NORWEGIAN BUHUNDS
The first Ch show with CCs for breed this year was National Working and Pastoral Breeds, held on the Three Counties Show ground in Malvern on Saturday 17th July. When the times came out, I realised we would be getting up at silly o’clock as we were first in the ring at 9am, several either camped or stayed locally. In the end being in first was really good, we had a great trip down only meeting heavy traffic when we joined the M5, and the day was the hottest we had so far this year, so the 9am start made things bearable. We arrived first and having found our ring we set up, we were not allowed gazebos (as there were wet weather rings in the cattle sheds) so we had a couple of large umbrellas, a cage covered with a silver cover and a cool mat inside which seemed to work really, we soon had a group of Buhunds and their owners, the fact that we were not allowed gazebos made it more friendly although still socially distanced, as at East of England with gazebos we were really spread out, so we rather lost our identity.
Our judge was well known all-rounder Lyn Salt (Woodlyn)who was giving CCs in the breed for the first time, having previously judged our open show. She found her BCC & BOB in Millie Lambert’s Sturtmoor’s Free’n Eezee (Sheira) by Ch Koromandel Best Served Cold at Knytshall (Jamie) x Stutmoor’s Eezee Luvva. Sheira was BP & RBCC at Crufts 2020.RBCC her 11th Jenny Shorer-Wheeler’s Ch Maidofcopper for Kormandel JW (Imp Fin) (Pikka) she is by Nor Ch Gripagrottens Qu x Multi Ch Cipacan Mila Magia she also has 8CCs. DCC my and daughter Debbie’s Rikarlo Gable JW L1ex (Time) this was his third CC so giving him his crown. His first CC was from minor puppy under David Cavill at Bath, his second with BOB was from Junior at LKA under the late Gail Hussey, he also has 3RCCs and is by Jamie x Kimura’s Vera With Tapui (Imp Nor) and was bred by Lorraine Bolton. RDCC his 11th Nancy Kent, Jacqui& Michael Cobb’s Jamie by Am/Can/Uk Ch Kyon’s Bold Norseman x Pikka he also has 7CCs.You will see it was quite a family affair as Sheira and Time are both by Jamie and their grandmother is Pikka. Millie and Sheria had a long wait in the heat for the group but it was worth the wait as she was shortlisted under Meg Purnell Carpenter which was a great result. Millie said they found a fab tree to sit under so had shade for the day, it was with friends who had GSD’s and were later joined by the Estrela crowd, so they had a super day but the Group Ring was horrendously hot, but they were allowed to leave the ring and keep the dogs cool while they were waiting to be judged.
It was great to have Mary and Dave Dosson and Anne & Victoria Graholska showing at their first Ch show, also to have a visit from our great supported Pat Williams on her first trip out and Debbie Penniston Fleming who was down from Scotland to judge Briards.
Below Sarah Stonton tells how she and her dogs decide which activities to do and how they fair in the activities
“Now Loxy (Trelowen Andrea AW(S) is retired from agility, there are less shows which clash but as she and Jack (Ch Arnscroft In Di Ana Jack RL1Ex) compete in breed, scent and rally, there are still some dilemmas, often decided bases on the length of the journeys.
For 11th July, I needed to choose between East of England breed show (7miles away) or a Scentwork UK (SWUK) scent trial (25miles) so I put the question to Jack knowing that Loxy would always prefer to work her nose.
Me- ‘Jack would you like to go to a breed show at E of E showground, you know the place just opposite where you often run and play in the meadows and swim in the River Nene at Alwalton?’
Jack- ‘What is a show? I can’t remember’
Me – ‘You know where you stand and look handsome and get and fed lovely treats then you trot round the ring with me and win ribbons and cards?’
Jack – ‘Oh yes, I think I remember-I looked sooooo good. Wasn’t my last show at that showground?’
Me – ‘Yes it was, a show called Boston in Jan 2020-and you won the Good Citizen Stakes class and had a photo taken’
Jack – ‘Yes I DO remember -I was especially good looking that day but……I haven’t got much to wear, my underwear (undercoat) is wearing thin!’
Me- ‘But you have your top coat still!’
Jack- ‘But there won’t be a bench for me to pose on!’
So, I decided to enter the scent trial with both dogs, Jack in Level 1(his first official SWUK trial) and Loxy in Level 2. It ended up the best decision as after the closing date Jack dropped his top coat and looked like an adolescent again.
Come 11th July-the weather in Holbeach, Lincs was perfect for us; some sunshine some cloud but not too hot. The trial was held between 2 sites-inside in a dog training hall behind a boarding kennels to find the clove scent on a table/chairs, and a separate search where the scent was amongst cardboard boxes and luggage. The farm site was 2miles away with an outdoor search on miscellaneous items on the floor then a vehicle search which was undercover for Level 1, fully outdoors for Level 2. Level 1 has one find in each area. Level 2 has two finds in each area with more things to search, so Loxy had 3 vehicles to search and needed 2 finds rather than Jack who had just had a single car.
As a handler I made errors, primarily in Loxy’s case not trusting her to be correct, but Jack came out with a qualifying score with 3 out of 4 finds, Loxy narrowly missed qualifying finding 5 out of 8 she needed 6 to qualify. To be Covid secure, dogs were put into groups of 6 so only a limited number of people would be at the venue at any one time.
Wed 14th July, Jack took me to another Level 1 trial at Wellingborough Rugby Club-he searched brilliantly, again my handling was at fault as I called two finds too early when he hadn’t quite localised them closely enough, had I given him another few seconds he would have had a clean sweep (top score).
Lots to learn and enjoy. After a ‘find’ he trots back to the car smiling and giving me eye contact all the way as he is so pleased with himself and the job he has done.
Their next ‘working’ weekend at the end of the month is a Rally competition for them (this time Jack is in Level 2 as he has his Level 1 Excellent title, and Loxy is in Level 1) followed the next day by another scent trial for Jack.
Enjoy all dogs and your outings with them”
Margaret Deuchar margartedeuchar@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.