The Signal Centre.
Bright and sunny but blowing a gale.
Took Chris and the pigeons for another go at steadiness training. The first and second birds were handled perfectly and he dropped as required. In fact the launcher hadn’t been reset properly and I was able to drop him, go forward and release the bird and he never budged. The third bird was even better. It couldn’t launch itself against the wind and pitched into some low bushes right in front. Again because of the wind it couldn’t get footing in the branches and fluttered about for a while. Chris wanted to go after it but resisted the temptation. Having achieved all I wanted I put Chris in the car, tossed the fourth pigeon by hand and went and found the third bird and tossed it as well.
Later.
I took Lucky to The Practice and ran him the length of it into the wind and he more or less quartered the ground. Disappointingly it was difficult to get him to come directly to me, he preferred to run on past.
Saturday 17th October 2009
Scotstown.
4c < 12.5c. 4.1 mph SSW.
We had a lovely bit of ground. I was right hand dog and cast Chris to the right. The other dog footered around on the left and eventually pointed. I didn’t want to interfere so I just let Chris go on out right. It was a mistake. The other dog didn’t produce so we were put together again. Chris did a couple of nice cuts, at pace, and then again the other dog pointed and this time produced. Chris came straight back to me and we were put down with another dog. It found in the middle of the beat and I was told to bring Chris but he didn’t respond and was excluded for failing to respond. He did come back and back the pointing dog but I was never going to get any credit and was told to put my lead on.
Having been let go out far on the right Chris thought he was permitted to go that far and that is why it was a mistake on my part to let him go that far.
It pleased me that Chris was flat and ran with a fair bit of drive but his preparation hasn’ t been good of late, Roxy being in season is to say a distraction, and I think I’ll bring the curtain down on this season after today.
Black Mountain.
The snipe are in, Ross tells me. He took Chris, Jalad and Lucky to the hill for a look see and saw twelve in total of which three were pointed by Chris with Jalad backing and stealing the odd point. Basically he ran the two adults from the car to the shoulder. Gave Lucky a skip in the middle bog and then ran the pair on up to The Paddock and back down again. He tells me the dogs handled the run a lot better than the handler did.
The Signal Centre.
I took Lucky for a gallop at the Signal Centre. It was nearly all positives. He ran about quite well and didn’t baulk at the wet places. He has a better gait and action than either Chris, his sire or Roxy his mother and probably the best points from both. At first I thought he wasn’t using his nose but then he found some spraint, probably some sort of water fowl. Then just to show me that the whole package is bolted together properly he put up a lark of some description and the acceleration and ability to turn at pace is very fluent and he can put all of his considerable power into his effortless running. The one slight negative is that he is nearly too cocky. He doesn’t need to come back so he doesn’t, until it suits him. I’m not making an issue of it at the moment. I did drop him a couple of times but not in any sort of pressure situation. There’ll be a time for that and it isn’t now.
Blowing a gale and persistent drizzle so the first day at the pheasants has been postponed till Thursday.
I’m threatening to go to Belfast for a gallop with Jalad but it is very difficult to be enthusiastic. I might just re-line the inside of the mews and relocate Bitch from the garage to the mews.
Black Mountain.
17c (joke) 16.4 mph S. Threatening rain.
Tam and Jalad.
Tam just hunted about, stayed well within gunshot and was compliant when required.
Jalad gave it a good go. Not having been out much recently he was a bit manic to start off but he was beautifully flat, once I had explained things fully and he covered a lot of ground at pace. We cut through the back of the quarry and then veered right to come along the shoulder, through the middle bog, over the top and down into the Big Valley. Just at the end of this run he had an impressive find on a running snipe. I actually saw it run left veering back down wind, not the first time I have seen a running snipe but this was the first for some years. Jalad’s work on the snipe was impressive, especially since I know for certain what he was up against. He pointed, relocated to the left when the bird went that direction, and when asked to produce he went straight down the line of the bird and dropped of his own accord notwithstanding that I blew the whistle anyway.
On my way down wind to the car I met Joe Dobbin with his ten month old Danish/Norwegian English Setter dog Jack. Joe let me see him run on his own and we then walked back to take the wind and gave the dogs a run as a brace. Jack is shaping nicely and only needs a bit more width to be ready to compete. Joe is keeping him tight so that he doesn’t take too big a bite as this leads to a tendency to turn back to look for the handler.
I turned back and Joe went on up the hill. I don’t ever remember running Jalad purposely down wind but he handled it well today even though there was no bird to prove it.
Back at Beechfield I did a bit more work on the mews at it is about three quarters done so what looked like a lost day turned out quite well.
#1 son Ryan is off to Australia for a year on Monday so there’s a “Meet the Fokkers” evening to offically meet Jenny’s parents and I suppose a few coldies may just be sunk. Then tomorrow Jalad may well be off to another home!
Black Mountain.
SW 15 mph(ish) Dull and wet at times.
The minute you decide to demonstrate a dog you are letting yourself in for a hiding. It doesn’t matter if it is a competition, a sale’s pitch or just to show how well you are getting on, the minute you stick your head above the parapet you risk getting it blown off. I therefore was slightly nervous demonstrating Jalad to his prospective new owner but you know what, he did exactly what I wanted. He was beautifully flat, without any effort on my part. He covered all the ground available and was easy to turn. I made a point of dropping him a couple of times, just to show it could be done and I also turned him and sent him back out just to show he would do it. A snipe even joined in and provided an opportunity to show him on point. He took the bird well, stood till I got to him and then roaded straight in to produce his bird. The net result is that he’s on his way to Co Meath. Sad in a way to see him go but delighted with who has bought him and the sort of life he’s going to.
So now there are six……………………and one of these has to go.
“Here!” by Ross O’Neile.
Ross took Flake and Chris to the hill and ran them for nearly an hour. In that time he saw maybe ten snipe and had one find on a pair of them. Chris knew exactly where the birds were but then you would expect him to have the edge over Flake who probably hasn’t seen one percent of the number of snipe that Chris has. Flake hunted hard and covered a heap of ground at pace. She handled well and ran nice and flat….until led astray by Chris. Chris gave it a real go and started off hunting hard and running good lines. He had a find on a pair of snipe but he couldn’t produce them at first as Flake tried to steal his point but never really put them up. Chris then relocated and went on to produce his birds. Perhaps the dogs should have been picked up when they started to go native but my dogs are getting runs that I couldn’t give them thanks to Ross, and this all helps keep them right.
Thursday 29th October.
Co. Tyrone.
A disappointing day. I haven’t been shooting for some time now but just to see what mobility I had in my shoulder I tried to dry mount Steven’s gun. I couldn’t do it. I could just get the top of the butt below my armpit. The later on I slipped, grabbed a tree for support and couldn’t speak for about ten minutes. I was so sore that I decided to go home after lunch.
Tam seemed keen enough from the start but he wasn’t hitting the cover and seemed unfit. Mid morning I beat out The Orchard and Tam was performing a lot better pushing a number of birds but he didn’t get a chance at a retrieve.
I would have thought Tam was quite fit, having done well on the mountain several times lately but when I was packing up to go home Tam was lying on his back snoring, a sure sign he was knackered. Last night (Friday) Ross said he thought Tam looked too big and heavy so I will up his exercise levels but I’m not going to touch his food intake because already he gets less than any of the other dogs and he is considerably heavier than any of the Pointers.
The Signal Centre.
The only thing I did wrong was not to take all the pigeons, I only took two.
Sometimes it can be difficult to decipher what you have seen. Lucky’s first hunt for the pigeon was one of those situations. At first I couldn’t have said he was quartering but the one thing that was obvious was that he was hunting and he was crossing the ground down wind of the bird. He eventually turned into the wind and headed for the bird at speed so I released it. It flew at him over his head and he turned to give it a chase but I got him back after about ten yards. He gave the releaser a good old sniff.
I placed the second bird further up the ground so he had more time to get to it and this time he was quartering. Not perfectly as he did turn back at the hedge a couple of times but only because he was so desperate to get to the bird. Unfortunately he took a long run at the bird as he was coming from behind me at pace boring into the wind. I saw his head go up and his ears go back so I knew he had the bird so I released it. This time he gave it a good course and it took time for him to come back.
The most telling thing was that when I was leading him from the car to the kennel the minute he turned the corner of the garage and saw the pigeon loft he pointed and I then walked him to the loft still on point. I think he’s got the message about the pigeons.
The Round.
Ross took Chris, Roxy and Tam round The Round. It takes about forty five minutes to walk round it and it borders Clandeboye Estate. As they haven’t started shooting yet he couldn’t have expected to see that many birds but each dog had a find.
He’s not sure if it was a hen or a cock and that’s understandable given the cover.
“Chris’ pheasant” by Ross O’Neile
The bird ran to the hedge.
” Roxy – The Round _ 2nd Nov ‘09″ by Ross O’Neile
It’s difficult to find the time to get the dogs a find at this time of the year and very rewarding to get it near home. Well done Ross!
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