EVERYTHING is exciting for a golden retriever,' states Sue Jordan, owner of five working goldens. 'I love watching them work. They air scent, so their noses are up and they're working away, tails in the air, looking fantastic. When the sun is out, they're glowing—they know they look good out there, I'm sure of it.'
With long, flowing locks, feathered tails, and gentle eyes, the golden retriever is a handsome gundog and a joy to see out in the field. Darker and with a slender, more athletic frame than their heavier, pale-cream show strain counterparts, working goldens are often mistaken for another breed—'I've been asked if they're setters, fox-red labradors or flat coats,' Mrs. Jordan admits—and still fairly unusual to spot on a shoot. The golden retriever's good looks, sunny personality, and popularity as a family pet can mean its prowess in the shooting field is overlooked, but this intelligent, biddable and steadfast gundog should not be underestimated.
'A few years ago, my bitch, Nell, caught the scent of a running partridge, and off she went after it and disappeared,' Mrs. Jordan recalls. 'She was away for a good few minutes and everyone assumed she was just running around. I think they half expect goldens to turn into clowns out there. Then, a dot appeared in the distance and it was Nell returning with the partridge. Someone had seen the whole thing: she'd gone over three fields to retrieve it. They said it was spectacular to watch.'
Denne historien er fra April 20, 2022-utgaven av Country Life UK.
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Denne historien er fra April 20, 2022-utgaven av Country Life UK.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
Allerede abonnent? Logg på
Save our family farms
IT Tremains to be seen whether the Government will listen to the more than 20,000 farming people who thronged Whitehall in central London on November 19 to protest against changes to inheritance tax that could destroy countless family farms, but the impact of the good-hearted, sombre crowds was immediate and positive.
A very good dog
THE Spanish Pointer (1766–68) by Stubbs, a landmark painting in that it is the artist’s first depiction of a dog, has only been exhibited once in the 250 years since it was painted.
The great astral sneeze
Aurora Borealis, linked to celestial reindeer, firefoxes and assassinations, is one of Nature's most mesmerising, if fickle displays and has made headlines this year. Harry Pearson finds out why
'What a good boy am I'
We think of them as the stuff of childhood, but nursery rhymes such as Little Jack Horner tell tales of decidedly adult carryings-on, discovers Ian Morton
Forever a chorister
The music-and way of living-of the cabaret performer Kit Hesketh-Harvey was rooted in his upbringing as a cathedral chorister, as his sister, Sarah Sands, discovered after his death
Best of British
In this collection of short (5,000-6,000-word) pen portraits, writes the author, 'I wanted to present a number of \"Great British Commanders\" as individuals; not because I am a devotee of the \"great man, or woman, school of history\", but simply because the task is interesting.' It is, and so are Michael Clarke's choices.
Old habits die hard
Once an antique dealer, always an antique dealer, even well into retirement age, as a crop of interesting sales past and future proves
It takes the biscuit
Biscuit tins, with their whimsical shapes and delightful motifs, spark nostalgic memories of grandmother's sweet tea, but they are a remarkably recent invention. Matthew Dennison pays tribute to the ingenious Victorians who devised them
It's always darkest before the dawn
After witnessing a particularly lacklustre and insipid dawn on a leaden November day, John Lewis-Stempel takes solace in the fleeting appearance of a rare black fox and a kestrel in hot pursuit of a pipistrelle bat
Tarrying in the mulberry shade
On a visit to the Gainsborough Museum in Sudbury, Suffolk, in August, I lost my husband for half an hour and began to get nervous. Fortunately, an attendant had spotted him vanishing under the cloak of the old mulberry tree in the garden.
