About every 10-12 years or so, a new friend comes to live with us. This year is one of those years, and that ‘friend’ is a 14-month-old yellow Labrador named Barley!
He has been with the breeder these past months, and, being older, the bill is correspondingly larger. However, I am long since past the stage of doting over a new puppy – as delightful as they all are! – and would prefer someone else to have the burden of chewing and peeing and general growing pains of introducing a new dog to the shooting world.
Barley is now basically a teenager, and will bring with him all the trappings of those teenager years. But he is already well schooled, biddable and, of course, loveable, and will be my friend – barring unforeseeables – for a dozen years and more.
He is the latest in a long line of Labradors that have accompanied me to the coast. They have been there when I needed them and have seldom let me down. Some have been better gundogs than others, of course, but all have been special in their own way.
My wife, not unnaturally, wanted a puppy, and fretted that bringing home an adult dog would not work. The real reason no doubt was because you would be hard put to find anyone that does not like to fuss over an adorable puppy!
But my current dog, Dee, was 24 months old when I was fortunate enough to take her off the hands of someone who did not know what a good dog she was destined to become. Her predecessor, Charlie, was 21 months old when he was brought in as emergency cover after the tragedy of losing a dog in her prime during the shooting season.
This story is from the June 2020 edition of Sporting Shooter.
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This story is from the June 2020 edition of Sporting Shooter.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
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