The Trials of Ted

On one of the last shoots of the season, a situation presented itself to give young Ted his first warm retrieve – although it was a bit of gamble 

- Nick Ridley

Although it’s only been a few weeks since the shooting season closed, I can’t wait for September to come around. And, if things go to plan, I have a couple of walked-up partridge days in the pipeline that should prove perfect for young Ted to cut his shooting teeth on. That said, I did take advantage of getting him out and about during the back end of January and, in fact, he was with me during the whole of last season whilst I was picking-up, which proved to be a real hidden benefit.

Level-headed pup

From mid-October I pick up every Friday on an established family shoot in Oxfordshire. As we couldn’t leave Ted at home he had to come with us and stay in “Dave”, my 1968 Land Rover during the drives . To be honest I have never had the opportunity to take a young dog on a shoot under these circumstances, and I am not sure it would suit all pups. But being such a level-headed young dog, all the shooting and general hubbub of a shoot day just washed over him. Quite often when I got back to the vehicle he would be fast asleep, especially early in the season when there was a bit of late autumn sunshine. The result of this habituation was that by the end of January I took a chance and sat him well back during a drive and let him watch what was going on. At this stage, he has no idea of the connection between the sound of a shotgun with a retrieve and, although he was very interested, he showed no signs of getting worked up and at the end of the drive he was put away and the experienced dogs got on with picking-up.

Gamble