-3-
Several cocks were tucked in tight, as tight as some hens were in the
last Cocker Championship, but Jet put on a superb exhibition of
gamefinding, poking each bird out with her nose and I plainly
recollect, 4O years later, seeing bird after bird produced and
and after each flush, a little black nose appeared an inch behind
the bird, with a closed mouth and not one feather on her lips.
So having witnessed such happenings, in relation to Brando and
Jet, perhaps it is small wonder that I regard the pegging of
healthy game undecorous as even when game is tucked in tightly, a
spaniel that knows it's stuff can evict the game from the
tightest cover without causing any panic.
However, it is worth recording that although Jet of Elan (who
subsequently won the 1966 Cocker Championship), was handled by
Commander Collard, she had been trained by the great John Forbes
and although he only made up 20 Field Trial Champions and won
the Cocker Championship six times, he had such rare ability that
if we wished today to find a comparable trainer, we would have
to take a spade and dig one up.
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by Keith Erlandson