Page 87 - K9 News - Issue 15 - March2021

still keeping the Weimaraner as a companion on a Saturday, returning home, exercise Ryan,
and sometime show dog. My own experiences
were simple I knew Ryan could carry out the
disciplines required at this level of competition
but I also knew he was not built for speed, like
many Weimaraners they carry out tasks at their
own pace and whilst being asked to retrieve a
dumbbell and return to the handler as quickly
as possible seems reasonable, this to Ryan
seemed excessive. He would run out and gather
the item, then turn, his expression gave it away
conveying the message simply, I have collected
this thing, it is quite safe and eventually I shall
return with it. When you continually drop a point
or more for a slow retrieve and another for a
sloppy sit you are out of contention for a prize
card in obedience. After several performances
completing many tasks well but showing no
improvements in the weak areas, it became
apparent that we were not suited for this
discipline.
Although we had qualified for Crufts we were
not prepared for the experience. In those
early days it would be held at Earls Court and
later at Olympia, with little available parking
spaces nearby we needed to book one of the
limited spots which meant we needed to leave
at 4.30am to get there for 7.30am. Crufts did
not let you out until 6.00pm and on a Friday
or Saturday night trying to get out from the
West End to the North for the motorway was a
nightmare. Usually held early February it was
not uncommon for the weather to be snow or
ice and we often didn’t get home until almost
midnight, but for Scottish exhibitors they would
have a minimum 5 hours more just to Edinburgh.
It did not dampen our spirits however and we
were entering more and more shows each year.
It was not long before gundog societies were
considering Weimaraners for classification. We
were fortunate to live near Leicester, Coventry
and Dukeries (Notts) gundog societies and
soon were attending them all, plus Goyt Valley
(Manchester), Merseyside gundog, Yorkshire
gundog and we loved Mid-western gundog at
the old rifle range, a friendly welcome, a lovely
atmosphere and homemade cakes. We would
now travel to a show with classes in the south
K9 NEWS DIGITAL / MARCH 2021
leave the car packed, grab some fish and chips
and the next day we would be travelling to a
show up north. Luckily petrol was three gallons
for a pound, yes, a pound !
It was coincidental that I changed jobs just after
we were married returning to the production
line of a shoe factory, with such an abundance
of factories you could improve earnings by
walking down the road and getting a better
piecework job as job opportunities were always
plentiful. I quickly made new friends, one of
these was a keen field sport enthusiast. It was
whilst explaining about my dog being an HPR
and what they were capable of in the field
that I was put on the spot and invited to join
him on a newly formed local shoot. I should
say at this point that we are talking about the
1970’s. Weimaraners came into the country in
1952, they were first in the hands of ex-service
men. Whilst slowly building up their numbers
it was felt that they were best suited to those
mentioned, plus professionals, people with land,
and, or status. Shooting during the 1950’s and
1960’s had been the privilege of those with land
and wealth, these shoots were familiar with
working springer spaniels and retrievers, be they
labradors, flat coats and goldens. It was in the
late 60’s early 70’s that smaller farmers and the
new young professionals with an interest and
small surplus income came together to form
shooting syndicates.
The first shoot I attended following my invite
mentioned above was as a result of a pig and
poultry farmer forming an unlikely liaison with an
eccentric clergyman. The shoot was situated on
unmanaged forestry land which encompassed
the ground where the battle of Bosworth
Field was supposed to have taken place. It
has changed now and there are pretty walks,
an information centre and is a major tourist
attraction, back then we had to crawl under trees
to reach any open spaces to work the dogs.
We had to work at the farm from 7.00am until
9.00am feeding and cleaning out the stock, then
we could make our way to the shoot. The farmer
had a good flatcoat but believed any intelligent
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