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 ......

Bye Bye 2016

Bugler

Jaunty

Skipper

All at #TeamGunner want to say a big Thank you all for staying with us through the past year and wish you all a very Happy, Healthy and interesting 2017.
xxxx
Here's to you allxxxx

The (last) Calendar Picture - December

Master of all he surveys! 1601 hrs :  5.1.2012

The last calendar picture..... so appropriate.... Gunner as ever, me behind him, looking out into the .. well, whatever it is he sees out there. Always looking out, always looking ahead, computing everything in that amazingly handsome head. Here he is standing at the top of one of our fields, looking down across his territory - the fields and hedgerows where he'd trained as a youngster, where he'd (dare I admit) chased those rabbits before he learned not to, from where he'd herded the piglets back when they wandered too far away..... The fields where he'd demonstrated to Jaunty and Bugler what it meant to 'sit', 'stay', 'fetch' and 'give' and, in the distance, the fields where - before those two came along - we'd walked and hunted for hours alone together, teaching each other little things about the way we saw the world.  We couldn't do it now - many of those fields have been subsumed into someone's "shoot" and he doesn't approve of spaniels "running around"!!! Ah well. Memories crystallised simply because they are unrepeateable.
So... on this winter's evening - and it could just as easily have been the week before - Gunner gazes at the sun setting at the end - or the beginning - of another year..... and my lens betrays me watching him yet again..... whatever the future holds......
        "A (man) is not dead while his name is still spoken.
         While we remember the ones we have lost they stay alive in our hearts and our memories.   
         They live on in the stories we tell......"

It is 16 months since he left but it seems like only yesterday... it will always be only yesterday.

The Calendar Pic - November

Gunner & Waifa nose to nose 11-4-2009

They were never friends. By the time Gunner came along, Puddy Cat - as she was now known (nee Harpo - but that is another story altogether and told very much earlier on in this blog) had become Prima Donna of the yard. She was ever aloof, flicking her tail and strutting off if any creature dared confront her or - horror - try to sniff her.
As she matured and mellowed she did select The Big Boss as her Special Person but that was a long time after this picture was taken.
Somehow, however, with his gentle unassuming way, Gunner slowly found a way to be in Puddy Cat's space without intimidating her.  Gradually she came to accept him and allow him to be where she was. He would hover around her and watch as she moved from place to place without ever quite getting close to her.
We have a beautiful scenic view through our dining room window. It's one I often glimpse through the adjoining door as I am preparing dinner in the kitchen. On this early spring evening the sun was particularly strong and casting shadows across the carpet; I glanced through the door and was amazed to see the two creatures motionless and totally engrossed with each other. It was such an eloquent scene; even when I fetched my camera, focussed on them and took the shot neither moved.
What were they saying to each other?
I never saw them so close again.

A large framed version of this hangs above our sitting room fireplace. It will always be my favourite.