Fenlander ®

These first memorable, quality Fenlanders fuelled my resolve to continue to develop my dogs to more of a breed type. Khan with his superior ground-scenting abilities and excellent soft-mouthed retrieving,  has been used extensively as the foundation sire for the second generation, and like all Fenlanders has a beautiful, kind and loyal temperament making him a pleasure to train and work. Hugo's intelligence and sixth sense set him apart from the others with his capability of judging situations and almost reading your mind.  Holly and Rabbit expressed differing characteristics to the Scalene line in Khan's mother, including a drive and passion for hunting of larger game. Beth has inherited much of Khan's scenting and working ability , although exhibits  more of the Springer style.

THE FIRST FENLANDER

It was my neighbour Bridgette's Weimaraner and the lack of worthy English Springers to breed from that led to a decision that changed my prejudice from a breed to a strain of blended gundogs, similar to the concept of the Lurchers bred for use on different types of quarry. Her Weimaraner bitch from a Scalene pedigree had a lovely strong head and bone with great muscular conformation. Her quality was probably due to recent German blood, as most British blood lines were often from poor specimens reluctantly released from Germany after the Second World War. The Weimaraner has lost its popularity as a working gun-dog in the UK and has been got hold of by the show fraternity to now be frowned at on the continent! This bitch although not used for work showed prolific working instincts. The decision was made to put Jimmy over the bitch as Bridgette fortunately admired Jimmy.

In September 2001 I kept a stocky male out of the ten liver pups and called him Khan. I thought my Springers had good noses till I started working Khan. He could track foot scent like no other! He had drive, courage, a soft mouth, good pointing instinct and would hold point for lengthy periods which was a whole new experience and concept for me.

I had to adapt and learn the best way to work with Khan which tended to be working him in a figure of eight across my path, often thirty-five to forty yards away. I began to understand and read his body language and style, noting how he reacted to the flighty Fen birds, part-pointing to the jittery birds on the move, but occasionally holding a definite point when a bird would decide to lay up. An exciting experience as the suspense grips when you approach a dog holding point!

HUGO

Hugo, a bit of an accidental mating between Khan and Willow, two inch double layer liver coat, about 23 inches at the shoulders; long-backed, the golden eyes of the Weimaraner; the look of a heavy Setter/Springer, and intelligence on a different level to most, became after his first couple of years of delinquency a most memorable working character.

Much of the qualities of Jimmy had passed through with Hugo’s own little extras. He got to learn fast when working beet not to run down the line after birds running ahead and would steady his pace lowering himself a bit then look up to me for me to register his findings. I’d signal him to keep quartering left and right of me with awareness of wind direction, so as not to miss other birds as we swept that side of the field. Often birds were shot on the way but Hugo would still keep a tab on the bird running ahead and if it didn’t flush along the way to be shot or missed as the case might be, hopefully we would catch up to it before it bolted by foot or wing out the end of the field.

One such moment, epitomising poetry in shooting, was when, working Khan and Hugo in beet, both dogs had a bird running down the line either side of me. After a few hundred yards we got to the end of the field and both dogs pulled up on point twenty yards either side of me, I indicated to my mate to take Khan and I walked up to Hugo, both birds, old cock birds, flushed prematurely. We bagged both with much satisfaction!

Hugo had an emphatic ability for sensing moods and emotions in people and would often tend to people with reassuring comfort when sick or distressed. He would quietly turn up by your side if you had crept outside cause you thought someone was about at night. I used him extensively for stalking rabbits and the like with the air rifle. He would walk carefully next to me attentively watching for signals, a lift of the finger and he would wait while I say checked around the corner, a sideways flick of my head and point to the floor near me and he’d come to heel.

We’ve had rabbits hop out twenty yards in front before, stop and look at this seemingly unthreatening scene, motionless other than my gun gently coming to shoulder and eye, to have the rabbit put his head down and proceed to start grazing, only to have a pellet smack it in the head!

Hugo and I had been stalking so carefully one time that we got right on top of a rabbit. I’m not sure if I noticed Hugo had clocked it or I noticed the rabbit but there it lay no more than two feet away, full stretch in the sun fast akip! Hugo turned his head up to me a little, raised his eyebrows and rolled his eyes up to meet mine giving me a look as if to say, as he turned back to the rabbit slowly `Take a look at this bugger!’ Not sure how to aim (probably could have caught it by hand!) I just pointed the barrel to its chest and shot! Unfortunately the pellet went straight through and the rabbit bounced into the air did a little dance and bolted! Too much for Hugo he was off after it!

Hugo and I have had the experience when out stalking rabbits to creep around a corner and come into view no more than ten paces away from a muntjac grazing nonchalantly, we watched it for several minutes until a rabbit turned up and took a pellet in the head! Quite remarkable how a dog can switch from rough shooting to stalking routines as I have steered away from insisting steadiness to shot when pursuing wild pheasant, due to the amount of distance a wounded bird can travel by the time a dog has waited for permission to retrieve. Also, as is often the case, numerous other birds can be flushed when a dog is in pursuit while you are at the other end of the field! As a result the percentage of runners recovered has greatly increased over the years due to this and the improved scenting powers of the Weimaraner blood.

MORE GERMAN BLOOD

I used to take mythree Springers Jimmy, Jasmine and Willow at a time shooting. One would be working, the others at heel. If a bird was shot and not a runner I would choose a dog at heel to retrieve. Jimmy had talent and experience(and cheek!) to know if a bird was a runner and knowing the hard slog of catching a runner would get on it before it hit the ground and I could send one of the others!

Jimmy never hard-mouthed a bird we had hunted for however hard or far he had worked for it, but reared birds on a shoot he had less respect for and after a morning’s work beating if he pegged a bird, to stop it struggling he’d give it a nip along the back bone to kill it and he’d give me a little look as if to say `Well they ain’t proper pheasants are they!’

When working a field of heavy beet one time Jasmine was working; the other two at heel, Willow broke rank and ran forward twenty yards, dived in the beet and came up with a fox in her mouth, presented it then let it go and ran back to rank at which I gave it a barrel rolling it over; as bizarre as that!

Willow for her second and third litters was mated to a tall, lean nine-year-old Weimaraner, Henry. He was the product of rehoming, a fact that seems to happen too frequently with Weimaraners as these dogs are more a hunting dog of nervous disposition than a gundog, and in the hands of the average public’s lack of knowledge and understanding, these needy high energy dogs bought primarily for visual appeal, don’t receive the exercise, discipline and entertainment required to keep them sane!

Eleven liver short-haired pups nine dogs and two bitches, the farmer owner of Henry picked one bitch and I kept the other stocky pup Hollyhock. Much like Khan she was a good reliable worker with similar qualities and lovely happy temperament. The second litter with Henry produced virtually the same ratio twelve pups three of them bitches, this time I could pick a taller bitch Rabbit! Rabbit twenty-three inch at shoulders, good length of back strong boned and decent broad head.

She and Holly had a gameyness for tackling foxes and deer, so I had to be careful where to work them as it’s one thing dispatching a fox they’ve pulled down in the undergrowth and another an injured deer, especially when beating on an estate!