PRIDE COMES BEFORE A FALL

Temptation to give chase proves too great for Emma

IT is true what they say about pride coming before a fall. Last week, I was walking my dogs in a local wood. The sun had recently risen, a woodpecker was drumming. It was a great start to the day. Both spaniels were trotting along 10 yards ahead of me, perfectly under control, when a muntjac doe dashed across the path in front of them. Neither bothered to give it more than a glance and I felt that touch of pride that comes from having steady dogs.

Thirty seconds later, everything changed. A muntjac fawn the size of a large rabbit suddenly appeared — no doubt the offspring of the doe we had seen. Emma the sprocker, who had never seen such a small muntjac before, set off in hot pursuit, deaf to the whistle.

The chase probably lasted no more than 30 seconds before the fawn threw off her pursuer, disappearing into a bramble patch. However, the damage to my pride was complete. I thought that I had dogs 100% steady to deer. I haven’t.

Emma came back to heel, looking completely unabashed by her poor behaviour. I tried to look for positives. The chase had been brief, there had been no excited yapping, the fawn had got away and my dog had returned remarkably quickly. However, there was no escaping the fact that the pursuit should never have happened in the first place.

Training dogs to resist temptation isn’t easy. Rabbit pens are a good way to familiarise dogs in general and spaniels in particular with ground game, but finding a suitable rabbit pen can be difficult. Many years ago, I was given the chance to take my spaniels into a pen populated by wild rabbits. The rabbits were so wild that they must have all gone to ground, as we never saw one, though I do recall that it was a very wet day, when any self-respecting bunny would be tucked up underground.

“I can resist everything except temptation” was one of Oscar Wilde’s most memorable quips. There’s an awful lot of dogs that would agree with him — alas, including Emma.

A steadiness to all ground game is essential