Even before Judy was born I had her earmarked as a mate for Luke. With sufficient trained dogs available for competition 2005 looked like the right time so they were put together when Judy came in season and on 1st March Bess and her litter mates were born.
Even thought there were orange white pups in the litter I kept Bess, the only black one. I actually kept two bitches. Bess with my heart and Flake with my head. Bess was traded and away for a number of months but this deal unravelled and eventually she was back home. This allowed me to give Flake to Shaun and concentrate on Bess. Davy Shaw, who had had Bess, exposed her to all sorts of game and she was amazingly steady to a sitting bird. I was gutted, however, when on her first major outing to Scotland in the spring of 2007 she appeared to leave her “steadiness” on the boat. She was great to watch running and she could find and point her birds but she seemed inclined to escort them off the moor. I am going to be busy busy busy in the new year as I will have no less than six dogs to get ready and I will have to ensure that Bess gets her fair share. She is whole a good one.
Perhaps because of the misfortune of Shaun in not getting a pup out of his imported Caelum Hebron before he died of bloat Bess has been bred early. On 12th August she produced a nice litter of seven pups with six now surviving. Basso was the sire. There was an orange bitch which I have kept, a matched pair, dog and bitch of orange and whites have gone to Shaun and the two black dogs and black bitch have or are going to falconers. I am very pleased with the outcome.
Bess herself has turned out to be a very graceful runner and is a further inprovement on her mother Judy and granny Freckles. Here’s hoping Gina will be another step in the right direction.
