A FOUR-YEAR-OLD girl from Oughtershaw has been impressing country show judges across the country with her gundog handling abilities.

Ellie Close, a reception pupil at Kettlewell Primary School, has done so well with gundogs that she qualified to compete with 16 other juniors in the Great Wall Motor World Series Gundog Junior Handling Championship at Weston Park, Shropshire.

However, unfortunate circumstances meant she unable to compete - Ellie's dog Molly was in season.

"You can't run a bitch in season at competitions," said Ellie's mum, Louise Close. "It's not fair to the other competitors, as the male dogs can't concentrate.

"It's just sod's law," said Louise. "Ellie was disappointed, but we just told her and she understood. She got a nice rosette to say she had qualified. She was the youngest person ever to qualify for the final."

Ellie helps her dad, John Close, train English Springer Spaniels on the family's training field at Oughtershaw.

John, a plumber, captains the local shoot and has been raising gundogs for seven years.

He runs Langstroth Gundogs, a boarding and training business which demonstrates gundogs at all of the local shows. He also competes in gundog handling events across the UK.

"From birth, Ellie was plonked in the middle of gundogs and dragged to shows all over the country," said Louise. "She loves it really; it's all she knows. Being outside in the middle of a field is a fabulous environment to take a child into."

The Closes are part of Team Spaniel, a group of eight families who camp and compete together in gundog competitions around the country.

"She's been around that environment so she wanted to have a go herself," said Louise.

From February of this year, Ellie began competing in the qualification rounds of various game and country fair competitions, including those at Highclere Castle in Newbury (where Downton Abbey is filmed) and Lowther Castle in Penrith.

One of Ellie's best performances was when she finished second at the Scottish Game Fair held at Scone Palace, Perth.

Ellie had to walk her dog to the competition area on a piece of land across the River Tay and work her dog in a large area impressing the judges with her handling abilities.

"Ellie's had a lot of success," said Louise. "In these competitions, you have to re-enact a shoot day for the dog."

Ellie, like her other competitors, has to send the dog off using a whistle. The dog then brings back the game and hands it over to its handler.

"Ellie is very good at pointing the dog in the direction it needs to go," said Louise. "This gets the dog to trust her, and it's something that adult handlers can struggle with. It shows the connection between Ellie and the dog."

Although Ellie has been successful with the experienced four-year-old Springer Spaniel Molly, her mum and dad have just given one of Molly's offspring to Ellie, a pup she calls Rosie.

And now Ellie's next achievement could be passing on her gundog knowledge to her new baby sister Betsy, who was born on July 24.

"We're hoping that she'll follow in Ellie's footsteps," said Louise.