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THE show season started for us at a familiar venue at Shugborough House in Staffordshire.
As the only gun dog demonstration at the show we created a lot of interest from members of the public who attended.
This year was Bella’s first season coming out of the puppy kennel and joining the main team. During the demonstration she tried to see how many laps of the arena she could do before the audience stopped laughing to present the retrieve dummy to Dave. She certainly showed no signs of stage fright and seemed to love the opportunity of being in the limelight.
Not to be outdone, Jake was asked to do some promotional photographs sitting in the helicopter that was giving joy rides which caused a lot of amusement with the crew so we presented the pilot with an Alpha cap!
We felt we had a very happy show despite the cold weather.
Our season with Countryman Fairs started at Kelmarsh with three inches of snow. This brought a new dimension to the demonstration which made it quite exciting working the dogs in winter shooting conditions. Still the public came to the show and Ellen was kept very busy handing out the free samples, bowls and literature about Alpha Feeds products.
All About Dogs at Brentford was particularly exciting for Nicola as she got to meet one of the best loved Blue Peter presenters, Peter Purves. Peter was the commentator for the arena and was especially keen to meet our Retrievers.
The weather for this weekend was one of the best the summer produced but being so hot the dogs were what we would call ‘flat’ and didn’t work to their full potential, even though Sybil put in her usual competent working performance.
This was a particularly good show for Alpha Feeds as they were the only dog food company being promoted and represented over the full two days. That resulted in all our samples and free gifts going by lunchtime of the second day.
Two weeks later saw us at Highclere Castle for the Countryman’s Fair and true to form the moment traders and demonstrators set foot on the showground the heavens opened! Despite the conditions, the gun dog arena carried on through the rain even though we were only giving a demonstration to a handful of people.
The dogs stood there and worked, as they do during the shooting season being protected from the rain by their fur coats, kept in wonderful condition by Alpha Field Nuggets, with a grin and twinkle in their eye thinking ‘we don’t care you are the ones getting wet’.
For the first year in a long time we actually had rain at Parham. It didn’t stop the children volunteering to come into the arena with us to learn how to handle and work gundogs. Dave likes to offer parts of his philosophy to the young children who are keen to help for example saying ‘You shoot in the rain so you learn to train the dogs in the rain.’
With rain dripping off hats and coats the children seemed keen to take on board his ideas. The eldest of our family, Zoe, also showed rain was no obstacle when it came to retrieving a mobile phone from the ‘hide’ even though hand signals are the only thing we can work her with, as she is now rather hard of hearing.
Michelham Priory is a small but expanding Game Fair and remains one of our favourite venues. There is a very tight and intimate working area with only a rope separating the large and enthusiastic crowd with their barbecued dinners available on site, from the dogs. This is always a little too much for Molly who is always looking for a suitable candidate to lay down with and share their lunch, that causes great amusement from the rest of the crowd as she gives you one of her looks to say ‘it’s lunchtime’.
We carry on the performance with the other dogs and as usual many children are eager to help and be involved. By this stage in the year Bella was of the opinion she could do everything in the demonstration and the other dogs only had a cameo part.
August 16th and 17th found Reedlands Retrievers at Borde Hill where again they were the only gun dog demonstration team at the Country Fair. It was lovely to have people revisit us purely on the success of the trial samples to receive more information about Alpha Feeds.
With the arena area being one of the largest we have to work in, it really opened up the distance that Bracken could work in and show her speed on long distance retrieving and even with distractions on the way back she didn’t falter with her initial retrieve. We showed one aspect of the training demonstration of a ‘blind retrieve’ of not seeing where a hidden dummy had been placed and was just working on trust between her and Nicola to be directed into the right area which is always greeted with applause from the audience.
The Weald and Downland Open Air Museum is our local show and the countryside activities are linked with the heavy horses and vintage tractor ploughing match. During the demonstration Dave asked for volunteers from the children to come in and learn how to handle the dogs and when six children came in they all asked for Jake.
We then got Jake to do his special bit for the Show which is no matter how much Dave asks or pleads with him, jump up and down, he won’t move to retrieve the dummy until Dave gives him his signal, which is a slight touch behind his ear which everyone finds very amusing. Dave then explains the relevance of the signal which is that often on a shoot day it is vital for no vocal sounds to be made.
On the Sunday there is always a novelty dog competition which Alpha Feeds are always pleased to present First, Second and Third prizes for, but everybody who enters gets a free sample and dog bowl.
Molly rounds off all the shows with her enthusiasm to still want to retrieve but on the return with the dummy looks to see whether Nicola, Ellen or Dave are nearest to her knowing it would be to her advantage to take the retrieve to the nearest handler!
We packed away the tent for the last time this year – in the rain!!
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