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Finally letting him go....
So thanks to many people interested in how the old fella (Brick) went at the shoot yesterday. We really only gave him one serious run. He's not young, he’ll be Thirteen this year. I tried to look after him. Cheyenne did the bulk of the work on the first drive pulling in a number of easy birds and a couple of tricky runners. I was very pleased with her. Right at the end I let Brick off and he went away at his usual pace and started bringing in birds... he nailed several tough ones and a couple missed by others and was quickly very tired. I was about to stop him and put him back on the lead when I got called away to attend to a sick deer someone had found in the bush. As I did I saw Brick hit a scent trail on very steep country and start heading for the top of the ridge. This usually means a wounded but lively bird with plenty of sting in it to try and out run a dog... I tried to whistle him in to stop him, but he couldn't hear me and carried on... the deer needed attending to... I left him to his job and headed off to the deer. Once that was dealt with I went back to where I had last seen the old bugger and no sign of him... ten minutes went past and still no sign... I was starting to think I would need to go find him and feared he had run himself to a standstill.... or worse.....
As I got about 200 meters down the ridge the gamekeepers wife called out to me waving and I looked back down the valley to see the old boy down to walking pace, almost crawlin pace, coming back through a big shallow water pond, Pheasant in mouth with hardly enough energy to lift each paw as he tried to bring it back... he was exhausted... Rose told me she had driven down to that area because there is often a missed bird down there after each shoot and she said "I should have known "Brick" wouldn't leave anything behind. I was a bit choked up, to be honest, as I took the bird from him and took him back to the truck for a rest, as I went past the shoot captain he quipped, "Old brick, still has to be the last bastard back with the last bird aye".
We put him in the dog box and moved on to the next drive. He was indignant he was left in the truck. He still wanted to work....
After lunch and on the third drive we had swept the big hill behind the drive and cleaned up most the birds, and were stringing up the 100 or so birds off the drive when one of the girls running a Chesapeake came up to me and asked if I had a dog to run the area behind the shed, her dog was exhausted, Dan and Jamie were still at the top of the ridge and she was sure the labs working that area had missed some birds... Cheyenne was exhausted at this point to so I went and got the old boy out... keeping close tabs on him this time he worked through the blackberry and fern behind the shed and was back in about a minute with a hen, then a cock and another hen... I put him on the lead and decided that was enough... again, last dog back, last bird back... Brick of Ballyblack.
I have given Brick to Daniel Layne he’s his dog now... part of the deal was I get to run him at the Equine shoot... While it is already organised to bury him, when his day comes, at that shoot, last night I suggested to Daniel he has to retire from picking up... He will kill himself there and will hunt until he has nothing left to give. If he had a choice he would happily die there doing what he loves, but we are not prepared to have him go that way... he is meant to be enjoying retirement at Dan's place and Dan takes him out and shoot bunnies and pheasants for him free range where he can control and heel him when need be and look after him... that will be his retirement. Dan wants me to take him to Equine again at the end of the season, but I'll keep him on a lead and just give him some easy birds as his swansong of 12 years giving his all to get the birds in the air and on the cart....
So why, out of hundreds, does this dog mean so much to me... Frankly he's the best dog I have ever seen, let alone run, he's proved it time again against the best and all over the North Island. He has sired some of the better pups running now and his Grand progeny are winning and kicking arse now too... He only ran head to head once against his son at Equine, FCH Keppersmoor Sage Wood (For my money the best spaniel running in Live Game Trials in NZ currently) and eye wiped him four birds to one. No disrespect to Bracken, Dad just showed him where is "goods" come from... Brick has been an erratic trial dog, almost 100% because of his handler, not him) but still is classed by one the country’s most experienced dog handlers and judges as the best he has ever seen. So obviously that counts... he has also been my best mate for over 10 years.... He is well known and my ego enjoys the attention he attracts when I have him out and about... but it runs deeper and very personal.
My Father was the best horseman I ever knew... and he trained racehorses and he made a lot of good horses out of some very dodgy stock, he won races, he had victories, but he never got what he always wanted... A CHAMPION... In a very weird way, maybe no one else can understand, having Brick of Ballyblack has been me having that Champion for Dad, my Sir Tristram... that's how it felt getting him out and people dotting over him at shoots etc and asking "Is this the famous Brick"?
So, Brick has been more than my hunting mate, more than a good dog, he is my connection to my late father... part of his breeding make-up comes from Dad’s Brother and only entrenches the feeling and that's why I go on about him and do not enjoy knowing the twilight years are firmly entrenched and with us and whether he likes it or not Dan will now make him take it easy, we both agreed he has to still go for hunt now and then, but under control, it'd be cruel not to let him hunt, but I finally, reluctantly and still in denial, have to let go of him... I have Grace and Cheyenne to bring on and hope is in Grace she will keep his legacy going... she seems to have the fire....
This is the last post I will make about Brick of Ballyblack, until the very final farewell, thanks for putting up with me going on about him... he's been the greatest pride of my life.
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