meet at that yard did all enjoy themselves and made a happy atmosphere. We did go there two days a week for my first 5 seasons. For the first few weeks it was our only workin' place but one day a man with a gun did ask Her if we could help him at his shoot. So we did go. It was very different; no shouting and games inbetween the work but I did like it because I was the only dog for a year or two..... On the first shoot there were always lots of other dogs and all of them were not very well behaved and they did larf at me for listenin' to Her all the time..... one or two of them did try to pinch birds from me when I did find them. Rude! I did put them down if they wanted to argue with me.... They used to run all over the place and not stay with their peeps.  She did get very angry with them but the peeps was the bad ones cos they did not stop their dogs being norty. The dogs was just havin' fun instead of workin. Wasn't their fault.

Best behaved, best looking, Bestest Gundog

Soon we went to work at another shoot and again I was the only dog - that was the shoot where I got the big stick stuck up my nose.... As the seasons went by I did work on more shoots; I was a very happy workin dog altho the Big Boss did often say She let me work too often. I not know what that meaned.
She always did say we owed it all to that nice man with the ruddy face and the loud shoutin voice.

We was sad 2 years ago when that shoot did stop because we missed all our old pals and the fun we used to have.  Not always easy bein' a workin' dog."

Merry Meanderings #15 What I did today - the thing up the drain

 "I was out helpin' Her feed the anipals their breakfast this mornin' when A Very Interestin Smell caught my attention.
I did follow the smell and I did come to the drain by the steps that do go down to the Church Field. It's called the Church Field because the peeps did buy it from the Church when they first did move here cos they needed more space for the anipals - but that's not this story.
I spent quite a lot of time sniffin' up the drain tryin to work out what was up there... it was a very strange smell indeed and did tickle my

 interest exceedingly.
She did come back and seein' what I was up to She did tell me to "Leave"
But quite honestly chaps, it was that interestin' I decided to risk bein just a little bit deaf.
So I carried on. But in order to get closer to the interestin smell I had to move a red pipe thing first.
That didn't take much time - I scrabbled my paws very hard and fast and the red pipe thing did fall away.

She was watchin' me.  She could see I was serious. This what make me a best gundog - once I smell somethin I not give up till I finds it. I am a very dogged gundog.
The smell was still up the pipe. A long way. I decided I needed to dig around the white pipe to get closer..... I did dig a lot. She doesn't like it when I dig:
"You are not a digging Dog" She do say when I dig. But I carried on diggin' anyhow.
She was gettin' into the spirit of the 'chase' now though and did

 offer some useful advice. Well, She did think it was useful. She did say I should stand back in case the thing did come runnin down the pipe and straight into my face.
I stood back.
And looked.
Nothin' came down the pipe.
I looked very long and hard.
But still nothin' came down the pipe.

 I decided to get in closer to have another look up the pipe.
So I looked.
And looked.
I could see nothin' but I could smell somethin' very interestin'

"What is it?" She said.
Well, it smelled like rat or maybe rabbit.... I think it was rabbit. I did see some baby rabbits in the yard yesterday.

 Maybe they were up the pipe.
I started to tear bits of the white pipe away to get to The Smell.
She wasn't too happy with that idea.
"No" She did say "I've got another idea".
You will gather pals that She is full of ideas.
Not all of them good ones.
But this one did seem to have legs so I stood back like She said.
She did go up the steps and turn on the water.
And She did let it run down the drain to where I would have got a
face full if I hadn't taken Her advice and moved.
But no matter how much water she did let run down the drain, nothin' did come out.
"Can't be a rabbit" I thort to myself. They not like the wet very much so would soon scamper out.
Might be a rat.....
But nothin' did come out so She did go and turn off the water.

I went back down to the end of the pipe for another look.
Still the smell was there. But it wasn't any closer.
I looked and sniffed and looked some more.
But nothin' did come down the pipe.
Finally She did tell me to
"Seriously Leave It Gunner!"
Well, I not an experienced dog for nothin'; I know when my time is up. I left it. Nothin' more was gonna happen anyhow......

Know what I think?
The Thing is not in the pipe.
It's next  to the pipe.
So tomorrow, when She's feedin' the anipals, I is gonna do some more investigatin.............
Know what I mean....????"

Merry meanderings #14 Movin' Two Fat Ladies...

Keeping an eye on piglets - 2008

 "All my pals does know that my second most important job is mindin piggies: whenever there be 'things to do with piggies' goin on, you will find me there in the thick of it.
Yesterday was a case in point. The peeps was off to fetch two young ladies from what they calls a "custodian" - that is a peep who do love pigs and looks after them from when they leave their mummies till they go on their final journey.
There was no way I was gonna stay home, tho' She did try to make me do that. But the sun was not shinin' so I did win the toss and off we did go. It was a long journey, made worse cos of roadworks but eventually we did get 'there'. As usual, the peeps had told the custodian not to feed the piggies for 24 hours. Usually this do make the piggies more amenable to the idea of gettin' in the trailer - they gets bribed with food and we all know how powerful that is as a way of gettin us to do things we might otherwise not do.

Two fat ladies 24-7-15 Wrong side of gate as usual

Well it did not look good.
The piggies was asleep in their ark when we arrived.
"They do sleep a lot" said the custodian as she went off to fetch the feed-trough; "but they always come when they see food!"
I settled down to watch the fun. "Those pigs goin nowhere fast" I said to myself.
I was right.
Linda did go and give them a nudge and slowly they did lumber out of their ark; and slowly they did lumber after the trough.
I larfed tho cos they did not want to get into the trailer - food or no food.
My Person did not larf: she did look at the piggies as if She not able to believe her eyes:
"Goodness, they are huge.. they are so big they look just like the old Lincolnshire Curly Coat pig!"
The custodian lady did look a little embarrassed at this: "Are they really too big?" She did say. She did not get an answer - least not that I did hear and there be nothin wrong with my ears.....
The hairiest lady did lie down and go to sleep; she clearly was not hungry. But the part-still-woolly one was clearly even more not-hungry cos she did drift away, thinkin' to go back to sleep in her ark.
She was not allowed to do that. The peeps did gather hurdles and 'encourage' her to turn back in direction of the trailer. She was very slow to do so.
The hairier piggie, in the meantime, did decide maybe she had room for a little morsel and did shuffle slowly in the direction of the trailer.  Her sisfur did decide to go with her. But when she got close she did change her mind and swing away again leavin the hairy one to shuffle into the trailer, where she did happily spend a lot of time slowly eatin' her food.

Trailer looks a bit small......

And then it did get interestin cos the not so hairy one did not want to go to the trailer. I think I could have herded her in but the peeps not let me (a) cos these piggies was huge (did squish Linda's foot when it got under a trotter) and might flatten me and (b) cos She not want me runnin around on account I runs out of breath easily these days.
The big fat piggie could not run, but if a pig don't wanna go - a pig don't go. And this one not wanna go nowhere. I did watch as the peeps did make a hurdle pen round the piggie and gradually persuade her that she really did want to go into the trailer. It was a very slow  thing to do but nothin faster could be done cos the piggie did take much persuadin.

Two fat ladies finally together in the trailer

If you wanna know what piggies do teach peeps it is Patience. That also why I able to sit still and wait so well - I has been tort by the piggies these past 8 years. Never chase a piggie - it never do what you want then.
I digress.
Back to yesterday
After very much slow patient urgin with the hurdles the fat piggie did get inched, and I do mean inched, into the trailer - without takin a grain of food. The hairy pig had got so fed up, in both ways, that she had long ago lay down and fallen asleep.
The peeps was much relieved when the 2nd piggie did get in the trailer and they did shut the doors.

Just had to check they was both inside.....

I went to make sure they was both inside - the second piggie was lookin to see if any food was left now but the first piggie did hog the lot. Not a grain was there. No wonder she was fast asleep.
So the second piggie did lie down - it was a tight squeeze - and go to sleep too.
Good thing it summer otherwise I don't think the Big Boss could have got that trailer out of the field with all that heavy pig in it....... Anyway, we did all get back in the car for the journey home with the piggies snorin away in the trailer......

Job done - Goin home now.....

It was a slow journey and the peeps did keep their paws crossed that the Big Boss did not have to stop on a hill cos they did not think the car strong enough to pull up from stop... ! But we did get home safely.
And when we wanted to let the piggies out of the trailer to go into the barn... they did not move. When I went with Her to check the anipals before bedtime, they were still asleep. And this morning they were still asleep. And this afternoon too.....
Their custodian lady was far to kind to them - she did feed them till all they want to do is sleep.  And then sleep some more.....
Not like all our piggies here ... but that another story......