Hi all,
Hope you've had a lovely Christmas - Happy New Year from all of us :) I've been so busy these past few weeks I've been neglecting the blog (shame, shame, shame on me!). SO, in response to my nag-bag of a cousin (Matt, you had better leave a comment!) - here's a bumper new year edition with all the news since my last post...and there's quite a lot of it - are you sitting comfortably?...
First of all our clever lad passed his Silver test (part of the Kennel Club's Good Citizen Dog Scheme) on 30th November 06. He already has his puppy foundation award and the Bronze certificate and in fairness he's been ready for the silver test since the age of about 9 months, but it was the first time the examiner could make it to the training club. Now we plan to work towards the Gold test - we can tick the boxes for most of the criteria with just a couple of things to work on so that'll keep us out of mischief.
We went to our first shoot on 9th December near Cambridge. We had THE most fantastic time, I still grin like an idiot when anyone asks me about it! I'd geared myself up for a slightly 'frosty' reception as because I was taking a Weimaraner rather than a labrador or a spaniel, but the people on the shoot couldn't have been nicer or more welcoming :) Our young lad was a little superstar - he certainly surpassed my expectations and really turned some heads. (I dread to think what people's preconceived notions were before our arrival on the scene, as they were even impressed at the fact that he sat whilst I tied my shoelace without me having to stand on the lead....?!?!? ). Anyhow, first of all I asked if we could go and pick up behind the guns so we were sent into the woodland for the first drive. Now given Jet's reaction to cold game (i.e. dancing and bouncing around a previously frozen pigeon and doing everything bar actually touching it) I had prepared myself to swallow my pride and to do whatever it took to encourage him to hold a bird in his mouth. Bless his heart, he saved me from the humiliation - he went over to the first pheasant and picked it up as though he'd been doing it all his life! I was completely stunned but sooooo thrilled! He was a little reluctant to bring the bird to me, but I figured it'd be best to let him parade around with the pheasant as it was obviously such a novelty. He picked up two more during that drive - I couldn't in all good concience say they were 'retrieved' per se, but he carried the birds so I was happy. As he's so good retreiving dummies when training etc, I worked on the basis that the retreiving of game will come with experience, when carrying a freshly dead bird isn't such a huge novelty.
For the next couple of drives we somehow ended up in the beating line..which I didn't think was ideal for our first outing but he didn't let me down - probably ranged out a little too far than would've been ideal (but then HPR's do range out further than e.g. spaniels), but he was hunting well and in a field of rape he went on point - steady as you like and remained steady as I aproached him and then flushed the bird on command. Because I'd obviously been concentrating on Jet, I was really shocked at the end of the drive when I realised all eyes had been on us - so many people came to speak to me about the grey beastie and were so impressed with the way he'd worked and his pointing. I remember one chap's comment in particular - he was shooting and had two impeccably behaved labradors but he told me how much he'd enjoyed watching Jet work, how great it was to see a dog under such good control and that seeing the point had..and I quote...'made his day' and then he thanked me for bringing him!! Sorry to ramble on but I was really quite taken aback!
Other parts of our adventure included hitching a lift on the back of a pick up, (with me having to hold on to Jet as he couldn't steady himself properly - I had visions of him slipping off the back as we drove through the field, lol! ) and riding about in the back of a transit van sitting on straw bales with the rest of the beaters, a lab and a spaniel. Jet saw his first fox on the last drive before lunch and looked to give chase as it bolted out of the woods but he was easily recalled - phew! Temptation crossed his path again soon after when he was working along a hedgerow and a rabbit ran past him only inches from his nose. I told him 'no' and he left well alone! Hurrah!!! I stayed for lunch and had a chat but then dicided to call it a day. I'm sure Jet would've been able to carry on if I'd asked him to but he was starting to look tired on the way back to the farm in the van. As he's still only 15 months old I thought that the 4 hours of work in the morning was more than enough for our first outing, particularly with all the things we encountered in that time! All in all, I left after lunch feeling as though we'd actually been relatively useful rather than just tagging along (which is what I'd originally planned on doing). The other members of the shoot hoped that I'd be going back again after xmas and I definitely plan to (all I need to do now is convince James that me taking the dog to a shoot on his birthday weekend in January is a good idea.... !
For Christmas we went back to Cornwall to stay with my Grandad. Jet and Pip (the cat) came with us and had a great time. On Christmas day, after the lunch time indulgence, we took our nieces and the Jetster to Maenporth beach which was great fun - look at these happy faces:
Back at Grandad's, here's feeding time at the zoo...
Now we're back at home and today my trusty assistant 'helped' me in the garden. In fact, his head was almost planted on more than one occasion because his face was constantly in the midst of whatever I was doing!
Et voila! Now you're all up to date! New year's resolution no. 1 - to update the blog in a more timely fashion! ;-)
xxx
Amazingly, the horrid weather passed over by the time we left the show venue, so it was a nice afternoon for us to go to Holyrood Park and climb Arthur's Seat. Apparently Holyrood Park covers around 650 acres and is slap bang in the middle of the city! Here's a wee history/geography lesson for you: Arthur's seat is actually an extinct volcano and has had its name since the 15th Century. I have to say that I'm glad it is extinct - the experience was hair-raising enough due to the strong gusts of wind that almost knocked me over from the top on more than one occasion..! The view was beautiful though - the Edinburgh skyline, the castle, the Pentlands, the Forth Bridge...
James, Rachel and myself climbed up to the top of Arthur's Seat, whereas Jet must've whizzed up and down at least four times. Where does he get all that energy?!?! (Forget caffeine, perhaps eating dog food is the way forward..). Here's the beastie - being a poser - as usual!
We had a brilliant weekend and hope we can go back and do it again some time (if Rachel will have us.....) x