What a lovely puppy he's turning out to be!

Hammie is growing up - he has lost that puppy softness, but not the
goofies. In the field, he's delightful. One FCR lady in our area
keeps threatening to kidnap him after training sessions.

(I suppose you enter a rarified world at some point. We had friends
from the hunt test circuit over for dinner the other night. They
brought wine, dessert, and a frozen duck in a bag, and weren't the
slightest bit put out when I asked whether this duck was for eating or
for flinging around in a marsh. Flinging, by the way.)

This weekend, though, we did field training on Saturday (swimming
across a channel and then running up a bank for the bird) and then I
fluffed him up and took him to his breeder for his first round of
conformation handling training.

We actually got him to stack himself, sort of. Gaiting was a bit of a
challenge, though. He's kind of bouncy. My 8-y-o daugher got her
first handling lesson too, although she is handling the breeder's 6-y-o
matron, a dignified lady. Hamish and DD will both come out for the
first time at the Christmas shows in Vancouver (but not together!)

Here's a link to my photostream:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/arfenarf/

--
Kate
and Storm and Hamish the Flying FCRs