Training a Working Breed Dog

This picture of Jamie, our lovely Working Breed Cocker Spaniel, was taken just days after we adopted him, at the age of about eight months.

Working dog breeds make wonderful pets and companions, and the young family who owned him loved him to bits and he was beautifully cared for. Unfortunately they were now realising that they just couldn’t manage to give him the time he now needed to keep him happy and occupied.  These breeds are highly intelligent and bred to WORK, so they need to be carefully trained to do this, or they can become mischievous.

Regretfully, but very wisely, they started to look for a new home for their puppy, and we were willing to have a go!  After carefully ‘vetting’ us they agreed to a trial, and two years later here he is!

Yes, he’s now much bigger and still extremely ‘bouncy’, but a joy!

In this section of my blog I plan to tell the story of our progress as we endeavoured to train him to become a polite member of society!

When we have owned (and successfully trained) dogs before, we have usually found books a good source of useful information and advice.  Jamie proved to be a special case, and the internet has come up with a wonderful dog trainer called Pippa Mattinson. Her site  would be an invaluable resource for all dog owners, but is particularly helpful for owners of working breeds.

Manchester Sketchkit

This summer has been a fast and furious one, hence my blog silence...many apologies to interested parties!

Heading for the 2016 International USK Symposium  in Manchester the following week, some of us photographed and/or drew our sketchkit. ‘Urban Sketching’ is all about drawing and painting on location, so the challenge is to organise and minimise the kit as efficiently as possible!

This was my first rough draft, on a handmade ‘concertina’ sketch booklet, but my pens didn’t like the paper, which was a fairly soft and absorbent watercolour paper...so I didn’t linger on that one!

My next attempt, this time broaching a tinted paper sketchbook, was much better, and I enjoyed doing this one!

As I had decided to spend July rediscovering watercolour for myself, responding to a Facebook challenge, this is the listI began to come up with! The list below describes the items in my picture, and isn’t my complete kit, as some items are carried in a belt pouch or my pockets!  The aim however is to make the whole thing as portable as possible.

1. Folding watercolour palette, featuring empty ‘wells’ into which to squeeze tube paint.
2.  Short ‘rigger’ brush, fitting inside palette
3.  Piston-filled brushpen, containing clear water
4. Uniball ‘Eye’ fine rollerball pen (for emergency use only) - I prefer the Japanese fine Platinum Carbon drawing pen (ink bottle pictured above) for drawing, but always try to carry backup in the form of spares and refills etc where possible. The pen I carry in my belt-pouch, which will feature in another article.
5. Short clear plastic ruler - I never use one for drawing, but it’s a useful thing to carry ‘on the road’!
6. The little wallet pictured underneath the palette here is made of a canvas-like material, and wraps neatly around my folded palette, a small plain A6 Moleskine Reporter’s Notebook, and a small pencil tin containing half a dozen little synthetic brushes!
7. The pencil-case contains the bottom bit of an old milk bottle (much lighter than a glass jar for water!), some tissues, a small jar of white opaque qouache paint, AND spare tubes of paint in my preferred range!
8. Also pictured are two ink bottles - both have good sealing lids (if in doubt I decant ink into leakproof Nalgene bottles) , containing Platinum Carbon ink and a beautiful blue-grey fountain pen ink which I use for drawing!

Belt Pouch Sketch Kit

My belt pouch!

Well I’ve been promising myself a chance to list the contents of my belt pouch ...one of the best purchases I’ve ever made!

I’ve drawn and pictured this excellent item on my Facebook page, but just see the list of stuff it can hold for me to have ready to hand when working in the field...really amazing! As you might be able to see in the photograph, the pouch sports two generous zipped compartments, plus bands and slots added at front and back to hold yet more useful things!

So - starting from the back of the pouch, and working forwards through the various sections of the pouch, here is a list of the items it is holding today:

1. Disposable craft knife
2. Packet of Cartridge refills for Pentel Brushpen
3. Jakar Battery eraser
4. Two Papermate disposable mechanical pencils (with small attached erasers)
5. Three ‘Derwent’ water soluble drawing graphite pencils, in Light Wash, Medium wash, Dark wash.
6. Nine Kuretake ‘CleanColor’ watercolour brushpens, in Light Violet, Brown, Blue, Light Blue, Emerald Green, Lemon Yellow, Ochre, Orange,Light Grey, Red.
7. Ten ‘Aquarelle’ water-soluble coloured pencils, in Sanguine, Indian Red, Scarlet, Empire Green, Light Ochre, Cinnamon, Ultramarine, Naples Yellow, Lemon Yellow, Sky Blue. (These colours may vary very slightly, according to the range of single colours available when I need to make a replacement).
8. Mitsubishi ‘Posca ‘ Fibre tip markers in white and black.
9. Two piston-filled fountain pens, pre-filled with brown and grey drawing ink
10. Small penknife
11. Bent-nib calligraphy pen
12. Pentel brushpen
13. Platinum Carbon fountain pen
14. ‘Signo’ rollerball white gel pen
15. Black biro

The above, combined with a large jacket pocket containing a tiny leakproof container, such as a film canister or ‘Nalgene’ bottle, pre filled with clean water, and/or a brushpen, with converter pre-filled with clear water, plus a tiny ‘pill’ box or tin, for sharpenings, and a small pocket plain Moleskine journalist’s notebook, are easy to pick up in a hurry, and provide all I need if travelling light, or trying to draw somewhere such as the Natural History Museum in Manchester, which doesn’t allow painting, as such, on the premises, but are very helpful and encouraging to anyone who wants to draw the wonderful exhibits!
So…..getting on to about forty items in all - Phew !