THE LAOCHIN WAY
It's always nice to meet new people, and on Thursday I headed north to spend a day on the Moors with Andy Cullen from Laochin Gundogs and a group of dogs and handlers.
We were in search of grouse to point !
As a photographer you can end up becoming addicted to weather forecasts, and the morning of the eclipse we were forecast heavy cloud. As it transpired the day dawned very bright, if not a tad windy and not too cold, which to be honest is a change from the norm of late.
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| AN OFFICE WITH A VIEW |
Once at our base , a brief outline of how the day would run by Andy and we headed out across the moor, 8 dogs and handlers.
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| HEADING OUT |
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| LISTEN AND YOU WILL LEARN. |
Having plenty of spaniels and labradors at home, it is always really interesting to watch how the HPR breeds work. Reading the wind, and working at distances that would make me feel uncomfortable.
The rangey strides of the pointers moving them across the moor with such fluidity and grace ..
… a nose that lifts into the wind, takes a scent, then POINTS !!
For a few of the dogs and handlers, the moor and it's grouse was a fairly new experience and with the amount of scent around it was a case of learning if the dog was in fact pointing a bird or the scent of where a bird or hare (and there were plenty of those about) had been. Learning to push the dog on and letting the dog work it out for itself and thus building on the teamwork.
Then once you've mastered that, you have to stay steady to a flush !!!.. so all in all lots to have to understand and learn.
Andy, with his years of experience, I found to be an extremely articulate and fair trainer, and more than happy to share his knowledge with an extreme novice. It's one thing knowing what your pupils need to be doing but something very different being able to "teach and instruct"them how to do it.
Sometimes being firm and fair is difficult but throughout the day as the handlers relaxed and understood that critique is a positive tool (and not meant personally) so the improvements started to become very obvious.
The term HPR (Hunt, Point, Retrieve), covers a host of breeds and I was lucky enough to watch young Belle "The Bracco" learning her trade …
BELLE TAKING THE AIR
as well as the two stunning Brittany Spaniels Gypsy and Mya, although I would have to say that Brittany's aren't for the faint hearted !!!
 
We stopped for a bite to eat, and to let the dogs have a moments rest and then headed out again for an afternoon session.
The weather by this time was "changeable" and the wind took a chill edge, although we did manage to stay dry all day.
The moors are an incredible place to be, whether it is Scotland or Yorkshire or anywhere in between… stunningly beautiful but also formidable. We covered nearly 10 miles on the day, (I couldn't guess how far the dogs ran), across ground that doesn't always make for the easiest walking.
But with this as "the office" why would a gundog trainer or a photographer want to be anywhere else. We are very privileged to be allowed access to this beautifully managed land, that without the work of the owners and keepers would not hold the plethora of wildlife that it does.
FAVOURITE SHOT OF THE DAY !!
This was a difficult choice, but for me the shot of this Wirehaired Vizsla, flushing a hare on the wrong side of the wind and then being steady enough to turn away and not chase, captures the spirit of the HPR.
 As a footnote I would like to add my congratulations to Dawn and Julian, two of the handlers on the moor that day, that went on to be graded "excellent" in their tests over the weekend.
for the full gallery from the day CLICK HERE
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