New Buddy

With Bessie and Ringo gone to doggie heaven, I was down to one English Springer Spaniel until this week, when a 10-month-old male from fancy breeding came my way through a field-trialer and wing-shooting friend. What sold me on this animal was his pedigree back to 1996 national champion Denalisunflo’s Ring, not to mention many other American and Canadian national champs. But Ring, the sire of my late dog Ringo (grandfather to Bessie), was the clincher. A Roy French champion, he had legendary stamina and spirit.

While I can’t deny this new dog arrived with retrieving “issues,” I’m sure I’ll be able to correct them with a lot of TLC and little pressure. I’ll just make it fun for him to retrieve a tennis ball or stick off the Green River shoreline, then show him the ropes in the field, let Lily be a model for displaying the joys of retrieving from thick, wet tangles. This new new pet comes with the name Buddy, which I’ll keep. I didn’t name Ringo, either. He came registered as “Sunrise Ringo,” then became Ringy, Bingy or Bingo, depending on my mood. The new guy is not registered but responds to Buddy, so why change it? Although still working on it, his name will probably be something like Old Tavern Farm’s Budding Dynamo or Hey Buddy. That works for me. Maybe I’ll even start with the kennel he came from, Poets Seat. We’ll see.

I always greet a new project with enthusiasm and confidence. I can tell already this guy will be easier than old Ringy, who could find, flush and retrieve birds with the best of them, bringing me immense joy along with some minor headaches over 13 years. This new guy looks a lot like Ringy, runs as big but, from first impressions, is more biddable, comes when called and responds well to my stag-horn whistle. I acquired both dogs at a little less than a year old from frustrated trainers, who typically seek easy students and sell the more difficult ones. Capable of being difficult myself, I have empathy for that personality type. Plus, the fact is that the spirited ones with an independent streak often turn out to be superior animals in the long run. We’ll see with Buddy.

This I can say for sure: If he’s half as good as Ringy, he’ll be great. My guess is he’ll be better.

Bookmark the permalink. Follow any comments here with the RSS feed for this post.
Post a comment or leave a trackback: Trackback URL.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Mad Meg theme designed by BrokenCrust for WordPress © | Top