This photo above is of my great grandparents William
and Mary Knowles. William was a gamekeeper in North
Wales and he was devoted to his dogs - always wondered where that gene came from
!!
My mother
,who gave me the original photo which I have had restored, does not recall
these particular dogs, ( well before her time I would think !!!)but the
obvious admiration of the black labrador for his master shows that the
devotion was reciprocated ( I'm guessing at labrador - the ears are difficult
to see ,and not sure if flat-coats were common in Wales in the late
1800's / early 1900's ?) I think the springer has a wonderful head with good
strong muzzle and seems to have a better ear set for a working springer than
seems to be the case nowadays.
Front
pasterns don't look brilliant, but if these are working dogs they would have
to be strong enough to carry out a days work, so function before beauty is
what matters.
I wonder what
William and Mary would have said if they had been told that in about a hundred
years time their image could be seen by thousands of people all over the world
at just the touch of a few buttons , and that their great-granddaughter would
love dogs just as much as they obviously did. How I wish I was clever enough
to train my dogs to the gun....
|
