Website of the Sporting Irish Water Spaniel Club

Dogs have the lead at Bungehurst.

For anyone with an enthusiasm for gundogs, a dogless beating line makes a sad sight, for one of the most essential ingredients is missing, Yet, a surprising number of shoots have a rule that no dogs are allowed in the line, Ask why, and you generally find that the 'keeper has had an unfortunate past experience with excited dogs running wild during a drive. Rather than take the risk of the same thing happening again, he has simply banned dogs altogether. One 'keeper who hasn't is John Rolfe, which perhaps isn't surprising, as his enthusiasm for dogs is reflected in his position as chairman of the Sporting Irish Water Spaniel Club (SIWSC). No, he hasn't got a kennel full of Irish water spaniels. At the moment, he has just one, Fergal, with whom he picks-up, but doesn't use for beating. Fergal gets around 40 days' picking-up during the season. However, there's hardly a shortage of dogs in the Rolfe kennels. In addition to Fergal, John has five black-and-white English springers and a single lemon-and-white cocker. It is the latter, a five-year-old dog called Tad, who is his constant companion when he is running the beating line on shooting days on the Bungehurst shoot, where John works as the single-handed 'keeper for Mr Michael Hind. The shoot is near Mayfield in East Sussex, and is only in its second season. However, thanks largely to John's skill, it is already showing tremendous sport. I saw this for myself last month when I spent a day in the beating line and with the picking-up team. As we walked to the first drive, John told me that he has always been interested in farming and shooting, and that he's been involved in 'keepering for the best part of 30 years. He has been full-time for 20 years, except for a four-year interval, when he was running a gamefarm. Dogs have always been important to him, and he has had Irish water spaniels for a quarter of a century. John's first Irish water spaniel was a rescue dog and it proved to be a competent roughshooting companion. The second one had temperament problems, but Heather, his third, really established his enthusiasm for the breed and was the founder of the line he has today. In the past, he has had as many as five water spaniels, and up to 11 dogs altogether. It is, however, misleading to suggest that all the Rolfe dogs are John's, for his wife, Diana, is also much involved in both handling and training, and she is also on the committee of the SIWSC. According to John, you can always tell who trained which dog, ''as that dog is totally obsessed with that person". Diana always works her springers on Bungehurst shoot days, as does daughter Stephanie and son Nick. Stephanie works for the Environment Agency, and lives at Exmouth in Devon. The fact that she rarely misses a shoot says a lot about her enthusiasm for working her nine- year-old English springer, Lucy, with the rest of the Rolfe dogs. Nick lives and works locally, so has considerably less distance to travel to get to the shoot. The Bungehurst Shoot is a long, relatively narrow piece of ground, with its centre being the infant river Rother. On either side, the land rises quickly, and though there are no big woods, there are numerous shaws and wide hedges. Carefully sited strips of gamecover allow john to make the best use of the ground's contours to provide high, testing birds. As john's beating team is relatively small, its canine members playa vital role in hunting cover. Nick Nicholson is a regular member of the team, working his English springer bitch, Cilia, and his Rottweiller cross, Max. While Max may look an unlikely beating dog, she has a remarkably good nose and hunts well. Nick told me that, good though she is with pheasants, her real speciality is foxing, and she is adept at retrieving the odd one to hand. John's regular pickers-up are Vic Partridge and Ron Bonner. Ron is another Irish water spaniel enthusiast, and has had them for the past 15 years. He currently has three, and was working his bitch, Millie, on the day of my visit. He is also heavily involved with eventing horses, but still manages at least one day a week picking-up or roughshooting with his spaniels during the season. Vic is the 'keeper on a small shoot, a job he combines with working as a water bailiff. He is also a keen fisherman, finding that "fishing and shooting go well together, as when the fishing finishes at the end of October, the shooting gets going. I then pick-up most days of the week. My current spaniel, joe, is five. I've always had spaniels, and much prefer them to other breeds, as they do everything, don't they?" Vic and Joe gave a fine demonstration of their efficient teamwork in the third drive of the morning, when they picked-up 37 birds. Joe is an extremely fast worker, marking each fallen bird carefully, then, once given the command, racing in for a speedy retrieve. The day's bag was a record for the Bungehurst shoot -140 pheasants, six (wild) mallard, 21 redlegs and three snipe. The Guns had shot well, and enjoyed a memorable day's sport. The beaters and pickersup had clearly had a good time, too. However, there's no doubt that much of the credit for the success of the day has to go to the spaniels, and Max the Rottweiller, for their unlimited enthusiasm and energy.

Back to Press