Molly & Me by Colin Butcher

Author:Colin Butcher [Butcher, Colin]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Penguin Books Ltd
Published: 2019-05-01T16:00:00+00:00

10. Bluebell Wood

Although Molly’s scent-detection skills were coming on in leaps and bounds – quite literally, in fact – it was still vitally important that we kept up our rigorous training schedule. There were always new techniques to learn and new hidey-holes to discover, and three or four times a week I’d take her over to Bramble Hill Farm in order to put her through her paces. Molly could often sense that we were off to HQ, and as I got everything ready at home she’d take up a position by the front door, usually sitting on my outdoor boots. As I pulled them on to my feet, she’d always gently place a paw on the leather, just making double-sure that we were venturing outdoors.

Sometimes I’d set Molly specific tasks at Bramble Hill, often based upon issues we’d encountered in previous searches. I would, for example, plant a cat-hair sample high up in a sycamore, to replicate the missing moggy she’d found holed up in a treehouse. Or I’d take her to areas where small animals roamed – beside the lake, or along the canal – to teach her to focus on the core cat scent rather than being distracted by the odours of ducks, rabbits or squirrels.

While Molly’s progress over the past few months had been nothing short of phenomenal, it was vital that her scent-detection techniques as a working cocker spaniel – as well as my own dog-handling abilities – were constantly improved and refined. This very fact had been underlined by Mark, the canine-behaviour expert who’d worked so closely with Molly prior to my ownership of her.

‘You’ll never, ever stop improving, Colin,’ he’d told me on handover day. ‘Every single search will throw up different tests and challenges, and you’ve got to learn from them all, even the disappointments.’

Indeed, Molly and I had experienced a handful of unsuccessful cat searches that spring. In one such instance I had unwisely deployed her in fine rain and, despite her very best efforts, it had been impossible for her to match the animal’s scent in the damp conditions. The search was ultimately fruitless and, not only did I get soaked to the skin (as did Molly), I came away feeling utterly dejected. On another occasion we’d been tasked with finding a farm cat named Spider but, upon arrival at the location, I discovered that all the barns and stables were packed with livestock. Unable to guarantee Molly’s safety, we’d had to leave without searching a single building. I wasn’t deluded – realistically, we were never going to locate every single cat – but I still felt down and disconsolate whenever we didn’t get a result, even if it was beyond our control. I would use these setbacks as a platform for further learning, however, and would put in hours of extra training to compensate.

‘We’ll get it right next time, Molls,’ I’d say, as she tore off towards Shepherd’s Rest, where, an hour earlier, I’d hidden a cat-hair sample in a hollow oak tree.

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