If you have ever been to Crufts and seen in the gamekeepers' rings immaculately tweeded keepers, accompanied by beautifully groomed show dogs, you can be forgiven for wondering whether the latter have done a day's work in their lives. I admit to being a sceptic myself, but after spending a day on the Pen-y-Lan shoot in North Wales in the company of Richard and Jenny Mace, plus several beautiful golden retrievers, I've changed my mind. Show dogs can and do work.
A trip to Pen-y-Lan, on the banks of the River Dee, gave me the ideal opportunity to talk to Richard and Jenny (known to their friends as Rich and Jen) about their dogs. Rich is a professional single-handed gamekeeper and has always had dogs, mainly spaniels, but it was marrying Jen that broadened his interest into showing as well as working and converted him into a golden retriever enthusiast.
Jen has had goldens "for more years than I care to remember, since the early 1970s" and she has both shown and worked them for nearly all that time. She came to goldens through obedience first, then showing, but it didn't take much to convince her that working them was even more fun. It all

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started when she went to clip a horse for a friend, accompanied by her bitch Trudv. It turned out to be a shoot day and the farmer came over and asked her if her dog worked, as the official picker-up had just called to say he'd broken his ankle.
Jen had done a lot of obedience work with Trudy, but she had never done am retrieving. However, despite their lack of experience, Trudv proved to be a natural. From then on Jen's golden retrievers became genuine dual-purpose dogs, as happy in the shooting field as in the show ring.
Today Jen is working the twelfth generation of her line of goldens, and the kennels at Pen-y-Lan hold 12 golden retrievers, plus seven mixed breed spaniels. Current star

They use their own initiative to
find the birds. I don't have to
point them in the right direction

of the kennels is eight-year-old Hail, which accompanied Rich
throughout the day of my visit. Jen told me, "Hail is the most versatile dog we have. He has not only done extremely well in the show ring, including taking Best Gamekeepers' Dog in Show at Crufts three times, but he also excels on the shoots. He will work for either of us beating or picking-up. We regard
him as triple-purpose dog."
Hail is a little unlucky not to be a full champion yet, as he has two Challenge Certificates from the show ring, plus his Show Gundog Working Certificate (SGWC). It was easy to see why he is such a star, for he is one of those big, solid dogs, which seems to think carefully before he does anything and it's difficult to imagine him doing something as silly as chasing a hare or disobeying his boss. He clearly has a very

strong rapport with Rich and the two have an impressive working relationship.
Jen admits that she and Rich don't spend a lot of time training the dogs and that the dogs largely work out what's expected of them by spending time in the field. It helps that they live in the ideal environment to develop their natural talents, but it does demonstrate that even show-bred dogs not only retain the working instinct but also have the brains to work it all out. I asked Jen whether she had ever introduced any working blood into her line. "Yes, once, and it was a total disaster. However, it can work out if you're lucky."
Jen has trialled in the past and even gained Certificates of Merit with a pure show-bred golden and a working-bred Labrador, but family commitments got in the way of further competition and today she has neither the inclination nor the time to put in that sort of training any more. "Our dogs do the job they were bred to do," she told me, adding that once, when doing the SGWC, Jim Gale described the dog she had with her as self-employed (Jim Gale is one of the leading handlers of golden retrievers and past winner of the Retriever Championship). Jen rather likes the self-employed description. "They use their own initiative to find the birds. I don't have to point them in the right direction. Most of our picking-up is in woodland, so you need a dog that can work unaided."
Jen and Rich take their showing nearly as seriously as their shooting. Jen is a championship show judge, judging both in the UK and overseas, and Rich judged at his first Open Show last month. Crufts is, of course, the high point of the showing year and Jen and Rich already have several dogs qualified for next year's event, including the youngest member of the Maces' Purbarn kennel. All being well, Rich and Hail will be competing once again in the Gamekeepers' Ring, hoping for an unprecedented fourth win. If they get it, it will be well deserved, as I can confirm that Hail is a genuine working gundog. •

GUNDOGS

Gundogs By David Tomlinson

A dummy's guide to the essential terminology of the show dog world

For most of us with working gundogs, the world of showing a bit of a mystery, especially as show enthusiasts generally assume that everyone knows what a Challenge Certificate (CC) is. However, Jen (known in the show world as Jenny Frankland-Mace) gave me an idiot's guide to the showring.
To make a dog a show champion (ShCh) it has to win three CCs at a championship show. To make a show champion into a full champion the dog has either to gain its Show Gundog Working Certificate (SGWC) or be given a place or a Certificate of Merit in a field trial. The SGWC is a simple test of a dog's ability to retrieve game and it has to show that it can swim and retrieve from water. It's a relatively easy certificate to gain, but the dog mustn't make a noise, has to be under reasonable control off a lead and show that it can retrieve tenderly to hand.
Dual champions (DualCh) are extremely rare. To qualify a dog must be both a champion (Ch) in the show ring and a field trial champion (FTCh). Many gundog breeds have never had a dual champion. Today the chances of making up a dual champion are less as the division between working and show strains is greater.

To make a dog a ShCh it has to
win three challenge certificates
at a championship show

A Reserve Challenge Certificate (RCC) is the equivalent of second best of sex, but it will never make your dog a champion, however many it wins. If the dog that wins the CC gets disqualified for any reason, the RCC winner receives the CC instead.
A Junior Warrant (JW) is a certificate given to a dog or bitch that has won 25 points — a dog receives one point for a first at an open show and three points for a first at a championship show. There must be a minimum of three in the class to gain the point. All points must be won in one year and the dog must be between the age of six months and 18 months.
A Show Certificate of Merit (ShCM) is also won on a points system but at open shows only. You gain one point for a best of breed, four points for first in the gundog group, three points for second, two points for third and one point for fourth. If you are lucky enough to win best in show you get five more points. You have the whole of the dog's life to achieve this award.
Lastly, to qualify a dog for the gamekeepers' rings at Crufts, go to the BASC website for guidance (www.basc.org.uk). It's remarkably easy and you are not required to take your dog to a show beforehand, but for the individual and gamekeeper teams a gamekeeper declaration form has to be completed and all dogs have to be Kennel Club registered. •

You can email David at STgundog@aol.com.

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