Shooting Times & Country Magazine
Royal lines of duty
The Queen’s passion for pets is well documented, but she has also played a part in breeding the Sandringham gundogs, as Martin Deeley finds out
For HM the Queen the short periods of time in which she can relax are most precious. Her constant companions, the royal dogs, corgis and ‘dorgies’, and her gundogs — labradors and cocker spaniels — provide the opportunities to unwind in the privacy of her home or on her estates. Whether she is visiting the kennels, walking on the estate, helping with the training or working on shoot days, Her Majesty’s dogs provide that means of escape that everyone needs.
Though extremely modest when talking of her knowledge and ability with dogs, the Queen has a wide experience of gundogs — particularly the way they work — and her handling ability either in competition or pickingup is undoubtedly that of a true expert. She keeps mainly labradors because she felt it was a normal thing to do, following in the footsteps of her father, King George VI. But the King did not encourage the young Princess Elizabeth; he did not feel it was right that princesses should be working gundogs in the field.
The young Princess, however, had other ideas and at Balmoral would take corgis, or any dog available, to find the birds. When relating tales of these times, the Queen smiles at the memory of the corgis, which have very good noses, finding more game in the deep heather than the labradors. For a corgi, however, retrieving is a little difficult, so she would watch the dogs working and read from their actions where they had found the grouse, rescuing them from the depths of the heather.
Reliable
It was her first gundog trainer, Jack Curtis, who encouraged her to have a go at handling a labrador and from that moment she has never looked back, her first dogs being Snare and Sabre. The Queen remembers the Sandringham dogs as being moderate gundogs. The work on the estate for members of the royal family dictated that the dogs should be easily controlled and have a sober and reliable nature — a true shooting man’s dog. But occasionally a dog would emerge that had potential for trials, such as Sandringham Mint.
Upon the retirement of Jack Curtis, Her Majesty approached a young Scottish handler whom she had seen running in the championship, winning it in 1963 with FTCH Glenfarg Skid. That trainer was Bill Meldrum, and his appointment was to bring the Sandringham gundogs to the top.
Working together, Her Majesty and Bill brought new blood into the kennels and set upon a breeding programne that would develop a type of dog that was right for work
on the estates and would meet the demands of trialling. To find out more about the top dogs of the day, Her Majesty would invite leading handlers and their dogs to shoot days where she and Bill would watch them and decide whether they were the right type of dog to enhance the Sandringham line.
Handlers such as Frank Clitheroe with Eric Baldwin’s FTCH Palgrave Edward, RG Baldwin with FTCH Sendhurst Sweep and Jack Dudley with FTCH Creedypark Digger were asked if they would like to run their dogs, which naturally they did.
Her Majesty was really keen and determined to get the best stock.
The headkeeper at the time was Montague Christopher, who also had a hand in the changes. After one shoot in the early days — where all the keepers’ dogs were seen to run-in and lack much of the control needed — he asked them to meet him with their guns and dogs, and they themselves would all go shooting. Once in the field he told them that the moment their dog ran-in they had to lay down their guns. Out of 12 keepers who started the day, only one was left shooting when they finished.
Since that moment, all the keepers have been encouraged to train their dogs to a high standard and even compete with them in tests and trials. The Queen herself feels that gundogs are such an important part of a shoot day that every keeper should have a good one, and to achieve this they need to be enthused and encouraged.
The dogs at Sandringham have an uncanny knack of knowing when Her Majesty is on the estate — and Bill knows, by the way they are barking, when she has arrived. Whether they sense her presence, hear the car or perhaps the corgis, who knows but the expectation and excitement level increases along the row of kennels when Her Majesty is in residence.
Spontaneous joy
Walking around Sandringham House, admiring its beauty and furnishings, I was shown some sketches done by a Dutch artist, Rien Poortvliet, who had been a guest at one of the shoots. These were delightful drawings of Her Majesty and members of her family enjoying moments together in the countryside. They reflected the joy these spontaneous moments bring — moments shared and enhanced by her gundogs.
At Sandringham, Her Majesty is looking mainly for good all-round dogs that will last a day’s shooting, but she also has a desire to do well in competitions. She has handled dogs against some of the country’s top handlers in invitation competitions held at Sandringham, on both dummies and game. She laughed when she told me they allowed her to win after 20 years of trying.
With trialling dogs, she emphasises, you must have the
“The Queen believes that every keeper should have one good dog”
right material to work on and to win with, plus the necessary enthusiasm to win. There are fewer dogs at Sandringham now, but there is still field trial potential — in particular a young yellow bitch called Flashmount Donna.
The Queen’s dogs have a good competition record; they have won top dog in the Game Fair four times, achieved field trial champion status, and run well in retriever championships. Though the Queen does not admit to any strong ambition to win the championship, many of us would like to see her rewarded with the premier title. She has given so much to the gundog world, it would be a well-deserved accolade.
This article was first published in the 10 June 1993 issue of Shooting Times.