I grew up in the outdoors due to my grandfather and father taking me at any possible opportunity. I am told, I was 15 months old when I witnessed my first gunshot on a day hunt. I guess you could say the writing was on the wall from that point onwards. I always had an affinity and deep love for dogs, any dogs. And from about 6 years of age I started begging, profusely, to have my own gundog. At 9 years of age, my parents finally folded to the pressures and bought me my first dog, a beautiful, highly driven German Short Haired Pointer who i aptly named, ‘Milo’ due to his coat resembling the foam when the selfsame hot, chocolate drink is mixed and served. He taught me so many wonderful lessons, and he was the true catalyst that lit this fuse that still burns to this day. At 14 years of age, I chose and received my first Pointer (Pointer, not English Pointer, which we will go into in a separate ramble) and from this juncture onwards, there really was no turning back. Bella, as I named her, was a beautiful, tall, regal orange and white Pointer who did it all without much effort. She set the tone for everything thereafter, and taught me as much as any dog possibly could. There really is little to rival how a well bred Pointer devours up the ground effortlessly in its galloping search, before screeching to a statuesque point, and holding the quarry there for your arrival, patiently yet eyes burning with fire and passion. My love for the Pointer was now cemented, and there really was no turning back.
I dedicated my life to the breed and their training, and breeding thereof. To leave the breed in a better place is the height of my aspirations. Developing and training young dogs is an art form in itself. I compare it to sculpting often. As a sculptor, one starts off with a block of marble or wood, not resembling much else but a proverbial block. With time, patience, humility, and working with ones hands, slowly the block of nothing starts taking shape, and this is much the same with training a young dog. The training never really stops – for both man, and dog. There is a reason why the Europeans call the grand sport of field trialling, ‘Cinofilia’ – cino, from canine, dog, and ‘filia’, friendship – friends of the dog – and the trainers, or dresseur, is known as a ‘Kynotechnist’ in Greek, a more apt term I couldn’t think of.
Life is Art, and Art often makes up much of Life, and so this is why I call it the ‘Art Of Life’, and I feel infinitely privileged to have discovered this passion of mine, because I have truly become a better person as a direct result of the dogs.
Always chasing the horizon,
Chris