Had a fantastic day hunting with Isla yesterday.... Photos

That's true, you never know! Bless Fingal, deafness is hard to deal with. Bonnie went deaf at about 12, it's not so bad once they're totally deaf mind, cos then it's only you that suffers and not them! ;-)

You going to the game fair in July at Grantham? Will probably be going this year on the Friday with two dog shows on either end! Must be flippin' mad!

No

We just go to Scone Palace (Scottish Game Fair)

http://www.scottishfair.com/

Didn't go this year as were on holiday but with 3 dogs a baby and a 9 year old - I'll try again this year.

I'm going to give Fingal a go in the scurry. You know the thing - Fire a gun - fetch the dummy etc etc.

He'd do it in his sleep (providing he hears it) and I think Hannah will be brave enough to take him into the field herself this year.

Ah right, bit far from me that one!

Have thought about entering Isla for a scurry this year, but there's always that horrible fear at the back on my mind that if she here's a sweet wrapper rattle in the crowd, she'll end up in the lap of an unsuspecting member of the public instead!

Just do what I do.

Wait till their deaf enough to hear a gun and nothing else.

Just kidding.

The Scurry is such fun. A fairly small area, lots of dog distractions, burger smells, people sounds etc. It's so different from a working situation so nobody cares if your dog screws up.

A lot of people use dogs that aren't even gundogs and it's a great chance for kids to not only see what they wouldn't normally see a dog do but actually take part.

And there's always the risk of the experienced dog wondering what the fuss is all about and having a dump

Sounds like fun (the scurry, not the dump bit! ). Will have to do a bit of work on Isla's retrieving though, cos I'm just a bit competitive!

Go for it.

It's not a shoot so it doesn't really matter if it all goes horribly wrong plus it's a great way of letting your dog let off steam and do something stimulating if she's been wandering around a game fair all day long.

My brother is (was) a gamekeeper and was using my last Spaniel (Beau) for a scurry type event. Now he was an experienced dog and by all accounts (I wasn't there) made everybody laugh.

Each dog in turn went out to do their thing - in the copse, through the river, into the trees etc etc.

As each dog completed their turn the dummy was tossed into the back of a landrover.

The gun went off and Beau went in the wrong direction - straight into the back of the landrover and brought dummy after dummy out with a waggy tail.

That's how the story goes anyway !