Grace and Velvet are both keen workers - Grace more so than Velvet. Both being quite slow to start with only going out once a month in their first season. Now I am going once or twice a week they are all able to get a fair share. Mind you it would be impossible to leave Chester behind as he sees it as his right to go to work!

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Hazel has yet to start her training, but she does enjoy carrying things so I don’t foresee any problem with her. Then I will have five dogs - all of whom will want to go!!

The following season I found another shoot and decided to try Chester. At first he didn’t understand why he couldn’t mooch along the hedgerow instead of staying on the lead, listening to people banging trees with sticks. However, once the action started he soon got the hang of it and now is my consistent picking-up dog. Well, he doesn’t come into season - nor have puppies!

About a month later the G.R.C. held a Show Gundog Working Certificate test which she passed with flying colours!

A few weeks later I had the good fortune to be invited to a shoot and with some trepidation off we set. Having never been to a shoot I had no idea what to expect, what I did receive was a warm welcome, and a wing that Heidi and I stayed under all day. After the first couple of drives Heidi had the opportunity to pick up a pheasant she found. A moments hesitation and it was in her lovely soft mouth and she was rushing towards me so proudly. Taking it from her I gave her an enormous hug - I was SO proud of her !!

I managed to find some dummies and a whistle at a show and we set about training each other. She was a natural and following the advise given in the book we found a training school, attending every week regardless of the weather!

It never occurred to me to work my dogs - in fact I didn’t know what ‘working’ meant until Heidi joined our family. At 10 weeks old she was already doing elementary obedience, such as walking on the lead, recall & sit-stay, looking to me to teach her more. I didn’t want to do competition obedience with her, so something else had to be found. By chance I was in the library a few weeks later and saw Michael Twist’s book ‘The Complete Guide to the Golden Retriever’ I read this from cover to cover and thought “I wonder whether I could do it?” I had no doubts about Heidi’s abilities - I felt she could do anything she turned her paw to.