Superb!

I found this video on You Tube.  Wonderful dogs and great camera work

Shame I can’t speak Spanish

Counting postponed – 6th February 2010

I received an e-mail from Peter earlier this week calling off the training in Scotland.  This wasn’t a surprise having read about the falling grouse numbers and the number leaving the moorlands.  I have since heard of grouse being spotted in the high street of Coldstream which can only be a bad sign.  With this in mind, my spotting of a grouse beside the path in the forest seemed to make sense.  I therefore decided that it would also be potentially damaging to count the grouse here as planned this weekend.  With high stress levels the lower the disturbance the better.  This is a great disappointment but it would be ridiculous if the act of counting reduced the numbers available to breed.  Numbers are low enough here anyway.

Hilary, who would have come up here to help with her setter has kindly managed to find some ground down in Essex that we can run the dogs on for a day next week.  We may as well do something constructive with the days we have booked off work and Essex should be a bit milder than either here or Scotland.  Fingers crossed for some birds.  If nothing else the change of location will be good for Archie.

Having made the decision to postpone the count I was surprised to see that the moorland today had very little snow cover.  We have had a few days of 4-6 degrees C and this has had a dramatic effect.  We are promised more bad weather though this week so I will have to play it by ear.

Both dogs had a lot of running in the forest today though.  Not having access to good running ground though really makes me appreciate how lucky I am usually.

Beater’s Day – 1st February 2010

I am now running a bit behind times.  With computer problems that have been bad enough to make me start saving for a Mac you can imagine my frustrations.  Never mind though, we will overcome.

I beat on the pheasant shoot of the estate that owns the moorland and on Monday we had our beater’s day.  It was thoroughly enjoyable despite any earlier reservations I may have had.  You see, I am not really a good shot as I only really shoot once a year.  I have the odd day on clays but that’s about it.  This doesn’t mean that I miss a lot of birds when I do shoot, more that I don’t attempt to shoot them if I have less than a fighting chance.  The estate is famed for its high birds.  Couple that with my selective approach and there was a good chance that I would draw a blank.  As it was I managed two birds with the first three shots.  My mistake was imagining the rest of the day would carry on in a similar manner.  It didn’t.  I did, however, finish with six cock pheasants in the bag and enjoyed every minute of it.  A great crowd in a wonderful place under the watchful eye of a skilled (and entertaining) keeper.  Thank you all.

On the final drive I turned around and soaked up the view.  I really am lucky living here.

At home Archie, who is known for his ability to mimic an obsessive labrador when it comes to retrieving, insisted on delivering the birds to hand despite the fact that they had only just been laid out on the wall prior to being dealt with.  He does make me laugh.  It’s only a shame that they have to spend the day at home until I get back to exercise them.

A show dog working? – 31st January 2010

Firstly, let no one look back and say that we didn’t have a hard winter.  Last night the snow came back and this morning it was snowing again.  The roads were white and we now have another two inches.  The grass in our garden had only been visible for a few days since the snow came before Christmas and I would never have believed how disruptive snow could be to dog training.  I only hope that the Scotland trip isn’t snowed off in a few weeks time.  More worryingly I have been reading that the grouse numbers on the Lammermuir hills have been declining rapidly since Christmas as the birds cannot get to the heather to feed.  Numbers are now looking very worrying.

I took the dogs on to a patch of relatively sheltered moorland and ran them one at a time quite methodically.  The first thing I noticed is that when Archie was running and Grace was on a lead by my side she didn’t whine.  This is a first and made for a good start.  Things got better though.  After ten minutes I swapped dogs.  Apart from the difficulty of spotting  the dogs in the snow covered heather things were quite straightforward.  I was walking into the wind and both dogs were working a beat straight across me.  I had a good chance to watch both dogs and compare how they worked.  Archie is only sixteen months and whilst he does great he still looks a bit like a pup working things out.  He ran really well and ran wide but occasionally started to bore too far forward at the end of the beat.  This was easy to correct though so wasn’t much of a problem.  Grace, however, ran wide and flat and quartered very neatly.  What I did notice though was that Grace, half way through her beat would signal a scent without really slowing down, then carry on to finish her beat, signalling the same scent again on the next pass.  It was almost as if she was ‘noting’ the scent.  Maybe I am reading too much into this but it seemed this way.  I then called her in and swapped dogs.  Archie would run out wide, then in the same place as Grace signal the scent, only he would turn and head towards it.  I knew it couldn’t be that close so pulled him off it to finish his beat.  After a few good runs I swapped dogs again.  It was obvious that the bird was still ahead of us as Grace signalled again, only this time on the second pass she stopped  in her tracks.  I walked forwards and put up a snipe, blew the drop whistle, Archie dropped on the lead at my side and Grace just stood there and looked at me.  She didn’t chase.  I know she should have dropped but she didn’t move so I was quite happy.

Grace worked exceptionally well this morning.  I cannot explain what makes me say this other than her quartering looked ’solid’.  She ran very flat at a consistent pace and did everything I asked of her (apart from that drop).  She had a real sense of purpose about her and she knew exactly what was needed.  She may not have the lightning speed of the dogs I have seen on some of the field trial videos but she ran really well.  Her pace may well be down to training too, in that she never knows whether we are out for an hour of for five so tends to pace herself accordingly.  I would defy anyone to tell me that show bred pointers cannot do a day’s work after this morning’s performance.  It was really pleasing.

Grace has just turned four and has really matured.  As you know I also have high hopes for Archie.  He is much easier to train and much easier to handle but at 16 months he is more scallywag than serious worker…and that’s how it should be.

I walked back across the ground we had just covered and let both dogs run together.  Grace pointed the ground scent of the snipe and Archie backed her which was nice to see, but it was never going to amount to anything.  I picked both dogs up and walked them back to the Land Rover on their leads.  It had been such a positive session that I didn’t want anything to go wrong on the walk back.

As I look out of my window it is still snowing.  Both dogs are bedded down in the kennel on a layer of wood shavings and deep barley straw and they seem to like it.  It seems much more appealing that the old blankets they have had until now.

Jack snipe and an unexpected grouse – 30th January 2010

Having spent the morning standing on the sideline cheering on my youngest at a football match, then taking a short cut home across the hills that proved ‘nearly worrying’ I didn’t plan much of a session with the dogs.  I had taken a very familiar track from one valley to another, only to find half way up that it was still covered with foot high snow drifts.  This wouldn’t have been a problem if the only way across them hadn’t meant driving closer to the edge above a drop of a few hundred feet.  This was a single track route so reversing would have been difficult.  It wasn’t dangerous as I had every confidence in the route I took but I could have done without it.  When I got home I decided to run the dogs in the forest.

After a few drops and recalls I turned and headed onto the moorland.  The sun was shining and much of the snow had gone from the heather so it seemed quite appealing.  When we reached the edge of the moor I gave Grace a blast on her own and was relieved to see that she had back all of the buzz that was lacking yesterday.  Maybe she had just been bored yesterday but today she ran hard and quartered well.  I then recalled her and gave Archie a run.  He ran well too.  I then decided to let them both have a run.  They covered ground well and both responded well to the whistle.  They both got a bit far from me at one point as I had a moment of happy distraction having noticed a few patches of mown heather on the hill behind (arrowed).  It is really satisfying seeing management picking up again on this moorland.  A few patches of heather had been mown in advance of burning later this year.  All good stuff.

Anyway, they didn’t just get too far from me, but they both went on point.  When I say ‘on point’ it was obvious they had both scented something but it was more of a bemused stand than a point.  I then trudged towards them as quickly as I could, but not before a Jack Snipe got up, tweeting like I don’t know what, flew away and then proceeded to turn around and wheel over the dogs’ heads.  Neither of them chased which was good but it revved them up enough for me to put Archie on a lead and then alternate their runs.  On Archie’s next run he pointed again and roaded in but it turned out to be just ground scent.  The photos don’t do him justice as I was using my mobile phone camera but I think he looks very good…but I would say that.

The last photo shows how difficult it was to spot Archie dropped in the heather.  It made me laugh.  I knew he was there somewhere but didn’t spot him until I was almost on top of him.

We then left the moorland and I walked the dogs off-lead, to heel, along the track back to the land rover.  In the wood adjacent to the forest I heard beaters first then a shot from the adjacent field.  On this first shot I dropped the dogs as it was too good an opportunity to miss.  As I  stood there and praised the dogs a second shot went off and from about ten yards away, on my left, a big fat grouse rose from the side of the track and flew back up the track.  Surprisingly it didn’t make a sound but it was so close I could have almost grabbed it.  Both dogs stayed put, probably as surprised as I was, and watched it away.   We were very lucky to have some training shots with a bird to boot.

Biting northerly – 29th January 2010

We went up in the forest this morning and it was quite uncomfortable.  I didn’t fancy taking both dogs on the heather, even though much of the snow has now melted, for two reasons.  Firstly, it is more productive to take them on the heather separately which I haven’t time to do today and secondly, with an absolutely biting northerly wind it would have been very exposed.  I wouldn’t have minded so much if it was just the wind but it wasn’t.  Great clouds of sleety snow were coming in horizontally on the northerly wind hitting my face like needles.  It wasn’t nice. 

Grace didn’t run well today.  She seemed to have no fizz about her at all.  I am not sure why.  She had a few good runs trying to spar with Archie but that was it.  She really didn’t want to run on her own.  Archie,as ever, needed holding back.  I really don’t want him thundering through brash and picking up a splinter, or spraining something just before we head up to Kelso.  I concentrated on the recall and all was ok.

Getting home to find that my tickets for Wales vs. Italy in the Six Nations had arrived put a smile on my face.  Ten rows off the pitch opposite the tunnel.  Great.

One to one – 24th January 2010

My wife took Grace out today on her own, freeing up a couple of  hours for me to work with Archie.  We went onto the heather as this is really the only place that I can see how he is behaving at the moment.  It was really quite a difficult session, not because Archie didn’t do what I asked but because of the snow.  It seems to be hanging around in great swathes, particularly along anything that can be loosely called a track, meaning that walking is very difficult.  I regularly found myself knee deep in snow.  With difficult walking came rather erratic dog work.  I would cast Archie off, he would run, I would turn to walk around a great patch of snow and Archie would see my change of direction and turn too.  Sometimes I had to retrace my steps to get around a snow drift and sure enough Archie would back cast to get in front of me again as I headed in the other direction.   It made for rather messy quartering.  He did run well though.  He turned on every double pip and recalled on every triple which pleased me.  We also practiced the drop to whistle which went well.  At one point he very nearly disappeared out of sight so instead of recalling him I blew a single blast.  He dropped, even at that distance.  I tried to capture it on photo, then zoom in, but if it isn’t too clear you will have to take my word for it.  I am really pleased with this.

He drew forward on scent regularly but, as has happened before, roaded in for so long that we missed ground so I had to send him away again, only to find him drawing forward towards the same place on the next cast.  I have no doubt that he had a noseful of grouse but my fear was that we could have walked for the next half and hour before finding it, assuming it was even sitting tight.  I neither had the time or the energy for this so moved him on.  I am really hoping that when we get up to Scotland in February he will come across grouse more often and learn to differentiate between birds that are close and those that are half a mile away.  We will see.

If I have anything to concentrate on after this session it is  improving Archie’s confidence by giving him more birds to work on and tightening up his quartering.  He would often cast me a backward glance when it was obvious he was on scent coming from a long way off (in the same way he takes a quick look at Grace to see if she is pointing when they are both out together).  This, I guess, is the down side of training two dogs together.  The pup starts to look to the other dog for information.  Hardly surprising when you consider that they are naturally pack animals but not very helpful when you are working one to one. 

A useful session but hard work.

Wild dogs – 22nd January 2010

This morning was the first time they had both had a chance to really run for a while, and they seemed to make the most of it.  I went up into the forest first thing, not only to give them a chance to let off steam, but to get a view of the moorland.  I had programmed next weekend in for a greyhen count but it seems I will have to postpone it until the following weekend.  There is heather beginning to show but only in parts, and it looks like the snow is laying very thick still in the gullies and on some of the slopes.  It would be difficult to walk, difficult to run the dogs, and difficult for the birds.  They probably need as little disturbance as possible following the last few weeks whilst cover is so hard to come by.

I am heading up to Kelso to profit from one of Peter O’Driscoll’s training events in a few weeks time so had rather hoped to give Archie a few solid days on heather before then but it seems this may not be as straightforward as I had hoped, particularly when you take into account yet more cold weather forecast.  We will see.

Anyway, following a period of relative inactivity both dogs were wild today.  Archie ran and ran, often getting far enough away from me that even I became slightly nervous.  He turned and recalled though which was fine, but his drop needs sharpening up a bit.  Its amazing how quickly things slacken off when training isn’t possible.

So, one to one with Archie, concentrating on the basics will be the order of the day, as and when I can, between now and the beginning of February.

Stuck – 15th January 2010

Firstly I must apologise for the order of these posts.  I am not sure how I failed to publish this earlier.

I thought that following the heavy rain that had fallen all night the snow would be well on its way, but at 1300 feet this seemed not to be the case.  Feeling a little stir crazy and missing the open spaces that until now I had really taken for granted, I headed to the  forest.  I didn’t really expect to get very far, but thought that at least the dogs could have a run and I could plod along behind.  We didn’t get there as the slush that had formed on the packed ice was harder to drive on than expected, so I decided to stop halfway, carve a parking space next to the road, and finish the journey on foot.  By carve I mean repeatedly drive into the snow until I was off the road.  This worked well until the snow had packed so hard it lifted the land rover.  Not a lot, but enough to get stuck.  After 15 minutes of shovelling we were back on the move again but it was a waste of time really.  I headed back down to the bottom of the valley to the relative security of the river having given up on anything more adventurous.

Down by the river I ran both dogs, repeatedly recalling them and every now and again dropping them both.  They could both do with some one to one training as this bout of snow has made even exercising them difficult.  They both did ok, but it was obvious that they could have done better.  I am looking forward to a return to normality.  If I want to take them out individually I have to put aside double the time which in these conditions is not really possible.

Thinking ahead – 17th January 2010

We ended up in the woods down by the river again today.  It isn’t a very good place to train pointers as there isn’t the space; within seconds of the ‘get on’ they are out of sight.  I gave them both a few runs then had them walking alongside me for half an hour.  It must have been hard work for them but I don’t think that the discipline will do them any harm.  We should be counting greyhens (female black grouse) up on the moorland at the end of January but I am seriously wondering if the snow will have gone by then.

My mind wandered to the spring ahead and the coming trout season.  When I got home I tied a few flies…roll on March.