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We were invited to duck shooting tonight and our
host was one of the more successful working lab breeders in Sweden. I got into a
hot spot and shot well but did not mark the falling birds as well as I shot
them. My excuse is "lack of practice", as good as any other excuse. When the
host, the lab breeder, came to pick my birds there was one we could not find.
She gave me one of her older dogs, a very experienced dog in all types of
hunting and with very high field trial merits, perhaps even a FTCH, and told me
to go search for the last bird.
It was very amazing how easy this dog was to handle
for me and how well it could do a "free search" by its own! Of course it knew me
since years back as a frequent visitor to the family, but
anyway...
Maud's last bird was also lost. Maud knew it was
dead in the air and several dogs, including Briz, was sent to find it
but no success. Then just before we were ready to give up in the darkness
one of the boy's went to the cars and took out his very young Labrador to give
it a try. It was sent in the direction Maud thought the duck had fell into and
voila' , the youngster found it immediately!
We decided, as a solution to why an
inexperienced dog, like this this dog, found the bird so easily; it
had been sitting in a car, had a fresh nose and a fresh brain, compared to those
that had been working in the water and reeds for hours and were polluted with
algae, mud and scent from both fresh and bloody ducks.
In a parenthesis I can mention that Briz has become
a real versatile gundog now She refused to stay in the car so Maud took her with
her to the duck stand and Briz retrieved several ducks that landed on land, Maud
did not want to send her into the thick reed. By her own she also waded into the
water to search for other ducks that other guns had shot! Not that she dared to
go far enough to find any but she tried anyway. Then, late in the evening she
showed that she is just a very small and poor little setter again. As I
from another direction started to walk towards the car she slipped away from
Maud's stand and followed me to the car, without asking for permission from
Maud. She was cold and wet and tired and bitten by mosquitoes and hungry  ))
Foxy would never have done that, nor Springer, they
would have stayed to the end.... Whatever, small and poor dogs are also cute and
beneficial! Maud and me are very proud that she did the best she could. No-one
can do better!
Torsti
Borta Med Vindens Kennel "Ask not what your dog can do for you. Ask
what you can do for your dog." www.rospigan.net |