A very early start with Jum to arrive at Lockwood Beck Reservoir with our dogs at 9.00am. I
was very careful handling Sam who was one of only three graded as Good at the Grouse Pointing Test but Jim’s Ben was a disaster. Before going home, I stayed the evening and night with Wiggly
This was a memorable day but it started altogether too early after a very late night which was a pity. Our alarm clocks were set for 5.00am as Jim and I responded and had some breakfast.
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A run for the dogs to relieve themselves prior to the long journey and then off we set around 6.00am by the time we were ready. It was a very long journey up the A1 of at least three hours, but we had plenty to talk about.
It was the conversation about women and sex that made us so engrossed that we missed our turn, but we were soon back on course and arrived at Lockwood Beck Reservoir at 9.00am. It was a very well-kept moor but with lots of sheep upon it and Jim and I were very apprehensive at the prospects for the day.
I adopted the technique of exercising Sam close to the other dogs and sitting him with the stop whistle when he was most tempted in order to steady him. Jim was more interested in meeting the other people and may have paid for this lack of concentration.
It was a good day for the test itself. This moor was worlds apart from East Moor, Chatsworth, which had been overgrown and unkempt. It was under a keeper who had plenty of GSPs himself and, by judicious burning and care, had produced broad swards of fine young heather that made running the dogs much easier.
All dogs had a chance of grading with plenty of grouse flying. I was the third running with Sam in the junior class and, alone out of the five juniors, he was the only one to produce a solid point, to be steady to flush and ended up with the sole grading of "Good".
Out of the eleven Adults, only three were graded, one "Good" and two "Very Good" so overall Sam did very well. I was nervous of the sheep and kept stopping him on that side with the whistle and the judges noticed this and mentioned it afterwards.
However, they said they were happy with a point he achieved - the first hard point of the day - and awarded him the grading. Poor Jim and his dog Ben were less happy with the event. Ben ran later and the occasion seemed to be too much for him.
He ran far to one side and then the other before bumping a covey of grouse and then chasing them over the horizon; taking no notice of Jim's whistling and shouting! It was another glum atmosphere in the car as my achievements could be no compensation of comfort for him.
Now that Sam has won a puppy working test and been well-placed in large novice fields and now graded for pointing ability on both partridge and grouse, he is probably worth in excess of £1,500 if ever I would consider selling him which I would not.
I called Diana on the way home to update her. and then also called Wiggly to let her know what time I was hoping to get back. Once there, I off-loaded Jim and Ben and then went in to have a shave and shower before taking her out, at her suggestion, to an Italian restaurant in Cambridge where we ate tuna and olive pizza and sat, talked and heard a guest jazz singer as we ate.
Back to her place where we made love vigorously both before and after a few hours sleep. I had to ask for that rest period after all I had been through otherwise she would have kept going the whole night as usual! Having been fed and bedded down,
Sam was very good and just slept in the car all this time. It is not just his gun-dog work that he is well trained for! Then the drive on to Horning.