irish-english springers

[spanielful]

An exchange is always welcome, thanks for your response. My response is pretty much summed up by Rothievale.

Your dogs suit you and as I said that for me is it, each to their own. But you did raise the question, you cited (and my apologies if it wasn't you) something along the lines of big strong dogs hunting with incredible pace through the thickest of cover all day long. I have watched a few of your clips and that is not what I see.

In perfect honesty I see thick set dogs carrying a bit of weight keeping in reasonable touch with their owner and acting as if they are out for a walk, poking into cover if there was scent. In one clip the dog picked a bird from water and delivered it to a handler on the other side... why? That is training, fair enough, but I expect a shot bird back to my hand from my eon dog.

They will find game, they will do the job, but to say they are more up to the job than the "trialling" spaniel I'm afraid I cannot agree with.

And with regards to my own, oldest bitch, she draws on and gets a bit self employed because she has been exclusively a picking up dog for the last 4 years and self employment gets the job done.

Enjoy your dogs mate, have fun that is the only reason I do it.

Thanks for the civil response,we may not see things the same way but I suppose no two people see anything exactly the same, thats why I really enjoy the discourse on this forum,new ideas, new opinions,it would be fairly boring if we all agreed on everything.I really enjoy my dogs,they contribute hugely to my life.Is iontach an saol í saol an sealgaire.

[WGD]

Thanks for the civil response,we may not see things the same way but I suppose no two people see anything exactly the same, thats why I really enjoy the discourse on this forum,new ideas, new opinions,it would be fairly boring if we all agreed on everything.I really enjoy my dogs,they contribute hugely to my life.Is iontach an saol í saol an sealgaire.

Thank you, we may not agree but in this sport we are all on the same side! All the Best.

[Rothievale]

Great stuff, glad you enjoy your dogs, that is what it should be all about at the end of the day, you put yourself up there for criticism and accepted it, fair play to you

Happy hunting

And James, shame on you for not commenting

[Naj]

Perhaps he's lost for words.

[James]

And James, shame on you for not commenting

Nothing good would come from it and I dont think it would matter to the op either way so sometimes things are best left unsaid

[blackbramble]

As I said,I don't mean to offend. My experience of pheasants on ground such as that is that they are much more likely to be in the cover and hedges than they are the stubble and rashes. I got the impression that these dogs would just run up and down the stumbles or grass unless they were asked to enter the cover and at one point, exactly that happened, a pheasant was flushed and shot at but the dog had run past it and only flushed it because the handler asked it to come back and enter the cover. Surely that's a case of the handler found the game, not the dog? As I said, I can't be too critical as I don't know which way the wind was blowing, if it was a cheek wind then it would explain a bit of the running up and down but not the reluctance to get stuck into the cover. Have you been to any open trials and seen the dogs in action that you say are ruining the breed?

Have to say that I agree.

I rather the trial bred dog.

http://youtu.be/y4Ei-EJQM9U
http://youtu.be/iTPrp0RiN8Q
http://youtu.be/PgaAnZJVOEA

[Casper]

After watching the video clips and looking at the original post I am intrigued to know how bad the thirty dogs prior to the two we see working really were! I think the fact the dog missed the bird was down to poor handling rather than scent conditions and by that I mean the amount of missed ground was criminal when out rough shooting. There could have been more birds tucked in all that cover on a cold day. That, to me was down to the handler unable to keep his dogs in a hunting pattern, so is he blaming the quality of the current dogs available or the fact he clearly can't handle a spaniel properly?
The dogs look half decent just out of control. I don't like knocking trials. They are the closest thing to what spaniels were bred for. They weren't bred to go on a driven shoot. A half decent trial dog would undoubtedly produce more game for the bag than these two dogs working at the same time.
30 dogs through his hands. I can see why.

[Casper]

Here's a tip. Watch Countryways Judy of Sliabh on YouTube at the Irish championship. See how much ground she takes in but covers every inch at speed and determination in the cover and then tell me what a poorly bred trial dog she is.

[Rothievale]

Here's a tip. Watch Countryways Judy of Sliabh on YouTube at the Irish championship. See how much ground she takes in but covers every inch at speed and determination in the cover and then tell me what a poorly bred trial dog she is.

She is a machine, seen her action many times and never fails to impress.

[Alice]

Here's a tip. Watch Countryways Judy of Sliabh on YouTube at the Irish championship. See how much ground she takes in but covers every inch at speed and determination in the cover and then tell me what a poorly bred trial dog she is.