Fantastic day for Bepop on Saturday, she did a fantastic retrieve on a pricked bird . When you see your dog working so perfectly it makes you very proud. I am pleased to say that I shared the experience with (I think) the entire shoot, and they appreciated Bepop as much as I did.
Why am I so proud? firstly Bepop had to find the bird that had gone to ground, secondly it was a runner,and it went a long way from me, finally it must have been a struggle picking up the bird as her head was out of sight for ages. But suddenly there she was in the distance, standing proud, bird in mouth almost one would think posing for a photo, at that point I whistled and Bepop being Bepop surprised me by proceeding to go to the nearest gun to deliver the bird. In hindsite, the nearest gun was on a flat run, I was at the top of a valley a long way away...this dog thinks and she was tired!!! anyway after a bit of jumping around on the spot and arm waving, she changed direction and delivered the bird. Bepop certainly enjoyed the praise from the guns and beaters, she had her 'grin' face and her tail was wagging, in fact people remarked that she was a happy dog, and her real treat was the muddy puddle we found on the way to the next drive.
No one likes to see a wounded bird, so for me its an important role of a retriever to find and pick up these birds so that they can be despached.
