A planned dog-training day with Jimmy Bird and his dog Ben and Diana had arranged her interviews for a house cleaner but Debbie threw our day into confusion as she was late her bus and had to be driven into school by an irate Di!
My dog Sam did well, swimming and retrieving but Ben shrank from getting out of his depth and swimming and then ‘pegged’ one of my fantailed doves!
My evening spent watching the second one day Test Match where England just lost a close match to The West Indies.
It was still raining as I got up late this morning but at least it was much milder for my pre-arranged dog-training day with Jimmy Bird and his dog Ben. Diana had arranged her interviews for a house cleaner and she was to find two good ones and choose one of them to start next Tuesday. But first Debbie threw our day into confusion as she was late out for her bus, missed it, and had to be driven into school by an irate Di!
**"Read More" BELOW for the complete story**
With both Jim and her first lady arriving early, we were quite pressed to manage. I gave Jim a mug of tea and rest from his journey before we started and he enjoyed this time in the conservatory looking at my fish. I then donned my waterproofs and we set off for the gravel pits to try some training. Ben quartered the Little Meadow stubble field all right but then we started to have trouble with him in the water. Sam set an excellent example and kept retrieving the dummies that Ben refused but, not only was Ben unable to retrieve, but he also shrank from getting out of his depth and swimming. Jim tried to be patient but was obviously upset.
Back home for coffee and some time in the garage where first Jim showed me how to stand Sam for show judging and then we had some success playing with a range of dummies and dead game and we actually got Ben interested in my rabbit skin covered dummy to retrieve it in a fashion. We then hid this one, plus another covered with pheasant feathers and a third one of a dead mallard around my riverside garden and gave Ben first try at retrieving any of them. The problem was that, not only would Jim's dog not do this, but I had not cleared one of my baby fantail doves out of the way and Ben pegged and killed it clumsily which really upset his master!
By way of contrast, Sam went and got all three from a distance in the order we wanted and brought them undamaged to hand in the best display of blind retrieving yet. I then took us for a walk over to the Common where Ben did well, crossing dykes to order and being quite obedient and this made Jim feel better but it was a pity that the day was rather overshadowed by these problems. I think that Ben is too highly strung, Jim too heavy-handed with him and they just do not have enough time together to do the basic training. Then Jim expects too much, does not know when to give up and it all gets rather depressing for both of them.
It is so sad because Jim is so keen to do well. At least we treated him to a nice lunch and tea and he had a day out but he was left with so much to do. My evening spent watching the second one day Test Match where England just lost a close match to The West Indies but then, my mind full of the day's developments, I had trouble getting to sleep and came down to update the day's journal before returning to bed more relaxed. Diana had unfortunately also left the electric blanket on for this, the mildest night of the year!