If there is one aspect of shooting driven game that I don’t enjoy it is standing around on a peg waiting for the beaters and their dogs to flush the birds out of the cover. However, the positive side is that it is always an opportunity to talk to people that you haven’t met before-or indeed eaves drop on people that do know one another…
We all know that it is rude to listen to other people’s conversations, particularly when they may be private, but I challenge anybody who catches a snippet of dialogue that intrigues them to walk away or cover their ears…..and this is where the story begins.
This is exactly what happened to me when I was a guest at a very fancy shoot owned and run by a Knight of the Realm. I was on one side of a hedge minding my own business when I overheard the two Guns on the other side, who obviously knew one another, discussing the calamity that had happened to a good friend of theirs.
Maybe calamity is the wrong word but when you hear, “She gave him an ultimatum that either she goes or I’ll go” you have a pretty good idea that somebody somewhere is not happy! In fact I jumped to the conclusion that their friend was misbehaving and that his wife had found out and was displeased to say the very least.
Intrigued I edged closer to the hedge treading carefully in order not to tread on any sticks or twigs so that I would not draw attention to myself.
“The trouble is that she is so young, pretty, and intelligent that no wonder Jonathan has fallen in love with her,” was the next sentence I heard and by now I was utterly convinced that their friend Jonathan was having a hot steamy torrid affair with his secretary or some other young lady that had caught his wandering eye.
But what followed surprised me because this young lady was obviously not a sophisticated London debutante.
“Apparently he picked her up near the Welsh border and I’ve heard him refer to her as Country Ways Lucy, which is really quite convenient”.
“Why is that?” enquired Charles.
“Well if he’s having a passionate night with his wife at least he won’t get the name wrong name as she’s called Lucy too!”
What I heard next was straight out of Lady Chatterley’s Lover, “did you hear that she managed to get into the Game Keeper’s pockets in his Land Rover and made off with the beaters money?”
But what followed was even more bazaar. “….not only that, but she has totally destroyed their garden, most of the furniture, the children’s toy and ate nine chickens from the farm next door.”
Now I have heard of the expression, ‘hell hath no fury like a woman spurned’ but one would have to admit that for a wife to wreck her own home, garden, and her children’s playthings is going a bit far, let alone steal her neighbor’s poultry! In fact the expression, ‘she lost the plot’ comes to mind.
My natural inquisitiveness was unbearable by now and fearing that I might loose my balance and make an unscheduled appearance by crashing through the hedge and landing at the feet of the two friends I decided to draw attention to myself, thus hoping that they might include me in this fascinating conversation.
I crept a few feet back towards my peg and coughed loudly and sure enough a face appeared over the hedge, “Oh hello Old Boy, aren’t you the chap that trains gun dogs?”
I confirmed that indeed I was and having approached the hedge introduced myself to him and his colleague. Whereupon all was revealed as he said, “Charles and I are talking about our friend Jonathan and his gun dog”.
Pretending that I had not heard any of their conversation I enquired as to how he was getting on with the dog. Naturally his response was almost verbatim what I had overheard from my precarious position on the other side of the hedge, and then added
“And to make matters worse would you believe that he has only named the wretched animal after the finest shotguns in the world, Purdey, I mean who on earth would name a gun dog Purdey?”
Jeremy, the other Gun then said, “ Do you have a card that we could give him as maybe you could do us all a favor, especially poor Lucie who is absolutely gorgeous, by not only training it for the gun but more importantly how to be a well behaved house guest?”
At the end of a wonderful day shooting challenging partridges I gave Jeremy one of my cards not knowing if I would ever hear from the unfortunate owner of Purdey.
It was about a week later that one evening after dinner the phone rang and a voice enquired as to whether I was a dog trainer and marriage counselor, as he was in need of both and would pay handsomely for anybody who could restore normality to his and his family’s lives!
Jonathan explained that he had always wanted a top quality gun dog and had spent a lot of time and trouble researching the best pedigrees and had eventually settled on a pup out of a Field Trial Champion in Wales. Apparently from the moment he got the pup home it showed its true colors by being incapable of staying in one spot for more than five seconds. She was constantly looking for something to do, which inevitably was destructive and mischievous and his wife had reached the point that she could no longer tolerate this four legged whirlwind in her home. He asked me if I would evaluate the dog and we agreed upon a date for him to bring Purdey down to the Apsley estate.
On the day that Jonathan and Purdey were due we were awoken early by a banging on the front door. Thinking that something was amiss I jumped out bed and ran downstairs and opened the door. Standing in front of me was a handsome young man and on the drive behind him I noticed a Range Rover in which a black blur came in and out of focus.
It was like looking at a goldfish on speed dashing around its glass bowl but in this case it was a black lab throwing itself at one window after another.
“Oh I’m so sorry to have woken you but I did think that we had agreed upon 8.30,”said Jonathan trying to avoid looking at my semi nude state.
“Jonathan”, I said, “It is now precisely 7.30 and it may have escaped your notice on the BBC News last night but the clocks went back at 2am this morning.”
He apologized profusely but to make him feel better I told him that it had happened to me whilst serving in Her Majesty’s Armed Forces resulting in two weeks of peeling mountains of potatoes in the cookhouse!
I explained that we would go to the Apsley Shooting School grounds on the estate as it was enclosed by a fence that would prevent Purdey from running off and upsetting the Game Keeper by killing his pheasants. This was just as well because as soon as Jonathan opened the car door a turbo charged black rocket shot out and proceeded to dash frantically about in all directions.
It came as no surprise that despite whistling, shouting, and pleading Purdey paid no attention whatsoever. I told Jonathan to get in his vehicle with me and to simply ignore her.
Sure enough she stopped in her tracks and looked about anxiously for the human she owned and dominated. As soon as her name was called she came immediately.
“Shall I now show you how good she is at retrieving?” said Jonathan.
“No”, I replied, “What is the point of sending a dog for a retrieve if you’re not certain that it will come back, furthermore it’s a total waste of my time and your money to start gun dog training until the dog is completely obedient.”
He looked devastated as he no doubt had assumed that I was going to send them both packing and had no idea what he was going to say to the lovely Lucie when he returned home with Purdey.
However he was wrong, as always one for a challenge I told him that I would take her for a minimum of two months, with an option for a third if she was making progress.
After Jonathan had left I put her in a run and went into the cottage for a belated breakfast. No sooner had I sat down it started. Purdey was complaining at the top of her lungs that she was not used to being ignored and disobeyed. “How dare you put me out here in this cold, windy, and smelly kennel. Don’t you understand that my place is in the house by the fire?”
Gradually the noise subsided and that is when I took out my six labs for their twice daily work out. As soon as she saw me approach the other dog’s runs the barking started again but I totally ignored her as I walked past her, avoiding all eye contact, and let out the pack.
To add insult to injury I conducted that mornings training session in the field alongside the kennels. Sure enough within five minutes the barking had stopped and she was sitting quietly watching intently what the other dogs were doing-and it appeared as though she was taking it all on board. Only time would tell…..
That evening when it was time for Purdey to be fed I took her food to her kennel and told her to sit and stay. I placed the bowl at the other end of the run and she immediately made a dash for it. She was quick but I was quicker as I scooped it into the air. It didn’t take her long to realize that she was not going to get fed until she did it my way. John 1 Purdey 0, Round one to me!
That night when my wife and I went to bed the barking started again. “How dare you leave me out here, I belong in the house, in fact I usually sleep on the bed.” Little did she know that she was now in boot camp and things were going to get a whole lot worse before they would get better?
The next morning I used the same tactic as the previous evening by completely ignoring her as she shouted obscenities at me as I passed her to let out the other dogs. However, I noticed that this time as soon as I started the training drills with the others that she stopped barking almost immediately.
That afternoon I took her out of the run, put her on a leash, and was not surprised when she attempted to take me for a walk. She discovered very quickly that it is totally unacceptable to pull and when I said “sit” I meant in my time and not hers. John 2 Purdey 0. Round two, also to me. Boot camp was now a reality and there was zero tolerance for bad manners or disobedience.
By the end of the first week we had made great progress and Purdey understood that I was the leader of the pack and that her life was far more enjoyable when she did things my way and not hers.
Jonathan had called for a progress report after a few days and I intentionally played down the fact that his dog was demonstrating more potential than I had ever seen in a young dog. I explained that she was at least a month away from going anywhere near a shotgun and wouldn’t do so until she was completely obedient.
By the end of the second week it was time to introduce Purdey into the pack and for them to help me train her. We went out into a large field and I let them all run free for a couple of minutes before blowing the stop whistle. Six lab backsides hit the deck immediately and one continued on its merry way across the field. Guess who?
Without calling Purdey I used the recall whistle for the pack to rejoin me. As soon as they came to me we took off in the opposite direction to Purdey, who had by now realized that she was alone. “Where the hell is everyone?” she thought.
As soon as she saw us she dashed back to the pack and we repeated the procedure that night and twice the next day. By the end of the third day she was stopping and coming on a whistle with the rest of the pack. Dogs are naturally pack animals and enjoy being part of a team- and Purdey was no exception.
Each week Purdey made tremendous progress and I was increasingly excited to have a special dog to train. She had enthusiasm, intelligence, boundless energy, and a passion to work. I was becoming emotionally involved with her and she reciprocated by trying to please me no matter what I asked her to do.
Once the obedience training was completed I knew that I would not have any trouble with the gun dog skills despite the fact that this dog she been a serial chicken murderer! I put her on a short rope and threw a dead pheasant for her to retrieve. As soon as it was in her mouth I blew the recall whistle, pulled gently on the rope, and started to praise her. Sure enough her desire to please me outweighed her old habit of having a mid day chicken burger, and within a week was presenting birds to hand with the utmost grace!
By the end of three months Purdey was almost the finished article. She walked to heel, stopped on a whistle, returned on a whistle, was steady to shot, soft mouthed, obeyed hand signals on land and water, and despite her short legs was able to jump over most obstacles on command. I had not trained a dog as quickly before and had not had so much satisfaction in doing so.
Purdey’s progress continued to amaze me and when I heard that there was going to be a Novice Field Trial on the Isle of Wight I decided that the time had come to see if she enjoyed competitions. I called Jonathan for permission to enter his dog and asked him if he would like to accompany us. He was delighted and assured me that he wouldn’t miss it for the world.
Early on a Sunday morning two weeks later Jonathan, Purdey, and I left Portsmouth harbor just as Lord Nelson had all those years ago, and sailed out into the Solent not knowing the strength of the opposition.
We arrived at the Trial and as she had drawn a low number we were being called to the line by the judges almost straight away. This was good because I didn’t have time to become nervous and transmit my anxiety to Purdey which happens frequently even to the Pros.
A pheasant was flushed about fifty yards on our left and as it rose into the air a shot rang out and it fell into a small copse. No sooner had Purdey marked it down another appeared gliding over the tree tops at least a hundred yards to our right and like the first was felled by a single shot.
Purdey trembled with anticipation and to my great relief waited until the judge gave me the command, “Send your dog.” Like an arrow she flew across the field and disappeared into the trees. In no time she was charging back to me with the bird in her mouth but I noticed that she gave the other downed bird location a couple of long glances without breaking stride.
Sure enough as soon as I sent her for the second bird she went straight to where it had landed, picked it up, returned to me and presented it to hand perfectly. Two birds in the bag without loosing a mark.
There is an expression in British Field Trials known as an ‘eye wipe’ which is when one dog fails to find a bird, is recalled, and the next dog retrieves it. Although sometimes it takes more than two or even three dogs to find and retrieve it, in which case several dogs can be disqualified for being ‘eye wiped’.
This is exactly what happened next as the judges had already called up two dogs that despite hunting in a ploughed field, had failed to find the bird. I was given the rough area to work my dog by the judge and sent Purdey out into the field. However, having been in the game for many years, and knowing that two good dogs had already failed, I lined her up down wind of where I was told the bird fell. The gamble was that the bird was still alive and capable of walking toward the nearest cover, but as soon as I saw her suddenly turn into the wind and put her head down I knew that she was going to find the bird.
Suddenly a very angry pheasant that had been peppered with shot but very much still alive flew into the air but as it had a broken wing only managed a few yards before falling out of the sky. Purdey chased it as it tried to run-it was no contest. “Good work”, the judge said as I took the bird and handed it to her. It was dispatched with one blow of her ‘priest’.
By the end of the afternoon there were only three dogs remaining out of the original fifteen and little Purdey was one of them. The judges had seen enough, as the surviving dogs had all had eight retrieves and she was placed second.
On the ferry journey home that night Jonathan was very quiet but after a couple of beers he turned to me and said,” John, for me to take Purdey home would be a complete waste of a real gun dog, as based upon what I saw today she is a working dog that thrives on what she loves –and that is constantly being challenged. I could never provide her with the mental and physical stimulation that she needs and she would become bored again and go back to her old ways. Would you help me to find someone to buy her?”
Before he could change his mind I had my check book out and said “I’ll buy her.”
“But you have so many good dogs already why do you want her?”
“For two reasons” I said, “she has exceptional ability and I have fallen in love with her and couldn’t bare the thought of anybody else having her!”
I have now owned Purdey for four years, the last two of which she has lived in Virginia with me. She became an AKC Senior Hunter in her first season and is currently working on her Masters.