How much of a handicap is it for a gundog to lose its sight in one eye? Moss, an English springer spaniel, lost an eye when he was three but it hasn’t stopped him enjoying a long and successful career. According to his owner and handler, Lyn Doubleday, he wasn’t the easiest dog to train but went on to become “a tidy beating dog, tackling any cover that faced him, an efficient pickerup on shoots, both large and small, and a great dog to shoot over”. On one occasion, he even ran in a trial to make up numbers – he was only there to pick up – and ended up in the awards.
Now aged 11, he’s slowing down and doing fewer outings (much to his disgust), but he hasn’t lost his enthusiasm and has a new role: assistant trainer to the younger dogs. According to Doubleday: “he sits patiently while they train around him, retrieves when told while they sit, and hunts alongside them to show them the way. He is still invaluable and a joy to be with in whatever role he undertakes.” With a CV like this, it’s not surprising that Moss was the first choice of all the judges for the prize of Best Veteran in this year’s Field Gundog Awards, held in association with Chudleys.
This story is from the December 2021 edition of The Field.
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This story is from the December 2021 edition of The Field.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
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Rory Stewart - The former Cabinet minister and hit podcast host talks to Alec Marsh about the parlous state of British politics, land management and his deep love of the countryside
The gently spoken 51-year-old former Conservative Cabinet minister is a countryman at heart. That's clear: he even changes into a tweed waistcoat for the interview, which takes place at his London home and begins with a question about his precise career status. Having resigned from the Commons and the Conservative Party in 2019, the former diplomat and soldier has reinvented himself, first with an unconventional but promising run as an independent for the London mayoralty (abandoned because of COVID19 in 2020) and then as a media figure, co-hosting one of the country's most popular podcasts, The Rest Is Politics, alongside Alastair Campbell, the former Labour spin doctor.
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