Silverthorne Farm Open Day

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Aug 072013

It’s a shame that my first post is to announce a cancellation! Some of you may have seen that I was due to appear at Silverthorne Farm in the beautiful village of Milborne Wick on 1 September, an event that will be raising money for a local church and an animal charity. The organisers have now located a local chap who also does dog displays and have offered me the opportunity to stand aside. I have done so and am sure that the replacement display will be great. I hope everyone has a good day.

Demonstration Testimonials

At today’s Warminster Carnival, gundog trainer Stephen Harrison and his dog Poppy gave a training demonstration and performed tricks to rapturous applause.

Fans of “Britain’s Got Talent” will have seen the dog “Pudsey” win the show and with it, £500,000 doing tricks like walking on his owner Ashleigh’s feet, walking on his hind legs, albeit flawlessly to music. Poppy did all this and more, including balancing a sausage on her nose until being allowed to eat it and carrying another sausage to her master, also uneaten.

Warminster Web

Warminster Carnival 2012

From: David J Nobbs, Shoot Captain, Durrington Shoot

24 June 2013

Dear Mr Harrison,

I visited Winterbourne Church Fete on 23 June and was intrigued with your gundog demonstration. I must say that I have never seen such a wonderful display.

I have been involved in gundog scurries and retrieving competitions well in excess of 20 years. As a shooting man and springer spaniel owner, I have some insight into gundog trials.

In my opinion, your springer spaniel was the best I have ever seen, very steady and responsive to whistle and hand signals. You must be very proud of her, and so you should be. Congratulations on a wonderful display.

Yours sincerely,

David Nobbs

Winterbourne Fete

This is the second time Salisbury City Council have used Stephen and the Gundog display at one of our family events and we are always delighted with the show which is educational, informative and fun for our audience. We would not hesitate to use the show as part of a future event.

Claire Burden, Business Manager, Salisbury City Council

Salisbury Summer Spectacular August 2013

I was lucky enough to watch One Man and his Gundogs at The Wessex Country Fair recently and even luckier to chat with him after the demonstration. On mentioning writing a review of his demonstration, Stephen, tongue in cheek, informed me of the correct spellings for some adjectives I might need for the review-

Stephen told me “there are two p’s in appalling and two b’s in rubbish”!

Of course these are two adjectives I would never have need of using when reviewing one of Stephen’s demonstrations, however, it highlights his wonderful humility and sense of humour which shines through fantastically when you watch him.

Stephen starts with some classic dog training but makes it accessible for anyone. He follows with a brilliant display of his Gundog’s skills which is a joy to watch. You leave feeling you can achieve great things with your dog too, which is wonderfully empowering and an amazing achievement from one man in a demonstration with his dogs.

Then there’s the fun and tricks which always gets the audience going! Stephen does “voices” for the dogs and a brilliant array of tricks which particularly appeals to children but entertains the adults brilliantly as well. The trick at the end with Daisy “fooling” Stephen is genius and brings laughter all round!

It is the very fact that Stephen doesn’t take himself too seriously that is part of the charm of the show. If it’s hot and his dogs don’t perform perfectly, that’s fine. I love that. There’s no pressure and therefore it ends up being a lot of fun to watch.

You cannot help but smile and feel good when you watch One Man and his Gundogs. In this world of increasing connectivity, competition and complications, the fact that a man in a field with his beloved dogs can achieve this and enrapture and lift his audience is nothing short of astounding.

Thank you and the dogs so much for a wonderful show Stephen.

Lorraine Taylor

Warminster Journal

Friday 13 Sep 2013

"Highlight of the day was Stephen Harrison's demonstration of dog training methods, gundog skills and tricks - with the help of Springer Spaniel Poppy and Labrador puppy Daisy.

He showed basic dog training techniques and also how gundogs hunt and retrieve.

The most popular part of the 30 minute show was a fun display of tricks by Poppy worthy of Britain's Got Talent's Pudsey. She balanced a sausage on her nose, danced, walked backwards, walked on Stephen's toes, did meerkat impressions, saluted and won everyone's heart".

Warminster Carnival 2013

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