In early 2016, at 4 months of age, Buoy went home to the UK to join his ancestral Arnac pack and co-breeder, Chrissie Mayhew. He went to live at the home his mother Larch left when she came to live with us in the U.S. He’s had plenty of time to be a pup, learn good manners, and develop his retrieving skills.
Last winter, Buoy got to tag along a few times on the driven shoots that Chrissie works picking up game. These early visits were all about exposure to gunshot and the all the stimulation of a busy shoot. He was tested on a few retrieves, but then would be put up in the Land Rover so that the experienced dogs on the team could put in their day’s work.
This season, two year-old Buoy is now really learning his trade. He’s a full-fledged member of the team and he’s proving to be just the right kind of dog for the job. Chrissie just sent this news yesterday: “Buoy on Friday was not good ............he was BRILLIANT! He started the day with a cock runner during the drive on a reasonably bare field ....a good one for a young dog .......he picked it and came straight back despite there being shooting galore and more birds coming down. He has a really soft mouth. He then excelled himself at the next drive finding numerous birds ...nearly all runners ....Blue brought one back and dashed off for another before I could take it properly and it scooted off into the undergrowth so Buoy went after it and hunted and found it for me .....I am so pleased with him....he is as good as his mother. He got the dog of the day award in my eyes.” As they say in the UK, he’s turning out to be a “cracking” retriever.
We don’t have any photos of Buoy working on the shoot because Chrissie has her hands full with the team of dogs and all the birds they deliver to her, but we do have this lovely photo of him at a working test. Photo courtesy of Sue Worrall, Watersplash.
