relief keeper

mixed emotions today.

My little tricolour friend ate the back out of my best shoes, mind they are / were still just wearable. However I come home this evening and all I have is the sole - cannot be pesky fresky as he had been with me.

Went to the pens this evening and guided Mark around - he is going to relief keeper for me for the next few weeks as I swan off to work in France. In one pen Fresco come trotting along with a pheasant in his mouth. As the deed was done I was more worried i did not pressure him and make him hold it too hard. When it came to hand it was cold and stiff and very emaciated - so a casualty of something. A quick inspection of it's larynx did not reveal any worm infestation but it was very thin and would I think have died of starvation. Odd and not something in an ideal world I would have liked to have left for another to sort out.

Took them all out mid afternoon for a small run. Catja was on the button, Topaz had his self hunting head on and although he came back everytime on the whistle it was by a slightly scenic route. Ellie was Ellie and Fresco ran like a loon. I don't know what got into him - it just looked as if he was running for the sheer joy of running and doing everything in an approximate manner. Sat late, wandered off line badly, didn't turn when asked -stuff like that. Maybe he was suffering from cabinitus and just needed to let his hair down. Hmm.