The Duke of Buccleuch's Cocker Spaniel, Buccleuch Athena, achieved Field Trial Champion status at the Lothian and Borders Gundog Association Open Cocker Trial at the Longformacus Estate on 30 September 2008.
Under the expert guidance of David Lisett, Bramble, as she is known to the family, executed an excellent trial in deep heather, hunting the heather very well while some of the bigger dogs 'bounced' in the terrain. Bramble had no other choice but to get underneath the heather as her legs were too short to touch the ground. Bramble flushed her first rabbit but either ran into it or, more likely, tried to catch it and finished the job with a good retrieve. She had 4 rabbits in her two runs and made the retrieves look easy. Bramble's luck has changed and she won the trial 'on ice' making her a real Field Trial Champion.
This also qualifies her for the 2008 Cocker Championships. | 
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