Early season Partridge are always an exciting prospect being the earliest action for most shooting folk - at least in the lowlands. But these days are challenging in a number of ways, and certainly for a young and inexperienced dog - so should be handled with care and caution.
Attending these days with an experienced team of handlers is essential in my view, not to mention the importance of a skilled team of guns - used to shooting for dogs. Having an expert running the line and sending the dogs with split-second decisions to benefit the experience of each dog, makes such a difference to the success of the day and also for the individuals. While a day like this is great fun, the only object - at least for me - is to train our dogs, gain essential experience and gauge where each dog is at and its readiness for the shooting field - and ultimately trialling.
We had Harley out of course too, but the mighty Quinn was who I was most excited about. He's been showing some lovely progression on the training field but
seeing how he managed with the 'real thing' was what we wanted. Sara Gadd was running the line and picked some great retrieves for Quinn - which he handled really well. He picked warm game of course, but it was the way he kept his head during close shooting and watching other dogs pick while
remaining steady that was impressive. I was delighted with him - and may even enter some mid-late season Novice trials if things carry on like this.
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