Sunset

Living on a hillside, we have amazing views across the surrounding country. We also face west so get the benefit of the night sky.

Tonight's was totally fabulous - but this was the best the camera could do. Which just reminds me that it's time I invested in a new one! The subtleties of the shading through the clouds is totally lost.... but take my word, it was one of the best sunsets we have seen here in many a long month......

Gunner's Calendar - September

Gunner at Benniworth Shoot 3 December 2014 11.36 a.m.

Ditto - 11.36 a.m

Ditto .... 11.37 a.m. !

I think this is possibly one of my favourite photos. How can a December day have been so glorious? How can a working day have been so enjoyable. Looking back, it was vintage Gunner.

We'd worked on this shoot since it started up in 2008. It only has 6 or 7 days a season but it was one of our favourites and we didn't miss a single day.
This was Gunner's 7th working season so there was not much he did not know and he was not beyond telling me what his job was!
However, on this particular day my records show that he was behaving impeccably. He'd been very attentive all morning,  only breaking out from his 'beat' to pick up a nicked bird that, everyone agreed, would undoubtedly have otherwise run into the next county & been lost!
He was extrememly focused on the birds. There was not a single one flushed or shot near him that he didn't mark!
By the afternoon his focus turned to watching the guns ...... On the first 'drive' after lunch we were in our usual position on the edge of a thick wood - able therefore to be both inside and outside. Gunner took full advantage. Working hard in the thickets along the edge he flushed a number of hard flying birds for the gun on our right...... running out from the wood each time a bird broke to focus on the shot. When the bird was hit Gunner would immediately rush off to pick it and bring it back to me. I soon gave up whistling him back; he was not listening to me. He was just getting on with what he'd decided his job was.
If the gun 'missed' Gunner stood rock steady for a measurable period - probably just a few seconds - staring with blatant 'disgust' at the poor chap , before charging back into the wood and  locating more birds. He collected five  birds in this way. I was mortified. The Gun, however, was delighted:
"He's incredible! It's just like having my personal picking up dog! I've never had so much fun on a shoot"
Quite!
On the next drive Gunner mostly stuck to his proper job whilst keeping one eye on the Guns. "Phew" I thought to myself; "Perhaps now he'll behave himself."
My idea of behaving was not his. Clearly the sun had gone to his head! On the next and final 'drive' we were working in the middle of a very thick wood. Halfway through he disappeared, only to rejoin me near the end, looking extremely tired and carrying a shot, but not yet dead, cock bird. I learned later from the gun who had shot it that it fell in the heavy kale and would undoubtedly have been a lost runner had Gunner not pursued it to the end! The Gun was most impressed!

Taking a bath at the end of the day...

The dog was so filthy after that I persuaded him into the lake for a bath before returning to the beater's wagon. He didn't mind one bit. He'd had a wonderful day doing what he loved best of all.
He was tired and wet so I persuaded him into his fleece jumper and told him to get in the back of the truck. At which request he turned his back, walked to the front end of the vehicle, which was up against a barn, sat down facing me and refused to move!
A couple of members of the shooting party thought it was very droll and stayed beside me for a while making jokes and trying to jolly the dog into getting in the truck.

One that didn't get away

But would he move?
No.
He just stared at us all as if we'd formed a party for the specific purpose of beating him up! He was having none of it. He would not move.

And another......

The last bird of the day

It was a good 10 or 15 minutes before he finally deigned to jump in the back of the car, but he kept that look on his face. Not for the first time I felt he really resented me for taking him home!!!

 

"I am not getting in the car & going home"

August at Gunner's calendar

Gunner aged 7 years - 10 April 2014

"A (man) is not dead while his name is still spoken.
While we remember the ones we lost they stay alive in our hearts and our memories.
They live on in the stories we tell."



RIP Gunner aka BestestGundog

8.3.2007 - 12.8.2015

Happy Birthday Jaunty

 Four years ago this summer I was visiting my mother in Norfolk a little more often than usual, leaving her a little earlier than usual and scooting off into the countryside to visit a newly born litter of puppies. Three visits in 7 weeks is more than my mother was used to and probably more than a breeder is used to. However, this was the first puppy I had ever selected myself and I wanted to get it 'right'.
Ah well.
There were three boys in the litter. The chubby liver and white one was easy to reject. The two black and white boys were hard to choose between - both were bright, keen and bouncy from the start. What made me choose the one I did I cannot recall. But home he came and stole my heart. He was 'puppydog' from the start and designated understudy to Gunner.
Ah well. Again.
Never mind. Can't have everything.
What we got was the bounciest, brightest, most mischievious and irrepressible dog we could wish for. He's always up for anything and rewrites the script as he goes! Early on I gave up any pretense that he would step into Gunner's pawprints (another will come along to do that) but he's a good working dog when he puts his mind to it and will search for, and pick up, birds all day long. His energy is boundless. Which is why, this year, he's been learning to do agility stuff.  Which he absolutely loves. He's proved to be  a very quick learner, and runner. Unlike his handler. Our trainer keeps urging us to enter competitions; we've done one small one where we bombed - not because Jaunty couldn't do the course but because, being a spaniel, he couldn't keep his nose off the smells so we were intermittently very slow!!! However, we'll do more and, if his handler can just keep up with him, I know he'll do very well.l
Meanwhile, we are on the verge of another shooting season and, hopefully, Jaunty will be asked to pick up again. I think he possibly loves that even more than agility - not least because he has every excuse to get really dirty - another of his favourite things
All in all, Jaunty is a chap who just loves life and finds everything the most exciting thing ever. He has a wonderful exuberant and totally genuine nature with never a grumpy thought or deed in his repertoire. A truly lovely character.
Since it's his birthday, we'll omit to mention that he can also be very deaf and very norty.......
Happy Birthday Jaunty.

Happy Gotcha Day Skipper

Skipper arrives at The Old Rectory 17-8-2016

Is it really a year since this little lad arrived here...?
He was such a cute little chap, looking more like his Grandad Gunner than his dad, Jaunty.
There are definitely recognisable bits of each of them in his make-up.
But one year on he's grown into his own skin and is totally himself.

Happy Gotcha Day Skipper. 

Skipper one year on......

Cheeky pupski 17-8-16

"What's a tweet up?"

Bugler and Jaunty greeting Tilly in the usual way!

A while ago - maybe a couple of years or so - I asked this question. I thought social media was all about communicating with people you didn't know except through twitter or facebook.
No!
It seems that all over the place people who have 'met' and been friends on social media for ages or sometimes only for a little while decide to get togther and meet up. In the case of twitterpals, it's called a tweet up.
We've had one of those today.

Gunner welcoming Albert and his 'dad' August 2015

We've 'known' Albert Spanner for quite a while - since the BestestGundog first joined Twitter. Of course, at first we didn't know we knew him, he was just someone we followed and who followed us. But over time familiarity grew and the characters developed and Albert & Gunner became friends.
And then last August Albert came to visit. Bringing pressies & treats.. which Gunner rather liked. He lives down in Cornwall so it wasn't just a quick whizz down the road.
And today Albert came back and brought his new
sisfur (sister!) Tilly - and some rather nice treats again - with him. And, of course, this time Skipper got to meet his Uncle Albert too - which was all very exciting, and a bit daunting, cos he's been tweeting with Albert all his life........
Luckily the weather was kind again so Albert,Tilly, Jaunty and Bugler all got to go on foot to the local pub - where they were joined by the Big Boss and Skipper (socialisation school we called it) ... and then back on foot too.....

By paw to pub and back - tough luck guys!

Albert & Jaunty managed to run probably twice as far as everyone else but luckily we found some large puddles en route and a rather nice bowl of water not too far from the end...... much to Jaunty's delight.... Never one to hold back, he jumped right in and had a good old wallow - tough on anyone else who wanted a drink.... Did he care? I think Not.....

"Mind if I get a drink too Jaunty" said Albert

And then back home it was rest time for Jaunty & Bugler whilst Skipper continued his socialisation schooling out on the terrace where there was more talk and cupsateas (as Skipper calls them), whiling away a pleasant few hours on an English summer's afternoon...... What could be nicer?
A thoroughly relaxing and enjoyable day spent in the company of some very friendly dogs....... and, amazingly, they did all get on - no doubt because they'd all known each other for such a long time.....

Socialisation School #1

Socialisation School #2

There was a lot of snoring going on in the evening........ We shall do it again...... and with other twitterpals too if we can organise it...... and now we all know what a wonderful thing a tweet up is....

Gunner's Calendar - July Pic

Gunner 10 August 2012

Gunner was 5 when this photo was taken. It's in what was our special running and training area - not that Gunner and I were doing much training when he'd got to this age. Although I know differently now - thanks to young Skipper and Co. - I didn't think there was much else I could teach the dog after he'd done 4 seasons of work. So, we just used to go down to this area and hunt about and then sit around in the long grass and watch the birds flying around us.  This particular piece of ground lies below and alongside our own fields and, being poor quality farming land, was always left fallow so was a haven for wildlife. We often saw snipe, newts and other creatures we couldn't identify in the long grasses. Gunner thought it was great for hunting in and would snuffle and sniff all over the place.  No other people (except the farmer very occasionally) ever went there. No other dogs either;except one, who I think belonged to a local farmworker and which used to be given a run on the 'way to work' very first thing in the morning, but only for two or three years. So it felt like it was 'Our Place'. It always will now.  Soon after this photo was taken the land was fenced off for 'beasts' and several ponds were scraped out, which were supposed to attract wild life. Strangely, there is less wildlife there than formerly which is what happens when man interferes with nature. Anyway, I don't go down there anymore with the dogs.  Also, the land is now incorporated within the territory of a local shoot so dogs are most unwelcome, especially spaniels... though goodness knows why when they are welcomed onto other local shoots. But then, this particular shoot owner is quite neurotic!!!
Anyway, on this particular day we had been mooching about in the long grass, the sun was shining and the birds were singing and it seemed all was right with the world. Gunner was happily relaxed and had just caught sight of some Canada geese strutting around not far away from us...... he never missed a thing....