The best shoot day companions

Busy the working cocker had a sad start to life. For much of her first year she was cooped up in a flat and never gained so much as a glimpse of the outside world. Her luck changed when she was rehomed by Julie Warboys, and at last she got to do what she had been bred for in the first place: go shooting. Despite never having had any formal training, she now, according to her mistress, “absolutely lives for working, last season picking up for some 60 days on several different shoots”.

This alone would qualify her for Gundogs Awards, now in their third year and sponsored by Skinner’s Field & Trial, a leading make of working dog food. However, Busy went further by giving a brilliant demonstration of her drive and determination with an exceptional retrieve on the Pangdean shoot, near Brighton, last season. It was sufficient to win her the first prize for outstanding work by a spaniel – springer or cocker. Handler and