Shooting and Fishing: Careful when taking your spaniel on his first grouse shoot

We had a call out at very short notice to walk up a moor on Donside where grouse were thought to lurk. I think they really wanted Crumpet, the two-year-old working cocker spaniel.

"Crumpet," I said sternly, "You have been asked to your first grouse shoot, so you must be very, very, well behaved." Crumpet barked, and skipped into the back of the car.

It was one of those relatively ramshackle outings where most of the dogs behaved pretty badly, but no one was terribly bothered as the laird's dog behaved worst of all.

When we finally disgorged onto the hill from a 1950s ex-French Foreign Legion Renault truck, Crumpet went what I think is generally known as apesh*t. Not quite doing back flips, but the horizontal equivalent, tearing about in huge bounds, sailing over clumps of heather, disappearing and then re-emerging as if on a pogo stick, straight up in the air, ears flying out sideways.

This went on for a good 20 minutes accompanied by a great deal of whistling and whispered shouting, if such a thing is possible, until the excitement wore off. (Scotty, who used to pick up pheasants at Sandringham, he claims, says cockers need a thorough bollocking as soon as they get out of the vehicle, just to steady them up. "After a bit you can train them to give themselves a bollocking").

By now, having calmed down, she was bouncing about quite happily working more or less from side to side just in front of three of the six guns walking in line across the hill. Most of the action seemed to be at the very far end of the line – typically.

But we seem to have established, rather to my surprise, an understanding about hares: Don't. And she didn't. She still makes a start as if to go for them but now understands that chasing them is a waste of time and everyone gets very cross. So that was encouraging.

And then someone fired at a covey curling down the hill and around the end of the line and one bird went down, miles out. So the son who used to be a keeper was sent off with Crumpet to find it, which she did, pretty well straight away and brought it back. And everybody said "Well, done Crumpet". Which was nice. Twenty minutes later she put up three birds in front of him. He shot one which she retrieved perfectly and came back grinning, as they do. Or as we like to think they do. I admit she still shows a little reluctance to let go of her prizes, but at least we don't have a tussle.

• This article first appeared in The Scotsman, Saturday September 11, 2010