When you have done somebody a good turn you quite often reap your just reward. When Charlie Byrne called me over to the boot of his car one late afternoon and handed me a long legged , very white, twelve week old pointer bitch puppy I was reaping my just reward as I had given him a pointer pup some time previously. The timing was all wrong though. I had dogs coming out of my ears and the last thing I needed was another pup. To cut a long story short all attempts to sell her proved unsuccessful and in honesty I couldn’t give her away either. I eventually gave her to my friend Shaun’s wife Deborah. He worked with her a bit in Yorkshire but then left her back with me. “She isn’t taking Yorkshire grouse. Perhaps she will have more luck in Ireland”
That Autumn there was a novice stake in Co. Monaghan that needed entries. I was cajoled into providing an entry and off Celt and I sailed to Scotstown. Celt always gave 100% and this day was no exception. Our first run was towards the end of the first round and no birds had been found. Very frustrating for the organiser and judge John Dixon. Before we set off he said to me ” F*** the quartering, find me a f*****g bird”. We obliged and Celt had her first win.
At this stage she was sent back to Shaun and over the next couple of years he won a novice stake in Scotland in the spring, an open stake, also in Scotland in the spring and a third place in an open. The two stakes in Scotland were vintage Celt. Going like the wind, on the very ragged edge and slamming to a halt on her birds. I remember comments like, ” there will be nothing there” when she pointed, “No dog can take birds at that speed”, just before she pointed and the immortal ” He’ll never turn her at that speed” said of course before she turned to the merest peep of the whistle at a distance of about a quarter of a mile.
In 1999 Celt came to Ireland for the summer and I set about trying to get a handle on the dog. The first two trials I ran her in we were in with a shout until she missed birds going to look for them and taking too big a bite. I withdrew her from a couple of events to give me time and I took her out every other day. If she was more than ten yards in front of me I called her back and eventually I had her running flat. We went off to Monaghan (again) and with a display of quartering and a very special find on a large covey she won the Breffnei and Oriel Open Stake. The next event was the Donegal F.T.A. event at Moville. She ran like the wind and again won with a find right on the pinnacle of the hill. A couple of weeks later we were at Strabane for the Strabane and District Setter and Pointer Club’s Open. Controversially she won this event and thus became a UK F.T.Ch. Her next victory was a pheasant stake run by the Ulster Irish red Setter Club at Glarryford. She was run seven times over three rounds and her find was literally the last kick of the match. She really demonstrated her intestinal fortitude at Glarryford. On they way home I stopped to buy her a treat of two deep fried sausages that it was all she could do to eat and she was so tired I let her sleep in the car that night. Her last victory of 1999 was another Donegal F.T.A. pheasant stake at Raphoe. She had finds on pheasant and partridge that day but since most of the trial was run in unharvested potatoes she only was awarded a Very Good Classification. This left her one point short of her title. I think it was in the spring of the next year that she gained her show qualification winning at least one class at the Irish Pointer Club’s Championship Show.
The next year Celt chose the middle of the trial season to come in season and have a phantom leaving only the beet trials to gain this vital last green star. Celt had never run at a beet trial and we went off to Athy to the Irish Pointer Club’s Open Pheasant Breed Stake. She managed a great find in the beet but didn’t think that the running in the stubble was work and the net result was a second place graded Excellent but we now had Int. F.T.Ch. Doohatty Forest.
Celt had one litter to my Ir.F.T.Ch. Sugarloaf Bold but then she damaged a cruciate ligament and ended up retired. She had a good long retirement but eventually she had to be put to sleep having become incontinent.
No dog has ever given me as much in the shape of effort as Celt but she was no paragon of virtue. She was a complete b*****d to train and she marked every dog she shared a kennel with, with the exception of her own pups. Having said all that I would take another Celt tomorrow.
As you can see from the two photos you would never die wondering with Celt. HERE IT IS!
Click here for Celt’s Pedigree.
