Shooting Terrier!

Hi Y'all,

Hope everyone is well. I am great apart from not feeling like eating my breakfast today. I knew mummy was going back to work today after a Christmas break and was hoping I might be able to go in with her. I wasn't sure I was going to be invited and even though she stood by me an waited for me to eat, I just lost my appetite. Two attempts were made to coax me to eat but I couldn't eat a crumb, all I could think about was going in Wesley (mummy's Land Rover) to do the horses, and then on to the office to see mummy's work colleagues. I don't have a favourite to be honest, although Tiff is super affectionate and gives me lots of fuss, so does Anita and...well everyone does if I am honest, which is why I like to go work!
Sadly, today was not my day and I went to Chris' office with Mouse and Lordy.

As today was not particularly exciting and I had forgotten to tell you about our shooting trip, I thought now might be a good opportunity. At the end of November, mummy and Chris like to go shooting in Norfolk to a small wild shoot near the sea (where the wind cuts across from Siberia) Mouse was going for the second time and this was to be my first. I was very excited, Mouse had told me on the way what to expect and that I must stay with mummy at all times, especially as I look a bit like a fox and might get into trouble.

We arrived just in time, having not anticipated how slow the journey would be in Wesley. Chris looked like a giant preying mantice squashed into what can only be described as a very basic small driving space with mummy crushed in the middle of him and her mother. There seems to be a lot more room in the other car and to be honest, its quieter and more comfortable, no idea why they chose to take 'Wes'

We went from 'Wes' almost immediately into what used to be a bus but is now employed as a trailer. This is for all the 'beaters' and their working dogs. I too was going to be a 'working' dog and did my best to look calm, intelligent and hopefully less of a lap dog than usual. To my surprise, there was another terrier on the 'bus' which was reassuring, after a quick greeting we were on or way to the first drive. That by the way is the first bit of shooting, there are generally two before lunch and two after. The 'guns' are those shooting, they go in one vehicle, the 'beaters', the ones driving the birds, go in another. The aim is that the beaters push the birds towards the waiting guns who stand at numbered pegs. The drives which can be across open fields, wooded areas, ground cover such as maze crop, sunflowers, all sorts of terrain really, they vary in 'going' and can sometimes involve steep areas and hills. There is a drive on a shoot mummy went on in shropshire nicknamed 'angina', this is because it has a very steep hill, one of the beaters had a heart attach trying to climb it, hence the name!

As I am not trained in the way of beating and didn't understand about keeping in line, mummy kept me on a piece of rope to save any embarrassment.  I struggled to see what was going on and found the beet field really muddy, the wet clay oozed between my paws and felt cold on my pads. I kept jumping up mummy until she picked me up (after grumbling and cursing my muddy foot prints on her tweed coat.... I knew she'd give in)

The second drive was easier, but there were lots of comments about why there were 'few birds', 'a dog walker had been seen walking in the wrong place earlier' and 'could have scared them', 'we'll this is wild bird shoot', 'there were loads last week weren't there?' None of it made much sense to me and while everyone was gathering up their dogs and walking back to vehicles, I decided to acquaint myself with one of the spaniels from the other 'bus'. We were all walking in a group so I carried on listening about what it was like to flush in the woods and why it was important to rest in the 'bus' between drives and above all, not to bark. I was just about to get on with everyone else when a young chap with a tweet cap so tightly pulled down on his head it looked like it had shrunk in the rain and stuck there, sent me away, I hadn't seen him before and he assumed I was not with the group, his funny accent was not what I am used to and despite my best pleading, he was having none of it. Unbeknown to me, mummy was frantically looking for me on route to the other bus, so as not to draw too much attention to herself, she had assumed I had gone with the other group and that we would be reunited at our next stop. What she didn't know is that I had been left behind. To cut a long story short, I had been picked up by a lady who thought I was lost, a couple of phone calls, a borrowed truck and 10 minutes of worry and all was fine. The lad with the funny hat said that he was sorry and hoped I was ok. The rest of my afternoon was spent barking in protest for having been put in Wesley for safe keeping!

I do hope my next attempt at beating turns out better than this.

xx