The little monster finally grows up a bit

[skycat 6,173]

A new recruit, now 10 months old, and has this little critter been a trial and tribulation to all of us, though mostly to the other dogs. Full on, highly intelligent and very driven: up till now driven towards the other dogs. The moment any of my dogs starts running this little sh*t tries to take them out, and he's been doing this since he was old enough to run.

 

He hasn't had the benefit of seeing lots of rabbits out on exercise which could account for part of the problem: we just don't have the rabbits sitting out by day like they used to: too many dog walkers, bad dose of myxie and me and my dogs mooching about every day for years and years. The rabbits know its safer to stay below ground by day.

 

Anyway, took the monster pup out ferreting for the first time, on his own, and wow! Talk about focused! He did come out a couple of times at around 6 months old, and was a waste of time: all he wanted to do was prat about and generally spend all his time galloping up and down the hedgerows.

 

Not any more! I have never seen a pup learn so quickly, and he wasn't just marking the holes, he was actively working the warrens, tiptoeing carefully about, trying to anticipate which hole the rabbit would come from. His concentration was 100%, and he actually caught a couple of bolters, not easy round here where the next warrens are never more than 30 yards away at the most. And he retrieved, which didn't surprise me as he has been very easy to train: like I said, he's as smart as they come, and is very play and people orientated, though he did have to do a little lap of honour with the first one.

 

The second one he put down at my feet just as the ferret came out, so for a second we had a ferret on one end and a lurcher on the other. I just told him to leave and he did.

 

I've often noticed that the most trying pups, those which test your patience all the time, are never content to do normal puppy things, often turn out to be some of the best in the field. Chance is his name, and he's from good lines of daytime dogs, and although I've got even more grey hairs now than I did, I've always known he's going to be a good 'un. He has a naturally fast and accurate strike and more want than I've seen in a long time, barring the Airedale lurchers that is. Here's a few photos of the brat not behaving like a brat at all........

[WILF 47,353]

That's a really nice looking animal you have there skycat

[skycat 6,173]

Now my post has finally been Okayed, I shall try and put the rest of the photos on:

[Sirius 1,391]

Very nice looking pup, nice to see a pic of him at last

[skycat 6,173]

Found a bolt hole in the snow, one we'd missed:

 

and really concentrated despite the chill wind and cold feet:

[skycat 6,173]

His first catch, helped a little by the fact that the ferret had already beaten this rabbit up a bit

[skycat 6,173]

His first retrieve:

[skycat 6,173]

Second catch:

[skycat 6,173]

and retrieve:

[skycat 6,173]

Last one, watching the ferrets playing in the snow: he was brilliant with them, often going nose to nose with them when they came out: funny how the extreme energy and silliness transformed into steady, focused worker so quickly. It took him all of one bolt to suss the job, and he has incredible early pace so we should have a bit of fun for the rest of the season.

[Giro 2,648]

Great photos,Its good when the hard work and patience testing pays off

[budharley 945]

that is one nice looking dog skycat

[Millet 4,497]

He has turned out a cracker..i thought he would of been a lot heavier..

[Richie10 345]

What's the breeding or names behind him?

[skycat 6,173]

Can't remember off hand apart from that Stevie is his sire: sorry, I don't pay a lot of attention to names as long as I've been recommended the breeding by people in the know that I trust. I would assume that he's mostly Sal/Grey, but from his temperament I wouldn't be surprised if there's a dash of bull in there somewhere: full on idiot in your face, hyper and charming with it. Bless him Very high pain threshold as well and no fear of anything.......so far.