Charlie - well what can I
say about my best friend; up until 2007 I hadn't ventured into the
world of working my dogs but felt I owed it to him to have a go!.
Charlie's training was a priority in 2008 and we worked very hard. I am extremely grateful to Steve Eyeington (Meadowdale) and Joy Venturi-Rose (Leospring) for their time, advice
and encouragement.
I am extremely proud of the standard we have reached.
In the early part of 2008 we started building up our partnership and I
had to work hard to build Charlie's confidence. As his confidence
grew so did mine and I started to feel that we could actually make quite
a good team. I had weekly one-to-one lessons and in between worked
hard so that we were progressing all the time. In addition to my
weekly training with Steve I attended group sessions with Joy and this
helped build on our skills and helped highlight any weaknesses that I
could work on.
As our abilities developed
we were able to stretch ourselves and
we attended numerous successful training days. The highlight for
me was attended two days training walked-up in Sugar Beet, with Top
Field Trial Competitors Mike Tallamy & Sara Gadd. Initially I felt
self-conscious that he was 100% show-bred and that he wouldn't be up to
it, but I soon realised that it didn't matter and he actually was up to
it! I was so proud with his performance and was extremely grateful
for the positive tips I received. It was at this point that I was
interested to see how far we had come in our training so we took the
plunge and had a go at
our first Novice Dog/Novice Handler Test August 08, where we scored well.
There were 6 tests which were each scored out of a possible 20 - our
final scores were
17, 18, 16, 16, 10 and a 0 on the walk up -
he did his turn (we were first in line) lovely but ran in when 2nd dog
went!! Steadiness was still a training need!!
As
the year progressed towards the shooting season we started to think
about our ultimate goal - the SGWC. I was extremely
fortunate to be able to attend numerous shoots throughout the 2008 season which gave us
excellent experience. Charlie was a peg dog for a season on the Larkins Shoot,
Tonbridge, Kent - fantastic friendly group of people and a lovely day
out. I am fortunate now to go picking-up
near Thorpe Le Soken, Essex which is much nearer to home but another
lovely group of people. All this helped give us valuable
experience.
We achieved the Show
Gundog Working Certificate at Ampton, Suffolk in December 2008 where he was one
of two Full Champions made up on the day, following this I am very proud that he
also has his WORKING GUNDOG CERTIFICATE ON GAME (Jan 09). I
have not only
trained and handled him to his show wins but also now to his working
achievements.
Following the SGWC has been
obtained my goals slightly changed - onwards and upwards with our
training!
Training
has continued over time and we have been in one or two ND/NH tests.
I have been fortunate to meet Sam Morley-Riches (Rushbrigg) who has been
very kind in also helping me with training for Charlie, Willow & Rosie.
Both I and the dogs continue to love the great outdoors and I am
delighted with their continued progress. Charlie has also been
very fortunate to meet Mark & Jamie Bettinson who are also top Field
Trial Competitors and trainers. I continue to be VERY grateful for any
training opportunity received and have met some great people along the
way!
STOP PRESS - Charlie wins
2nd in only his 4th Working Test ever! A very proud day when
Charlie won 2nd in the KSSLRC NDNH Working Test
STOP PRESS - Rosie gains her
Show Gundog Working Certificate Dec 2011