My name's Kev, I'm a picker upper in Bodidris.
I train gundogs,
specifically for picking up.
Well to be honest if they took away pheasant shooting
I think the countryside would go down hill to be honest.
Its got to be a brave government
to try and ban pheasant shooting.
Before I came into the shooting world I was in the army. I did eighteen years in the army,
I served on many tours
I did Northern Ireland, Bosnia.
I served out in Germany most of my time as part of the Royal Transport.
At the moment I've got four dogs,
The dogs seem to know exactly when it's going to be a training day or shooting day.
They seem to pick up on signs on what I'm doing, I try to keep the routine quite simple.
If I'm wearing my tweeds, one of my dogs won't eat.
At all,
it's gets so excited they realises this is it, I'm on a shoot, this is what I live for.
It's very, very hard to calm them down, so I have to sometimes go out in
in normal clothes to get them to eat before I can put my tweeds on.
Once I go near my 4x4, that's it they know it's game on.
My job is to side behind the guns and collect all the birds that have been shot.
So that's where I specifically train my dogs,
my dogs range a little bit more then the beating dogs, used more closed at foot, flushing the birds.
My dogs range a little bit further.
I picked cocker spaniels because they've got more character,
I feel they've got more stamina and they suite my way of training to be honest.
When you're training cocker spaniels you have to go a little bit softer with them.
You but any pressure on the dogs aren't going to do it.
Plus, I'm not quite old enough for a labrador yet.
On the shoots people that are looking in
don't know will probably think we get the rough end of the deal, however my job
is really working dogs. That's my passion, is working dogs.
To see a dog you've chosen from a litter, go all the way through training and be sitting by your side
see a bird go down, sending them out, bringing it back to your hand and sitting back down again.
There's no sort of better feeling for me
In the world to be honest, although my wife would think something different.
But that is what I love doing.
Shooting I feel out in the field
taking a pop shot at a few pheasants then walking away, there's no real fulfilment or job satisfaction for me.
Although I get many sort of offers to go shooting,
my job is or my passion is working the dogs.
Another reason I got these dogs when I left the army,
it came as a bit of shock when I left the army because I wasn't planning on leaving the army.
I ended up breaking my leg playing rugby.
So I had to have an operation, the operator messed up the operation.
Which ending up paralysing one of my vocal cords.
Just on my vocal cords open so I only get half an air way.
I went through many jobs
and that's one of the reasons why I went into gundogs.
I wouldn't say I was depressed but I did say I would say I was sort of
suffering a little bit and unhappiness.
I wanted a sort of hobby to fill my time really.
So I looked into buying a dog, I didn't want any sort of dog. I wanted a
working dog.
There's nothing else I would do really, I don't think I'd be able to live without my dogs.
They give you a hundred percent
You might think you there master, you can never master the dogs, you work as a team.
That's the team mentality that you see in the army.