swinging wide she steered them where she wanted. Once they hit
cover, they were normally very reluctant to break again and
she hunted them out.
For some reason, Nikko had a thing for pukekos and she caught
hundreds of them in her hunting career. Once she smelled one out
and then caught it when she already had one in her mouth.
One day I wanted to show some mates how good she was so we
took the dogs for a swim. We had four gun dogs with us and my
two pig dogs. Nikko put on a master class for everyone there and
managed to dig out four wounded Mallards (this was in the pre-steel
days) while the other five dogs drew a blank.
I’d hate to think how many thousands of ducks Nikko retrieved over
the course of her hunting lifetime. She certainly got a hell of a lot
of work as back then I hunted an average of six days a week and
normally only took a Wednesday night off to dry out my wet gear.When it was getting time to
retire Nikko, I thought long
and hard about what to do.
I knew she was a once-in-a-lifetime dog so instead of
expecting another spaniel to try and live up to her, I got a
Labrador instead and called her Ripley. Right from the start,
Ripley and I did not see eye-to-eye on a lot of things. For example, a
puppy that wakes the boss at 2am after destroying her kennel – or
worse still – his hunting boots is not given pats and told she’s a good
girl. She was the most destructive dog I’d ever seen. One day I rushed
into a shop, leaving her on the seat of the truck. When I returned she
was happily munching on one of the seven CDs she had destroyed.
In short, she was a juvenile delinquent and on top of that, her training
didn’t go nearly as well as I’d expected.
At a year old, just as I really started to question Ripley’s abilities, it was
like someone flicked a switch and she grew up. It was pretty much
instant – one minute she was destroying everything and causing
mischief – and the next she was a grown-up. She ended up being
the most laid-back, easy-going dog ever. Totally the opposite
of Nikko.
When I hunted them together, Nikko would hunt an area three times
just in case there may have been something there, whereas Ripley
would give it a cursory scan as if she already knew there was nothing
there, and then move on to where the duck really was.
I always knew Ripley was good but she was actually well into her
twilight years before I realised quite how good she was really was.
One day a well-known hunting and fishing writer and I were hunting
the area I mentioned at the beginning of this article. Despite the
fact that I knew how hard it was for the dogs to hunt this area so I
was being careful to drop the ducks into the water, the inevitable
happened and a bird folded right in the middle of the thick crap.
I figured this was a lost bird but Ripley raised her head and
smelt the downstream breeze. Without any fuss or rush, she got
into the water, swam 40 metres across a rain-swollen stream, dragged
herself up the steep bank on the far side, pushed her way through a
tangle of gorse, broom and supplejack and emerged with the Mallard.
As she calmly handed it to me, David remarked that it was the best
bit of dog work he’d ever seen. I, on the other hand, thought she
had done well but after watching her carry out hundreds of similar
retrieves over the years, was reasonably unimpressed.
One day when Ripley was in her hunting prime of 6 years old, disaster
struck. For some unknown reason, a nerve in one of her hind legs
gave way and the prognosis was grim as the damage was permanent.
Amputation of the affected leg was talked about but in the end it
semi- came right but she was left with a huge limp and her back end
wasted away.A big girl who
overcame a major
issue to become an
awesome gun dogEven with a limit on the
deck Nikko never stopped.
She was busy watching
ducks in the distance
while I took this photoMe and Nikko after
a big morning on
big water mallardsA rare photo of
Nikko after a hunt.
Normally I’d have to
tie her up after we
were done otherwise
she’d be off hunting
for herself80 NZ HUNTER MAGAZINE ~ August / September 2019swinging wide she steered them where she wanted. Once they hit
cover, they were normally very reluctant to break again and
she hunted them out.
For some reason, Nikko had a thing for pukekos and she caught
hundreds of them in her hunting career. Once she smelled one out
and then caught it when she already had one in her mouth.
One day I wanted to show some mates how good she was so we
took the dogs for a swim. We had four gun dogs with us and my
two pig dogs. Nikko put on a master class for everyone there and
managed to dig out four wounded Mallards (this was in the pre-steel
days) while the other five dogs drew a blank.
I’d hate to think how many thousands of ducks Nikko retrieved over
the course of her hunting lifetime. She certainly got a hell of a lot
of work as back then I hunted an average of six days a week and
normally only took a Wednesday night off to dry out my wet gear.When it was getting time to
retire Nikko, I thought long
and hard about what to do.
I knew she was a once-in-a-lifetime dog so instead of
expecting another spaniel to try and live up to her, I got a
Labrador instead and called her Ripley. Right from the start,
Ripley and I did not see eye-to-eye on a lot of things. For example, a
puppy that wakes the boss at 2am after destroying her kennel – or
worse still – his hunting boots is not given pats and told she’s a good
girl. She was the most destructive dog I’d ever seen. One day I rushed
into a shop, leaving her on the seat of the truck. When I returned she
was happily munching on one of the seven CDs she had destroyed.
In short, she was a juvenile delinquent and on top of that, her training
didn’t go nearly as well as I’d expected.
At a year old, just as I really started to question Ripley’s abilities, it was
like someone flicked a switch and she grew up. It was pretty much
instant – one minute she was destroying everything and causing
mischief – and the next she was a grown-up. She ended up being
the most laid-back, easy-going dog ever. Totally the opposite
of Nikko.
When I hunted them together, Nikko would hunt an area three times
just in case there may have been something there, whereas Ripley
would give it a cursory scan as if she already knew there was nothing
there, and then move on to where the duck really was.
I always knew Ripley was good but she was actually well into her
twilight years before I realised quite how good she was really was.
One day a well-known hunting and fishing writer and I were hunting
the area I mentioned at the beginning of this article. Despite the
fact that I knew how hard it was for the dogs to hunt this area so I
was being careful to drop the ducks into the water, the inevitable
happened and a bird folded right in the middle of the thick crap.
I figured this was a lost bird but Ripley raised her head and
smelt the downstream breeze. Without any fuss or rush, she got
into the water, swam 40 metres across a rain-swollen stream, dragged
herself up the steep bank on the far side, pushed her way through a
tangle of gorse, broom and supplejack and emerged with the Mallard.
As she calmly handed it to me, David remarked that it was the best
bit of dog work he’d ever seen. I, on the other hand, thought she
had done well but after watching her carry out hundreds of similar
retrieves over the years, was reasonably unimpressed.
One day when Ripley was in her hunting prime of 6 years old, disaster
struck. For some unknown reason, a nerve in one of her hind legs
gave way and the prognosis was grim as the damage was permanent.
Amputation of the affected leg was talked about but in the end it
semi- came right but she was left with a huge limp and her back end
wasted away.A big girl who
overcame a major
issue to become an
awesome gun dogEven with a limit on the
deck Nikko never stopped.
She was busy watching
ducks in the distance
while I took this photoMe and Nikko after
a big morning on
big water mallardsA rare photo of
Nikko after a hunt.
Normally I’d have to
tie her up after we
were done otherwise
she’d be off hunting
for herself80 NZ HUNTER MAGAZINE ~ August / September 2019