Team Gun
The joy of working as a team with gun dogs has changed how I live my life. The bond you form with the dog is incredible, but it also enables you access to wonderful places you would never have had the privilege to see. These are animals living, and loving their lives to the full.
This is my team. Part of my family.
FLO
Another Exmoor Beauty
Flo is a two year old Working Cocker Spaniel, and the sweetest little dog, if a little serious.
She was born in the kitchen on the farm on a sunny spring afternoon. Along with her sister and four brothers. Such an amazing experience to have witnessed for the first time.
She was an incredibly nervous puppy, and whined all the time. ALL the time!! But there was something about her that drew me to her, and she was certainly drawn to me. Always seeking me out when the other pups were playing, never far from my side.
It took a lot of patience to build up her confidence. I took her everywhere with me. Gradually she lost her whine and when she had worked a few months on the shoot, a new dog emerged.
A shooting day is when she is happiest. With me, her team mates...and birds! She makes me very proud. We both still have a lot to learn, but I know I can rely on her to get a good job done. At the end of the day, when we both settle down next to the Aga, it's Flo who has her head on my knee, until sleep takes over.
BREEZE
Pocket Rocket
I often hear of Working Cockers described as this and Breeze certainly fits the bill! Whizzing around so fast it's hard to keep your eye on her.
She absolutely pops and fizzes around me. It's impossible to keep her on the ground...that's another Cocker description: 'You don't own a Cocker, you wear one!'
Her enthusiasm for everything she does is infectious, I can't help but smile when Breeze is around.
Breeze was bought from a Welsh trialling home, in February 2018, at 9 months old. So she is still very much a baby, and we have a way to go yet with our training. She has a very bright, sharp mind and wants to please me, always a good start!
Unfortunately this little dog has an injury to her foot, which has so far meant months of training missed already. But we are cracking on now, and she's coming on nicely.
Above all I want her to enjoy her life here with us all. It can't be just about the job, we've got fun to be had too!
TORRO
My Gentle Giant
I'm positive that Torro smiles...all the time. He has an air of delight about him. Everyones friend, big or small.
Torro is a six year old black Labrador. He only came to live with me this summer, when after losing my dear Mole(Flo's mother), I needed to fill a space in my gundog team. A good friend was struggling to get the time to work his dogs, so a home on the farm was a great idea for everyone.
Apart from being an escape artist, Torro is impeccably well behaved. His only irritating habit is walking so closely behind me, switching from left to right continually, that his big, lolling tongue wipes the back of my legs. Not such a nice feeling when wearing shorts!
All my dogs live in a converted stable next to the house. They have an enclosed run at the back, and access, when I'm at home, to an old walled vegetable garden. Now put down to grass, with a very high gate. It wasn't so high originally, but since discovering that Torro can scale great heights, we had to increase security. Luckily he doesn't want to leave us when he escapes, just get into the kitchen to eat whatever he can find!