This has stuck with me over the years and when mine has had a misdemeanor i reflect upon it. In fact as a result of this saying i am always very careful in replying to keepers or folk running a beating line when they ask how steady my dog is, or on occasions when they have stated how steady she is.....so far
I would like to share a tale from two weeks ago. New syndicate member rocks up on his second day at our shoot and gets his cocker out the car exclaiming "that is the only dog here that knows what its doing" pretty sure i was the only one that heard it, luckily for him. I have seen this dog in action on other shoots and yes its a fairly good dog but this seemed a monumental statement of fact. First drive shoot captain and i plus the "only dog that knows what its doing" and its human companion are hunting a wood of various types of cover leading up to thick rhodies. El capitan and i have our dogs tight in and the two "less than perfect dogs" are kicking the odd bird up good style. A few flush at once so el capitan and i plus our "less than perfect dogs" stand and let em trickle out the two "dogs that dont really know what there doing" come nicely at heel, jobs a good un. All is quiet in the wood just the odd gunshot from the other team standing on peg....and then....much whistling ensues from the other end of our mini beating line interrupted sporadically by expletives and a not very happy sounding chap as aforesaid "only dog that knows what its doing" sheepishly returns from the thick rhodies up front. Now a lesser man than i would have grinned and chuckled and probably uttered under his breath something on the lines of "serves you feckin right"...... there is a moral and a lesson to be learned from this tale but not by me because i never needed to learn it the hard way as i took onboard Mr SP's "my dog never puts a foot wrong said no man ever" and kept me gob shut and never bigged up me dog or myself ....
Muddling along in the hope that one day it starts to make sense.
There seems to be one of those at lots of shoots. Years ago I used to beat with a Flatcoat, we'd been to that shoot a couple of seasons so knew roughly what we were doing when a new bloke turned up and kept telling me where I was going wrong. He brought a "great" Springer with him one day which proceeded to empty a drive whilst F/c sat watching. Following week he turned up with a Lab which was much better behaved, he got onto our trailer and and stroked his dog announcing to all that she was the best dog on the shoot to which one of the old boys replied "No she ain't that one is" pointing at the F/c. He didn't stay long.
In life, it is important to know when to stop arguing with people and simply let them be wrong.
In the much rougher days of my youth when we use to hunt with hounds a lot I was taught to never, ever brag up a dog. If asked if a particular hound was any good my father and uncle would always say "no it's a useless waste of dog food" even if I knew it was their pride and joy. Their reasoning was pretty simple in those bad old days. If word got out that you had a great dog the chances that it would be stolen went way up.
Thankfully I rarely hear of this anymore.
I'm suspicious of people who don't like dogs, but I trust a dog when it doesn't like a person. - Bill Murray
CockerCanuck wrote: ↑Wed Dec 11, 2019 12:21 pm
In the much rougher days of my youth when we use to hunt with hounds a lot I was taught to never, ever brag up a dog. If asked if a particular hound was any good my father and uncle would always say "no it's a useless waste of dog food" even if I knew it was their pride and joy. Their reasoning was pretty simple in those bad old days. If word got out that you had a great dog the chances that it would be stolen went way up.
Thankfully I rarely hear of this anymore.
I was taught the same for different reasons, if the dog is any good the people that matter will notice and form their own opinion as for the rest you don't care what they think!!
There is something about not knowing the name of the dog by the end of the day. It it can be handled quietly, using the whistle, no need to shout etc. then its probably a half decent dog. Every shoot seems to have someone who has trained their dog fantastically to ignore them completely. The day is then spent listening to shouts of 'Freddy' or whatever. The real shame is that quite often the dog is half decent, just poorly trained / handled.
PRH wrote: ↑Tue Dec 17, 2019 9:57 am
There is something about not knowing the name of the dog by the end of the day. It it can be handled quietly, using the whistle, no need to shout etc. then its probably a half decent dog. Every shoot seems to have someone who has trained their dog fantastically to ignore them completely. The day is then spent listening to shouts of 'Freddy' or whatever. The real shame is that quite often the dog is half decent, just poorly trained / handled.
Lol I know what you mean PRH. In the very large marsh I hunt waterfowl I have several times set up in a spot where I can hear the same fellow bellowing at "Cookie" all day long. I have no idea who the guy is and never even seen the dog but I am well informed about his/her behaviour issues by all the screaming and swearing I hear from far across the marsh.
In contrast I rarely speak to my CBR during a day shooting other than to quietly say his name to send him for a downed bird. I will admit to one exception which is pure vanity. When he goes out and picks up a bird I completely unnecessarily blow the recall whistle and holler "Good Boy". This is of absolutely no benefit to my dog but I do like to let other hunters know I got another duck
I'm suspicious of people who don't like dogs, but I trust a dog when it doesn't like a person. - Bill Murray
PRH wrote: ↑Tue Dec 17, 2019 9:57 am
There is something about not knowing the name of the dog by the end of the day. It it can be handled quietly, using the whistle, no need to shout etc. then its probably a half decent dog. Every shoot seems to have someone who has trained their dog fantastically to ignore them completely. The day is then spent listening to shouts of 'Freddy' or whatever. The real shame is that quite often the dog is half decent, just poorly trained / handled.
Lol I know what you mean PRH. In the very large marsh I hunt waterfowl I have several times set up in a spot where I can hear the same fellow bellowing at "Cookie" all day long. I have no idea who the guy is and never even seen the dog but I am well informed about his/her behaviour issues by all the screaming and swearing I hear from far across the marsh.
In contrast I rarely speak to my CBR during a day shooting other than to quietly say his name to send him for a downed bird. I will admit to one exception which is pure vanity. When he goes out and picks up a bird I completely unnecessarily blow the recall whistle and holler "Good Boy". This is of absolutely no benefit to my dog but I do like to let other hunters know I got another duck
Are you sure he's cussing and swearing at his dog CC? Not at the fellow across the marsh that is getting all the duck by all accounts
