22nd March 2009

Over the past couple of Sundays I have been attending a one-to-one training class with Molly organised by Pat Brennan. It has been excellent with Pat giving great advice and help. I have been working on my own handling skills and stretching Molly every week. Today Pat set up an Open Test course for us and we ran as if in a working test. At the start of the course Molly was down on pace for some reason. However she was marking very well on the shot. There was a fence to jump as part of the course and I had a lot of difficulty getting her to jump the fence. She would never have seen a fence like this before so I guess it was new to her. She jumped the fence eventually and went back for the blind retrieve. When she picked up the dummy the first time it hit the marking peg and fell out of her mouth. This seemed to unsettle her and she left it and went to return to me. I stopped her and sent her back and she picked the dummy and dropped it again. I told her to fetch it again and this time she picked it and brought it back. I then sent her for the first marked dummy over the fence and she went over the fence and picked it no problem. At this point we hunted on and he pace had picked up. She was doing a nice tight pattern. The final retrieve was a blind back over the fence the way we came. I lined her up and she went straight out over the fence and picked the dummy nicely.

I am entering a Working Test this Sunday so hopefully the work I have been doing and the help from Pat will stand to us.

P.S. I am collecting a new bitch pup on Sunday at the Working Test also. It is coming down from Northern Ireland and I will be taking her home with me. I'm really looking forward to working with her over the coming months and will post here on our progress. She is out of FTCh Butlerstow Buddy and Flowbog Tag of Clonduff lines.  

1st March 2009

Since the end of the shooting season I have given the dogs and myself a bit of a break to recover from the scratches and bumps of the season. They have been getting daily exercise in the fields behind my house and walks along the bog road but thats about it. They are starting to show a bit of condition on them now which is want I want for this time of the year.

Today (Sunday) I decided it was time to start a bit of work with Molly again as the Working Tests will be coming up in the next couple of months and I want her to be in good order for those and improve on what we did last year. She is 2 and a half now and should be a bit more experienced.

So to get things kicked off yesterday I took the dummy launcher and a couple of dummies and hit the fields. I started by giving her a short hunt in the long grass and kept her patteren nice and tight using gave her a couple of drops. I then sat her and while standing in front of her fired a dummy with the launcher for a nice easy marked retrieve which she did with no problems. As she on the way out the mark I threw a dummy to the side to use as short blind. I lined her up and she went out nice and straight and caught scent of the dummy from a good way off. She has a very good nose that hopefully I can take advantage of by getting to the right side of the wind on her retrieves.

After another short hunt up I launched a dummy while she was quartering and she dropped to the shot and while she looked at me first she did turn to the front to mark the dummy as it hit the ground. She retrieved this well. I hunted her on again and fired another dummy. She turned to look at me but immediately turned to the front again to mark the dummy but was looking in the wrong direction and didn;t mark the fall. This was going to be a long blind so I lined her up and sent her back. She went back a good way and flushed a Snipe. I was able to drop her on the whistle and kept her down for a minute to steady her before sending her on for the dummy. She went back again and after couple of back and right casts she caught scent of the dummy and homed in on it. I was very happy with her performance.

The one thing that I am going to have to be careful of is that by holding the launcher in my hand she was looking back at me a lot anticipating the dummy being fired. I will have to either keep the launcher in my hand without firing it a lot or maybe get a friend to walk with me concealing the launcher behind his back.

Not a bad start to the year though and gives me a few things to work on.

17th January 2009

I have been lucky enough to get the opportunity to join the beating team for the Abbeyleix Estate shoot in Abbeyleix, Co. Laois. The shoot is mostly in woodland and perfect for working Molly in a variety of cover such as light and thick briars, ivy floors, laurels and open woodland.

The day started fine and breezy but cold. It soon deteriorated to storm force gales and driving rain that eventually forced an end to the day at about 2.30pm as it was getting dangerous to be in the woods in such strong winds, not to mention very uncomfortable for Guns, beaters and pickers up alike in the driving cold rain.

I arrived at the estate and introduced myself to the Head Keeper James whom I had spoken to on the phone. He gave me a run down of the terrain and also told me that he used to trial Spaniels and that the gound on the estate was perfect for spaniel work. 

I entered the line for the first drive of the day wondering how Molly would react to the excitement of the other dogs running around and the large numbers of birds on the ground. She was a little nervous for the whole comotion at the start and was a little bit down on pace, but she soon settled down and got moving. We had numerous flushs and she was steady to everything. I made a point of blowing the stop whistle everytime she made a flush and she responded perfectly each time. At one point we were hunting up to a derelict farm shed and she went into the shed and flushed a large number of birds from inside the walls. She was steady as they all ran and flew out of the shed.

During the 3rd drive we were hunting in heavy briars and she grabbed a cock pheasant on the ground. At first I thought she had pegged it, so I told her to leave it. She dropped the pheasant but it didn't fly and walked slowly a short distance. The walking gun indicated that he had shot the bird and it was wounded so I told her to fetch it and she retreived it nicely to hand. I was very pleased with this piece of work. 

All in all it was very enjoyable day out despite the savage weather conditions. I was not 100% happy with the pace Molly showed but I think that might be down to a combination of the new surroundings of the beating line with everyone shouting and banging sticks along with the gale force winds and rain.

I am going back again this Saturday and hope for better weather and great day out.

3rd January 2008

Happy New Year to everyone!

This was a perfect morning to be out with dogs. Frost on the ground, sun in the sky, not a cloud in sight.

I took Molly to Donnells farm to try for a Woodcock in the wooded areas. She was really motoring well in the low briars and covering her ground very well. Sometimes she has a tendency to be right handed in her pattern but not today. She was covering a very nice even beat. I think the bit of game scent helps her to push out more and cover the ground better.

There was nothing in the first beat of briars along the ditch so I moved to the middle to try the bank of whitethorn and briars. She flushed a woodcock to the far side of it and was steady to the flush. I got not shot through the trees. I walked out to her and praised her and walked back to my position again and waited a minute before sending her on. Further along at the bottom end of the wood she flushed a hare and went to give chase but ran straight into a tree and toppled herself over. Before she got her bearings I was on top of her as well and dragged her back the 3 yards to where the hare flushed. I let her know in no uncertain terms that this is not on. I think she got the message in a few different languages ;)

We then went into an area of trees that gets flooded in wet weather but it was dry mostly today. There is a lot of rushes and white grass in here and she was hunting it nicely. She flushed a Snipe and was steady. It was obvious though that the Snipe was injured as it only few about 10 yards on "one wing".  We hunted towards it and Molly flushed it again. It flew through the trees a good 30 yards this time but still obviously injured. We hunted in the general direction of the Snipe and Molly flushed it again and was steady. This time I got a clear view and shot it dead about 15yards in full view of the dog. She was steady to this. I kept her down for a minute while I put a fresh cartridge in the gun and opened the game bag. Then I sent her for the retrieve. She had a good mark on the fall and went straight over.  She picked the Snipe and brought it about 5 yards and spat it out. And I mean SPAT it out (in disgust even). I told her to fetch it and she picked it again and did the same thing. On the 3rd attempt she brought it to hand. I am trying to think back but I think this was her 2nd Snipe. I know some dogs don't like to bring Snipe. I am only guessing here too but maybe the wounded and distressed Snipe produced a less than pleasing scent or something I don't know. It was in the bag anyway. I will have to get out this weekend for some Snipe shooting with her and see if the problem arises again with a fresh shot bird. I'll let you know how I get on. If anyone has any theory's also, I'd love to hear them. Do wounded distressed birds produce a different scent/taste than fresh shot birds???

We called it a day then with Molly as she had a long run out.

Later that morning I had Tyson out on Saddliers Hill and he tore the heavy cover to shreds. He flushed a lovely Melanistic cock pheasant that I shot into the heavy cover and after a bit of searching he brought back nicely to hand.

It was a magic end to a good mornings hunting. Good dog work, 2 shots and 2 birds in the bag, the sun was shining. Does life get much better than this???

29th December 2008

Molly was in heat for most of the Christmas period so I didn't have her out at all before the 28th Dec. The first trip was just a blow out for her in Ruffly Bog. And boy did she blow the cob-webs off. She was giving it 110%. It was one of those days when she blows me away. I know she will never be a really top class trial dog, but at times she puts in a performance that to my mind anyway (and I'm probably more than a bit biased) is top drawer.

I cast her off and straight away she was at full speed. Bursting through the rushes and cover with a lot of speed and drive. There was plenty of Snipe around and I wanted to get a few flushes for her and to make sure she was steady to them. As you can probably recall she ran in on a Partridge in our last trial and on a woodcock since then too. 

Not long into the run she flushed a Snipe and made a move to chase but I stopped her on the whistle easily and walked over and moved her back a yard to where the Snipe flushed and let her know the error of her ways. I left her on the drop for a little while and then continued on.

A few Snipe got up wild due to the very calm conditions but we kept going and it wasn't long before we had another flush. This time she was steady as I was very quick on the whistle. I walked out to her and gave her pat and walked back to my position and kept her down for a couple of minutes. I had previously hidden a dummy by the large telephone pole at one end of the field and walked to within a reasonable distance (40yards) and sent her for the blind retrieve. She was a bit rusty on the going back but after a few casts she picked the dummy and delivered nicely.

On the final stretch by the lane she was getting tired and slowing down. I was about to pick her up when she had a Snipe flush from right under her nose. She was steady to it. I walked out. Praised her and kept her down for a few minutes before calling her in and picking her up. I was very happy with the mornings work.

7th December

It was a freezing cold morning with a freezing fog. The temperature gauge in the jeep was reading minus 3 but it was nice and dry.

I brought the 3 dogs (Ben my 10yr old English Setter, Tyson my 6yr old springer dog and Molly) and we headed off about 10am to Donnells. We went into the first bit of wood with Ben and Tyson and I put in Tyson and straight away he had a cock up. My friend fired but he was out a bit far and didn’t get him. We rose about 4 woodcock in that part of the wood but got no shots (they are tricky feckers). We hunted all the ditches and in another bit of wood Ben went into the deep cover and there was no sign of him. We went around the outside of the wood trying to find him but no sign of him. Tyson started trailing hard at one point and burst into the wood and a nice cock pheasant came out over the wood to us. I fired first and missed him then my friend fired twice and missed and I fired again and got him as he was going back in over the wood into the heavy cover. Tyson went in after him and after a few minutes he came out with the cock. A lovely retrieve. At this stage there was still no sign of Ben. We decided to go back to the car and put away Tyson and go back to look for Ben. When we got back to the car there was Ben lying on the grass beside the trailer having a snooze HA HA HA. When he couldn’t find us he doubled back to the car and knew we would turn up at some stage. It saved us having to go back looking for him anyway ha. You can't beat experience ha ha ha.

Went over to another farm then to where there are strips of rushes, and hunted Molly (who is in heat as of today). There was only a few snipe in the rushes and they got up wild. Molly was pulling out a lot today. I was not happy with her pattern at all. Will have to put in some work with her on that. Maybe it was the impending heat. We'll see!!!

We stalked up on apond in the corner of the field with Molly dropped about 20 yards back. As we got up to it I could see 2 teal on the water. We moved in and between 10 and 15 teal flew up. I shot 2 and my friend got one. Molly was steady to the shot and falling duck. I went back to where she was and sent her for the 3 duck and she picked 2 from the field and one off the water nicely. Great training.

We then went to another pond beside a ruined castle/house and again dropped Molly and walked in. 2 teal went out for my friend and he winged one that glided out over the field and came down and took off running. I ran round and brought Molly with me and lined her up for her first ever runner. At this stage the duck was gone a good 150 - 200 yards down the field. She went back about 80 yards and started to hunt so I sent her back again. After about 4 back casts she picked up the line of the duck and followed it down the field. As she closed in, the duck took off again half running and flying and she chased it down and brought it back. A really nice long retrieve. We headed for home then with 4 teal duck and pheasant. Two happy hunters and 3 happy dogs.

It was a good day out with some nice retrieving.

30th November 2008

Out on Sunday morning for Molly's second trial run by the English Springer Spaniel Club of Ireland on Oilean Mor in the middle of Lough Derg on the river Shannon. It was a beautiful clear morning but very cold with a widespread frost and icey roads. After the short trip over on the ferry to the island the trial got under way. It was my first time on the island but straight away I could see that there was going to be a LOT of game in this trial.

The plan was to hunt fields of game crops and weed cover for the trial. From the very beginning the abundance of game was having an effect on the novice dogs. I was running no.7 and by the time it came time for my run several dogs had been put out. Some for moving on flush and others for 1st dog down on retieves.

For my run I started in an area of knee high kale with a lot of weed through it. The judge advised me to take my time as the birds were sitting tight in the cover. We were hunting up a slight hill with a slight cheek wind from the right. Molly set off at a good pace and was hunting nicely. Staying in under the kale and not bouncing over it which I was pleased with. After about 2 minutes we had to stop for about a minute while the other line caught up. When we resumed Molly continued hunting well and it was obvious that the amount of scent on the ground under the kale had her really fired up. About 150 yards into our run she had a really good positive find on a single partridge. The bird struggled to get out of the kale and flew off low barely above the kale tops. The left gun shot the partridge and Molly was away after it. Feck it anyway!  She stopped after about 10 meters but that was the end of our run.

I was disappointed to get put out like that as she is usually good on the flush. I think that had it been a strong cock pheasant that explodes with lot of noise out the kale and away strongly she would have been ok. But the combination of game scent and the struggling partridge was too much for her. On the positive side I was happy with the way she hunted. She did a nice pattern with good pace and was in under the cover and not popping over it. I know what I have to work on over the next few weeks also. Its all part of the learning curve for the two of us.

It was a very enjoyable day all the same and the two dogs that got the awards at the end of the day were definitely the outstanding dogs on show. The winner produced a brillant retrieve on a running hen in her first run and hunted with loads of pace and drive.

Back to the drawing board for now but roll on the next one.