Sporting Gun UK – May 2019

64 SPORT http://www.shootinguk.co.uk

ng

Tedhas

afocused

dependab

W

ell, that didn’t go to plan.

And I was so looking forward

to the end of the shooting

season, which consisted of

two beaters’ days and a walk around. My

expectation was at the highest level but the

mother of all colds meant that it wasn’t to be.

Infact,I feltsoroughI thinkit wasa doseof

properflu.AllI coulddowaslayonthesofa

andreflectonthehighlightsofwhat,upuntil

thatpoint,hadbeena fantasticseason.

Bombproof

Muchofthisreflectionwasinthedirection

ofTed,whohasmaturedintoa focused,

reliable,dependableandtrulyversatile

gundog.Hehasbeenworkedregularlyinthe

beatingli d

I havesho

overhim

onmore

than 20

walked-up

daysand

haspicke

manyocc

hasprove

bombpro

howmany

infrontof

howmany

wereflush

him.Hish

andretrie

has, at times, been tested to the max and he

has stepped up to the plate on nearly every

occasion. I can’t recall one occasion when

he let me down while out on a retrieve. I will

always remember the runner cock pheasant

I wrote about last month. Everything about it

pleased me: the shot; the fact he stuck to his

taskformorethan 10 minutes;thathefound

thebirdinthickcoverandmanagedtoget

it backtome.I onlywishthatI couldhave

witnessedhimtakingthelineofthebird.

ItmayappeartothereaderthatI seeTed

throughrose-tintedspectaclesbuthedid

commita fewmisdemeanours.Ona couple

ofoccasionshegotawayfrommeandit

alwaysseemedtobeinthickwoodlandwhen

birdswererunningon.I couldputthisdown

t thf l b t himtaking

ngunableto

im.

move

g aboutpace,

pectofhis

hasreally

hishunting.

r hadwhat

a natural

tern.I have

tousequite

tleonhim,

henthereis

ntabout.But

pip-pipgetson

t tomention

’, sonowthe

havedecided

ightenTed’s

Spring and summer are the ideal time to polish

Ted’s skills and put off those already long-postponed

DIY jobs, says Nick Ridley

Age 37 months

Adventures of

& TeTee d

“It may appear

to the reader

that I see

Ted through

rose-tinted

spectacles...”

hunting-up, but to try to convert him to a

so-called ‘silent ’ whistle.

I do have a bit of history with these silent

whistles. For many years I used them with

my two older cockers, Sweep and Harry,

but after trying to work them in sugarbeet

fi elds I realised that the dogs couldn’t hear.

So I started to use the Acme 210 ½ and have

done so ever since. A few weeks ago, while

watching the 2018 Cocker Championship

DVD, I noticed that some of the handlers

used a silent whistle for hunting (when the

dogs were working close) but when handling

the dogs at any distance they would revert to

the 210 ½. That got me thinking...

At the same time I was contemplating this

change, I had a stroke of luck. To cut a long

NICK RIDLEY

Nick ’s new training ground

offers the chance to test Ted

using various scenarios