Unforgettable

It must have been 24 December because I remember wrapping the snipe up in loo paper that afternoon and giving it to someone for Christmas the following morning.

I always believe there are two kinds of shots; the sort you quickly forget, and those that you will remember long after you’ve forgotten trivialities such as the names of your grandchildren.

That snipe was very much one of the latter but it wasn’t the shot itself that I recall and cherish in miserable moments at suburban bus stops, but the retrieve that followed. It was a retrieve in which my tiny terrier swam out 40 yards into a bog, found the little bird among some overhanging frozen fronds of willow, and brought it straight back to me with all the poise of a field trial champion.

It is scenes like this that make me love dogs as much as I do. I can often be found at parties, standing in a corner somewhere, boring someone to death about all the breeds I would like to own in the next 10 years, from a Staffordshire bull terrier to a springer.

This weekend I will be at the Midland Game Fair and I would love to meet your dog. Bring it along to our stand (A65 in Gunmakers’ Row) for a chance to have it included in our new Dog of the Month competition, which will be featured in the magazine. Think Country Life’s frontispiece but perhaps a little furrier.

Patrick Galbraith, Editor