A mixed training session dog run in Acle with Jim and Ben and then journey home to Paxton. This evening, the children all played the computer game, "Day of the Tentacle".
The stories were still of Bosnia, Ulster and John Major's political problems and so 1994 has carried on where 1993 left off!
I had set my radio alarm clock last night and so when it was time to get up and ready to take Sam out for another training session, it gave me a call at 7.30am. I tried to creep out and had some breakfast on the way and then gave Sam a short run before setting off for "The Acle Straight", near Yarmouth. It only took me about half an hour to get there from Horning and so I stopped off and gave Sam a run round the fields by the road until it was time to rendezvous with Jim Bird and Ben.
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He first took me to a section of the marshes near to Yarmouth Yacht Station but, there being some other shooters there, we went back further along the River Bure until we actually returned to where I had exercised the dog initially. We did a range of training tasks; setting the dogs to quarter across the reed beds and then the marshes and doing some simple retrieves with normal dummy and then the rabbit fur one that I had made up and Sam performed well on all this and his obedience was quite good as well.
Then we spotted some feeding pigeons and, whilst Jim and Ben lay behind a bank, I took Sam and we walked round and drove them across Jim's gun and he ended up shooting two of them. I sent Sam to fetch one but, whilst he did so, he also chewed it up as it was flapping and this was a set-back. Jim's dog is still a problem to get to retrieve and is also getting anxious and whiny every time Jim raises his gun. Sam also ignored my signals at a distance and so we both have lots of work to do. At least we got them both to cross ditches and drains three times so that they had to swim.
To Yarmouth sea front after for a cup of tea and bacon sandwich for us to commiserate but the session had been helpful and we were pledged to do it again. Back to Horning around lunch time and there followed a hectic scramble to load up the car and put Harnser to bed before we set off for home. Lunch at a Little Chef on the way and then back just in time to take Sam for a short run before dark.
The evening resting watching the television and updating my journal as the children all played the computer game, "Day of the Tentacle" on three different micro-computers around the house. I had been away from the news for a while but, as I returned, I found the stories were still of Bosnia, Ulster and John Major's political problems and so 1994 has carried on where 1993 left off!