PERFECTION OR PLEASURE?

Late last summer, just before the poults arrived, my young, freckled cocker Cecil took part in an informal working test. I think we were all slightly apprehensive but our trainer, She Who Must Be Obeyed (SWMBO), had put a three-line whip on participation.

Our first test was a marked retrieve in rough grass and scrub on the other side of a 6ft-wide dyke followed by a blind in much the same area. It didn’t start well for us. Cecil wasn’t paying attention and missed the mark, which was about 30yds away. I bent down and used my stick to point him in the right direction but before I could launch him, the judge stopped us. Pointing with a stick