Do you ever wonder just who's watching who.................

It's strange that a significant number of my posts lately have involved Harvey and today is no exception.

We were in the playing field at Hanningfield this morning, Harvey with his prized tennis ball and me lobbing it around whenever he brought it back to me.  After a short time I became aware of being watched, you know that strange sensation when the hairs stand up on the back of your neck and you shiver for no apparent reason?  Anyway turning round I met the eyes of more than a dozen sheep, sitting for all the world like they were watching a game of tennis.  To understand how funny this looked you have to imagine a steep slope on the outside of the reservoir which the sheep walk up and down with apparently effortless grace.  Further imagine then them sitting, almost dog like, with feet lower than their heads, their heads turning this way and that as Harvey chased after his ball.  We were quite obviously their entertainment for the morning!

After a time they broke up, presumably bored with our antics and began feeding again but not before they'd made me laugh!

It wasn't long before I heard a plaintive baa coming from one of the smaller lambs, it had clearly lost it's mother and although not in full panic mode, it's tremulous voice rose several octaves as I stood watching it.

Thankfully in the distance I heard a resounding reply and the lamb started to trot towards it, all the time calling and waiting for a response.  It was about 10 feet away from a ewe and clearly mistook her for Mum, barreling into her side in search of food but receiving a tidy smack from the irritated sheep as opposed the tasty lunchtime treat she had been expecting.

However, that notwithstanding, the lamb continued on it's way, it's mother's tone becoming more strident the longer it took and it was with some relief that they were finally reunited, the lamb's tiny tail wagging happily for all it was worth at finally finding the milky bar she had been searching for.

All in a day's work......................

Harvey & I have been walking past a small herd of young bulls for about a month or so now.  

This produces much curiosity on their behalf and absolutely none on Harveys!

Each time we pass they come across the field and stand as near to the fence as they can inviting him to partake in a 'getting to know you session', their broad noses huffing lightly in his direction, but he, in true Labrador style seems to have nothing but contempt for them, his only real concern, where his yellow tennis ball might be.

I truthfully acknowledge that throwing tennis balls is not a skill I've acquired over the years and would even go so far as to say my interest is negligible.

Harvey on the other hand is a dab hand at chasing and catching..............well until today that is!

The throw started well enough and I still maintain that had it not been for a sudden gust of wind carrying it off course, it would have been one of my better throws. But that aside, it took off pretty smartly and after flying through the air for a second or two, took a side curve and landed about 6 feet away.

Yes you've got it...in the field with the bullocks.

Harvey looked from me to the ball and back again in complete disbelief and then just stood there glaring (if a dog can).  The occupants of the field looked almost as dumbstruck as I felt, and Harvey, patience not being one of his strong suits, decided that since I was clearly addled and not doing anything, he had better attempt a rescue of his own.  Striding purposefully to the gate he squeezed his head through only to be brought up short by the confines of the five bars he then found himself in.  As if losing the ball wasn't bad enough, I now had a labrador stuck fast in the gate!

This time luck was on my side and after a bit of cursing from both us I managed to gently wriggle his head back under the bar and it came free with a resounding pop.  Of course the young bulls thought it highly entertaining but Harvey was still minus his ball.

A long piece of wood was the next obvious choice but of course trying to wrangle it between the bullocks was a bit off-putting and logic told me it wasn't going to reach anyway so I abandoned that as a bad idea and decided to take Harvey back to the van for another ball and come back once I had his attention again.

To say he sulked on the way back would be an understatement!

Anyway back at the field my luck was finally in, the farmer was delivering a bale of hay on the opposite side  and whilst the cattle's attention was diverted, I nipped over the gate myself and retrieved said ball.

Harvey's joy was unsurpassed, not only was his best ball back in his possession, he now also had a spare!