Donald just tried Multimap and got the same response as I did - it would appear it sent me to the geographical centre of Edinburgh because it didn't know where the Jack Kane Centre is. So be aware it is not infallible.
Anyway, I have been remiss (and rather busy with hospital appointments, craft groups, choir practice, dog walking, birthday card making, birthday present shopping etc etc etc) and must now tell you all about Allez's second visit to Logie Estate with Eoin and Enid, and their two dogs as of last week - Breac the lab, and now Molly, a rescue Springer. She is an absolute sweetie, and from her reaction to getting off the lead (all fingers and toes crossed that she would come back) she is most definitely of a working rather than a show strain (by looks as well I might add). She is very pretty too. I thought Allez would be more interested in her than the birds but I misjudged him
Eoin had no idea how Molly was with the gun, so he tested her on the starter first and with no reaction, came closer and closer, still no reaction so decided to carry on round the estate and try her with the gun at a distance. First run was on a line, me and Allez along the right hand side of the first field, Enid and Molly along the left, working towards the corner with Eoin in the middle with Breac and the gun. Allez was much more controlled, and went in where told, but found nothing. We were working into a cheek breeze and he kept trying to go out into the field to quarter it as he is used to doing. Molly was on a long cord but was pulling poor Enid so we got in their 4 x 4 and drove up a bumpy track to an area they don't usually shoot over, passing a large brood of pheasants on the way. This time Allez and I had to work down the left hand side and Enid walked right down to the bottom edge and worked up and across. Eoin was at the ready with the gun again, and was sure there had been a bird gone into the brush at our side but we found nothing again, with Allez again trying to work the field as well as the boundaries. Molly had been let off lead and was hunting the area thoroughly and reasonably close to my mind although I don’t think Enid thought that – she did look a little perturbed. I could see from my vantage point that she was never further away than about 40 yards . She found nothing there either, so Eoin suggested sending her in the side where we had just been (to prove that Allez missed the bird, I rather think!), she found nothing either, so Breac was sent along next – and guess what – a bird flew out. I reckon it had crept in behind us when we were all down at the bottom of the field discussing the matter, after hiding in the reeds right down in the ditch. Eoin suggested we let the dogs all off together for a run – Hmm, my little lad took that as a “right we haven’t checked the corner so I’ll just do that now” Five minutes later, on the third whistle recall, back he comes, and set off across the field to the top, across the drive and into the next field, but turned and came back quite quickly on recall. We decided to have a go at that field and off we went to the top so we could come into the wind. As we got there Allez indicated something ahead of us and a big cock pheasant sauntered out of the hedge and started walking across the field about 25 feet ahead of us – Allez went straight into coule. He was on a line so I let him follow for a short time then whistle sat him. If I’d let him off the bird would have risen and although Eoin could have got a shot at it I couldn't take the risk of Allez chasing the bird. So we let it go on its merry way. Eoin in the meantime spotted and shot a squirrel, but even that didn’t get it up on the wing. A few yards further on Allez went into the hedge and on a classic point, back lowered, muscles tense, paw up. I sent him in, up got a hen pheasant, (in the wrong direction) in went Allez and slammed against his collar, I whistled and he sat! He couldn’t do much else mind you as there was quite a thicket in front of him. I was pleased with that though. Molly in the meantime had decided to go a bit farther afield on a hunting mission so when she returned we headed back to the car – and a muddy puddle for her to lie in to cool off. I have a mini video of that (having forgotten to take one of Allez previously) so will post that tomorrow.
Eoin invited us to their shoot on Saturday but I will be at Gundog Breeds, so we will go to the following one in a fornights time – giving me a bit longer to steady him up a bit more.
All in all a very good day. _________________ Annie
Handle every situation like a dog, if you can't eat it or play with it, just pee on it and walk away
Our very first ever Shoot day last Saturday. I kept Allez on a long line so as not to spoil the first few moments of the day as he would probably have pushed up every bird, rabbit, deer and hare on the estate. The Estate owner's son, Jonathan, who runs the estate albeit it at a distance as he doesn't live there most of the time, told me they have about 500 acres, but didn't put any birds down, only feeders - set out and maintained by Eoin as gamekeeper. So the birds were all wild apart from a few visitors from the adjoining estate which is something like 4 or 5 times larger in proportion. A river divides the two and this turned out to be a good hiding place for a number of birds.
I treated this as very much a control exercise. Allez pointed a number of birds, they were a bit skittish so no lengthy points, flushed on command but because of the line and some very thick undergrowth I managed to restrain him from chasing. By the end of the day no restraint was required. One hen landed about 10 yards from us but it was flapping wildly so he was reluctant to pick it, but as soon as I despatched it that was Ok and he carried it around for a couple of minutes till I found someone to hand it to. Enid said she was quite impressed with his hunting (he wanted to cover the open fields as well as the hedgerows and we know there was nothing there as they were flat as pancakes and only a few little low tufts of stubble left), as I was managing to bring him in on the whistle to hunt the hedges. Enid's comment to me today was "I thought we all did well as beaters on Saturday and the dogs behaved very well. No-one disgraced themselves - quite the opposite in fact. I look forward to the day we can trust the dogs to run free so that they can do their work unfettered - they'll be great!"
He was watching the guns a lot when we were waiting for the start of each drive, should I stop him doing that - he seems to know the birds come down because of the men and the guns. As soon as we started off he concentrated on hunting so I guess it's all right.
We had 12 drives in all, 5 guns plus Jonathan had an occasional shot, 20 pheasants and a hare in the bag, with delicious flapjacks and gingerbread at lunchtime washed down with various beverages including a very palatable slow gin. As Jonathan's wife is expecting their second baby next month he won't be coming up again this season so Eoin, Enid and I have the place to ourselves. Hopefully, this will bring Al's training on much quicker now as he will be actually shot over on a regular basis. He may suddenly see the light as to why I am there with him with a bit of luck _________________ Annie
Handle every situation like a dog, if you can't eat it or play with it, just pee on it and walk away
Posted: Mon Jan 12, 2009 9:15 pm Post subject: The boy dun good!
The boy dun good!
Well, QUITE good………………………. Yes, we DO need a lot more control but at least I now know that he can do the whole HPR bit!
After two days and nights of torrential rain when I was concerned that my kennels might get flooded it was a very pleasant surprise to see a beautiful sunny day stretching before me as I drove the few miles to the estate, with the tempting Ochil Hills behind me (I could once have climbed them with ease but now – age and lack of fitness have overtaken the desire to get to the top – just because). We met the keeper at the gates and drove round to the back of the house to park the cars. There is a large area of laurels at the front of the house where the birds tend to congregate to roost, so we set off in the opposite direction, walked to the last field before the river with pheasants taking off in front of us as we walked. I let Allez off downwind to stretch his legs expecting him to turn and go straight into the middle of the field where the pheasants had lifted.. At first he seemed to turn to hunt into the wind then he took off like the proverbial bat and disappeared in the direction of the laurels. That HAD to be a memory exercise from the shoot a few weeks ago. How else could he have known that section was there? I doubt if he would have scented pheasants from that distance. We carried on along the edge of the field with Annie whistling recall all the while, to all intents and purposes apparently in vain. Into the next field via the most enormous muddy puddle we went and forward about 30 yards, still whistling, still no sign of the intrepid wanderer, when suddenly we saw in the distance a lovely doe break cover and head for the trees – with a little brown dog about 30 yards behind her. I gave up whistling and we just waited. He wasn't going to catch THAT one! It felt like an hour, gave one more whistle, then ………….. there he was hurtling towards us tongue lolling. That was only 5 minutes you know, said the keeper, and I’ll bet he was having a whale of a time with all those scents in the Laurels! Maybe but I need him to respond quicker. The rest of the morning flew past with me trudging through ploughed fields after my boy, (my boots gathering mud as we went – 2 days of rain tells its toll) but on the line now to try to put some control in place. Lots of pheasants pointed and put up and a couple more deer but the birds were all flying across the river so it wasn’t possible to get any shots in. We watched away a couple of hares too, one of which Allez was desperate to go after. Thank goodness I had a tight hold of the line!!! A doe with two kids went flying across ahead of us too, again with Allez watching but steady on the line.
Time was wearing on so we turned and headed down a dividing hedge, gun one side, me and Allez the other, and about 30 yards in we had our reward. A perfect one foot lifted point, held for about 30 seconds, told to get in, flushed and stopped, gun shot, bird down about 100 yards into the next field, dog stands stock still, given the ‘back fetch’ and off he went. I thought he hesitated a little but apparently the bird went down in a big muddy puddle so he was just ‘re-arranging’. “Come on, then” I called and in he came, through the hedge, across the plough, head up and bird dropped into my welcoming hand! Why, oh, why did I not get the phone out to record all this – does anyone else get so excited seeing their dog doing what it’s supposed to?
Well, we hunted on a bit more, getting more bogged down, but nothing more found so we found some puddles with solid ground at the bottom to wash the wellies and called it a day and we headed for home. This is where he is now – at my feet in the study, flat out – happily tired like Mum!
Click to see full size image _________________ Annie
Handle every situation like a dog, if you can't eat it or play with it, just pee on it and walk away
Trouble is I haven't found the 'off' switch yet! True to his name he 'goes' but I need to find out how to do the 'stop' or at least the 'slow down' lol _________________ Annie
Handle every situation like a dog, if you can't eat it or play with it, just pee on it and walk away
I think I'll rename him - maybe 'ici' or 'arrête' or maybe just 'ralentir' Mind you none of them have the same ring as ALLEZ yelled at the pitch of my voice with a growl thrown in for good measure! _________________ Annie
Handle every situation like a dog, if you can't eat it or play with it, just pee on it and walk away
You cannot post new topics in this forum You cannot reply to topics in this forum You cannot edit your posts in this forum You cannot delete your posts in this forum You cannot vote in polls in this forum
FAQ
Search
Memberlist
Usergroups
Join! (free) 
Profile
Log in to check your private messages
Log in
with a bit of luck 
