As we're getting all morbid this morning I thought I might as well continue the trend.
I have working gundogs and have done so for the last 20 years or so. Pet dog or no, little woman or no, there is absolutely nothing that comes anywhere close to the relationship you build with a working dog. They give their all to you and ask little in return apart from the obvious pleasure they get from doing what nature intended them to do.
Sooner or later will come that moment when you know that the end has come and you have to take the chap who has been a more or less continuous companion on a one way trip. This is the toughest and most gut-wrenching decision there is. I always bury my dogs or their ashes in a place that has some significance. Two are buried overlooking the place where they pulled off a brilliant retreive of a wounded pheasant, and one's ashes are scattered along the banks of the River Lambourn which was one of his favourite places.
I now have three dogs, one of which is approaching THAT moment. He is 14, deaf as a post, but still willing and capable. Sooner or later though, and I will have to make that decision and then find a spot for him.
Nothing will replace any particular dog - they are all different - but life has to go on and for someone who spends much of his winters with his working dogs, succession planning is an integral part of the business. I don't agree with the "never have another one" mentality. You are missing out on a huge amount by doing so. I'll never have another Shogun, Tora or Toby, but I've got a Corrib, Merlin and Purdey, who, as I write this are impatiently waiting to go out picking up on a shoot.
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Danny
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