NORWEGIAN BUHUNDS
On Thursday morning 5th Nov many in the Dog World were shocked and saddened to hear of the passing of Robert Greaves after a short illness, from which it was originally thought he would make a full recovery, sadly that was not to be. Some of you will have counted Robert among your friends, some will have only met him when he judged, and some will have not really known him but will have probably seen him helping at shows, making sure they ran smoothly. There have been numerous memories of him on Face Book and I know there will be an Obituary in ‘Our Dogs’. He was devoted to his Elkhounds and his Finnish Spitz ‘Rigsby,’ and was thrilled last year when he became the breed record holder. He was also a great friend to Buhunds, he had attended two breed seminars and passed the judging exam. He had judged the breed on a number occasions at open and Ch shows without CCs and was looking forward to awarding his first set of tickets in the breed. He was chairman of Midland Counties and was instrumental in having the breed scheduled, and although we did not have classes last year, he had told me we would have had classes back this year. He was always happy to put up a good Buhund, and Jenny tells me she has a treasured critique he wrote about Mo. Many of you know Debbie and I had Elkhounds as well as Buhunds for many years, and we had known Robert for nearly 30yrs.He has been Chairman of the Elkhound club for as long as I can remember, I have also been on the committee for some years, and I really cannot believe he will no longer be there. He was only 56yrs old, a real gentleman and had so much more to offer, his death is an enormous loss to the dog world in general. Condolences to his close friends, family and friends.
Ever since we had the first lockdown there have been many canine enthusiasts who have given up their time organising various online activities, rally, obedience, obreedience, scent and of course numerous shows. Most have been free to enter, some have asked for a small donation for various charities. They have all helped us pass the months, and in many cases the dogs have been taught new things and the owners have learnt how to film these various activities, although with shows of course they have mainly been judged on photos. It has been fantastic seeing the photos of so many fabulous dogs from all over the world. The latest was a Lockdown Fun show organised by Caro Flanagan and sponsored by the Norwegian Buhund Club of Ireland. There were 18 classes to enter with rosettes to the class winners and medals for the BIS & RBIS. There was also one of Addrienne Frost-Treadwell’s lovely painting of a Buhund going to the Organisers Pick, which was awarded to a photo of James Stewart’s Sasha. Entries came from both the Southern and Northern hemispheres. BIS was Ina Moller’s Buhund from Norway who won the Open Dog class. RBIS was Ana Nycz from Poland with a photo of her Goldie with a Buhund as a puppy then grown up, winning the before and after class. Some of the other winners were, Best Adult handler Millie Pentland handling King, Lies Hekhuis from the Netherlands winning BVD with Silas. Amie McLaughlin from the US who won BVB with Binna. Marti Kemper also from the US won Buhunds at Work with a Buhund herding sheep. Karin Klouman from Canada won the Best Head shot with Kimura’s Uno. Best Movement went to Caroline Russell Catt’s Freyja from Australia. Junior Handler was Micaela Kenyon from the US with Tisla and Over the Bridge was a photo of a group of Buhunds sent in by Lydia Massee from the Netherlands. The judges were Christina O’Brien and Keith Flanagan. A massive thanks to all involved, and I do hope all those that run these events realise how much they are appreciated.
I have received an interesting e-mail from Sarah Stonton she writes: -‘I think I am safe in saying that many of you reading these notes will be missing the showground carparks this year, for me my local is the East of England. Although I drive past the entrance most weeks to take my dogs for a run across the meadows by the river at Alwalton, I was not expecting to visit the showground. Well on Friday 30th October I did. As usual I had to drive around the perimeter road then down to the carpark like a normal show. That is where it changed, the scene below looked like a film set from an apocalyptic movie before most of the cast are on site and the action begins. There were multiple rigid tents constructed in rows and lanes under which you had to stop to do the necessary. Yes, it is our local Covid drive in test centre (by the way my test was precautionary and was negative). The whole process is booked online then you either book in via the text message you are sent or print off your details complete with own QR code. This QR code was scanned by security through the car window before entering the showground. When arriving at the car park there was a one-way system set out, a placard with Bay A, B, C etc was held up to tell you which lane of the 6 to take. Once under the first tent, an official explained through the car window how you need to take your swabs then posted the kit through a marginally narrowed window. Then I had to move onto the gravel part of the car park, take my swabs and press the hazard lights to tell them it was done. The same official then came to witness the correct packaging of the swabs then you are asked to drive to the next tent/station. Here your QR code is rescanned along with the bar code of the test kit to link them together, you then post them together through a marginally lowered car window into a clean dustbin then you drive off home. The whole process was done with military precision, despite no military or police being there !!!and was calm throughout. The full process from entering to leaving the showground only took 10minutes and for me the result was both texted and emailed back to me within 25hours’. Thanks Sarah I am very pleased to know that it was only precautionary and that is was negative.
Stay safe everyone.
Margaret Deuchar margaretdeuchar@gmail.com
The views expressed in Margaret’s Breed Notes are hers and hers alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Norwegian Buhund Club of the UK.