This is Thomas (on the right I think) and Bessie.
Both ex-show and ex-breeding dogs, they'd come to the end of their working life and were adopted by B, who has rehomed lots of show-line labradors. Tom is now 9.5 years old and Bess is a couple of years younger, both well into middle age, then.
When they were rehomed, B and Mrs B were told that the dogs were were no longer able to breed. Three months later, however, they were presented with a surprise Christmas present: a litter of healthy puppies.
Tom is a very jealous husband and, apparently, will be aggressive towards any uncastrated male who approaches his bitch so we are careful to keep Fergus well-marshalled when we train with them. It is unclear whether Bess considers our young lad worth her time and effort.
So there they are, sedately doing retrieves in this beautiful countryside setting just for fun. Paddling around after dummies in local streams. One thing, though: since giving birth to her last litter, Ms Bessie eschews dummies. No. She will only deign to retrieve apples. So B brings a bag of them from his neighbouring orchard and, at the end of class, Bess gets to eat her apple.
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