Hello,
I am Llon Llysiaur Hedydd – Alis to my friends.
On
a quintessentially English summer day in early June, myself and many other
friends met at Steve’s home deep in the Sussex countryside for our Club’s
annual Fun Day. And what a day it turned out to be. As in previous years, we
let our ‘owners’ accompany us too. It’s a day they always enjoy and by all
accounts this year was no exception. It was very special for me because it was
my first Fun Day. Last year I was actually at Ty Llon
but was unable to participate as, along with my brothers and sisters, I was
waiting to be born.
The
day got off to a very civilised start, registration,
bacon rolls and tea for our owners. Then before we knew it, the fun really
started and we all watched with great interest as Julie gave us an extensive
practical lesson on how to groom us. With much knowledge and dexterity, she
demonstrated how smart we could become using just a comb and scissors in the
correct manner. then went on to demonstrate the
techniques and procedures of good ringcraft and just
how important the job of the judge is. Some of us were then put in a ‘show’. We
were moved up and down, stacked and scrutinised by the judge. Each spectator
was asked to watch closely and become a judge themselves and then vote for
their choice of Best in Class.
The day continued with a Handling Competition,
Show Competition and games involving biscuit-catching and golf ball and spoon
races. (Difficult enough normally but
with someone like me on the end of the lead, almost impossible!)
After
our delicious lunch, superbly crafted and presented by Catering Manager Pam and
assisted by Janice, Sharon, Emma and George, we left Show Ring discipline
behind and looked forward to Gundog Training with Charles, Wendy, Sandy and
Ralph.
I
will allow Charles to comment on this as he is Working Secretary of the Club:
“The
afternoon’s activities were centred around aspects of
Gundog Training. The 20 or so participants were split into three groups
of roughly equal size, then each group was sent to one of three activity
areas. These activity areas were designed to demonstrate different
aspects of what a working spaniel needs to do and how playing with you dog in a
structured way can be fun for the dog and improve discipline and
responsiveness. The emphasis should always be to make these exercises fun, and
for the dog to get satisfaction when he has succeeded.
After
20 minutes the groups moved round to the next activity area.
The
first area showed some basic obedience and confidence-building activities (sit,
recall, heel-work, simple fetch, etc.). The idea was to show a
progression of activities that could be done in the garden or on walks that
would increase the dog’s responsiveness to the handler and to give him
confidence that the handler’s instructions were worth following. This is the
foundation for a working partnership between dog and handler.
The
next activity area also had the basics, but showed how these were incorporated
into some of the more specialised gundog disciplines - Hunting and Retrieving
and also following the handler’s direction changes (heel round obstacles, more
complicated retrieving, and using the nose to find treats).
The
third activity was a simple scurry - a corridor with a couple of straw-bale
obstacles, and this was the only competitive aspect of the afternoon.
Against the clock the dog goes over the obstacles to retrieve an article, then
brings it back to the handler. This represents an essential element of
spaniel work where he brings the fallen game back to the handler - quickly in
case the bird is injured, tenderly so the bird is not damaged, and delivered to
hand in case the bird is still capable of running off. The elements were
marked out of a total of 100 and then the time in seconds deducted. Julie
Revill gave a demonstration of how this could be done with a well-trained dog
(scored 86), but for the ‘competitors’ Emma Green’s Jasper handled by Isabelle
came first with 76, just beating Julie Woodhams with
74.
We
were pleased to have three people express a real interest in taking this
training forward and have signed up to be included on our trainee register, so
we hope to see them at our training events in the future. “
And
so a truly wonderful event drew to a close for another year. I know everyone left Ty Llon
sweetly tired but with fond and happy memories of such a smoothly run, casually
informative and above all, friendly FUN day.
I would like to sincerely thank everyone who worked so hard for so many
weeks to ensure that we all had a lovely time.
On
behalf of everyone, I would like to thank Steve for his generosity in offering
his home and land to enable us to enjoy our day in the Sussex countryside with
our good friends and their companions.
With
best wishes for the summer.
Alis x
(Assisted by Boss, Howard Hills-Page)
Please note that the
full unedited report will appear in our next Newsletter.