NORWEGIAN BUHUNDS
I am writing these notes on 22nd March, Mother’s day and I still find it very difficult to get my head around the fact that just 2weeks ago, I was coming back from Crufts, having spent 2 days there doing Discover Dogs on the Friday, and then the breed the following day. There is a saying ‘a day is a long time in politics’ and certainly that has been so very true during the last week. I am now off work for 12 weeks as although I have no underlying health issues that I know of, and although my husband is all right at the moment, he has a number of underlying health issues that makes him very vulnerable. I know that many Buhund owners are also very vulnerable and many are also working from home.
The KC shut its doors in London last Friday with all the staff working from home, they hope things will keep running as smoothly as possible, but there may be delay to respond to postal correspondence ,so they ask people to use e mail where possible.
The BVA are also working from home but are contactable by phone or e- mail, they say they will get back to everyone as soon as possible. It may also take longer for Hip and Elbow Dysplasia submissions to be processed. The scrutineers will not be travelling into London for scoring sessions, so there will probably be a delay in getting the results back to the vets. Many veterinary practices will be operating at reduced capacity, so they may be unable to provide a radiography service, so it might t be better to reschedule radiographs for later in the year. Eye Panellists are also not carrying out eye testing, so please bear this in mind if your dog needs testing before mating.
Late on Saturday came the very sad news that the Animal Health Trust was to go into administration at the end of March. To start with people thought it was a scam but sadly it was not. The charity has been in existence for 75 years and does amazing work to fight disease and injury in horses, dogs and cats and in finding DNA tests for various conditions. It even does DNA tests on Exmoor ponies to see if they are purebred. It is of course the AHT that found our DNA for our Ataxia. Within a few hours a giving page was set up to help save them with people giving anything from £5 to £200, this of course will help in the immediate future but is not the long time answer as they need millions, so we must all hope that rescue package can be found.
Lastly these notes are for you, it is going to be difficult for all of us and our dogs who are missing the activities they have enjoyed doing with us. I know ‘Time’ cannot understand why he is only having a walk and not going out at other times. Please e- mail me or PM me if we are friends on face book and tell me how you are keeping your dogs happy. Perhaps finding a new walk away from everyone else, and the various activities you are doing with them at home. We know why we are staying in but you can’t explain that to our dogs.
Stay safe everyone.
Margaret Deuchar margaretdeuchar@gmail.com