The weather’s most definitely changed. Last week we were enjoying a late summer, wearing t-shirts on our dog walks, even getting a little brown from the sun. Today however was fairly miserable – rain, high winds and mist coming in from the sea. Only the hardiest souls were out.
Georgie and Jessie don’t seem to mind the bad weather – in fact they seem to have even more energy, especially Georgie. She had a very exciting walk today – she found a pigeon.
I really should have an emergency strategy for these sorts of occasions – saying ‘Leave!’ when Georgie sees an empty crisp packet is one thing – saying it when she sees a pigeon in trouble just doesn’t work. Well not for me anyway – and she is a gundog after all.
And I panicked – I felt sorry for the pigeon and wanted to save its life. I don’t know how I would have done this but that was my instinct. Georgie of course had other ideas, the main one being not to let anyone come close enough to take it from her.
I tried to coax Georgie out of the grass with a biscuit. Some chance! Jessie got the biscuit and Georgie ran even further away with the pigeon. I could see her throwing the poor bird around and decided that the more I went after her, the more she’d continue with her game. I walked away pretending not to care and sure enough Georgie followed but at a safe distance and bringing the pigeon with her.
She was making sure no-one came close – barking and showing her teeth at any dogs that showed interest – so I concentrated on marching forward keeping Jessie focussed on me with treats. Sure enough Jessie stayed close and eventually Georgie dropped the pigeon. With blood on her face we walked to a nearby pond and she went in for a dip, washing off the evidence in the process.
I really am a hopeless gundog owner – extremely squeamish, close to becoming a vegetarian and unable to deal with my dogs finding anything alive or dead. Luckily in four years this is only the second time Georgie’s caught anything – she found a rabbit once and that was a very similar scenario – tossing the animal around and having no interest in eating it.
Anyway, Georgie’s asleep now, perhaps dreaming of heroic deeds, of ancestral urges and of rabbits and pigeons and when she’ll find her next one. As for me, I’m going to make another cuppa, enjoy the warmth of our house and plan that emergency strategy.
