Norwegian Buhunds
In the late 1980’s Wally Conron of the Royal Guide Association of Australia mated a Labrador with a Standard Poodle, to help a blind woman whose husband had allergies to dog hair. The dog Sutan was a very good guide dog with the working attributes of the Labrador and the intelligence, agility and the low shedding of the poodle, the litter was called Labradoodles, and the phenomenon of designer dogs was born. Of course, prior to the 1800s, before showing, dog breeds were defined by function such as retrieving, setting or guarding, so being a guide dog could have been included. In 1873 the KC was founded and set about having rules to govern the various dog activities, such as showing, field trails and other activities, it also set about deciding what the breeds should look like. In the last 10-15 yrs designer dogs have become very popular with the public rejecting the traditional breeds, with the idea that the designer /cross breeds were healthier than pure bred dogs. Now Wally Conron says the Labradoodle is his life’s regret, he says he opened a ‘Pandora’s Box,’ as with these dogs you do not know how big they will get or its temperament, and if you cross them again, they do not always breed true, his aim had been to breed healthy pups but sadly this has not been followed by everyone, with some unscrupulous breeders crossing poodles with inappropriate dogs simply so that they can say they were the first to do it. Many of these crosses appeared during the pandemic , one of the most popular being the cockapoo, there were 653,597 owned in 2023, these are bred sometimes using a working cocker and one of the 3 heights of poodle, temperaments can be quite difficult with the intelligence of the poodle with the high energy of the spaniel. The rise of the doodle and poos has of course meant people are buying fewer purebred dogs with Cocker Spaniel ownership 562,951 and Poodles 105,369. The meteoric demand for these dogs has definitely been driven by the belief that they are healthier than purebreds, with the idea that crossing would breed out any health problems of the purebred dog. The Royal Veterinary College has now undertaken the World’s largest study into the health of these designer dogs (Cockapoos, Labradoodles and Cavapoos). The study was led by Gina Bryson Master’s Graduate, Dr Rowena Packer, Senior Lecturer in Companion Animal Behaviour and Welfare Science and Dr Dan O’Neill Associate Professor in Companion Animal Epidemiology. In the UK 9,402 owners of the three most common designer dogs and their parent breeds reported health information, this has shown that the overall health is similar to that of their parent purebred breeds, with the public beliefs about superior health of designer crossbreds being not true. It is hoped that the study will help potential owners decide which type of dog is best for them.
It has been a particularly hard time for the numerically small breeds such as ours, with some of these designer breed puppies being sold for thousands of pounds and with no health testing of the parents. This for us has not been helped by the demise of Discover Dogs in London, which was a shop window for so many not just our breed, where the necessity health testing could be talked about. Bu Bumbles and the various activities dogs now take part in has certainly helped to get the breed better known, I was very pleased to hear that Lillian Rumsey took her 6-month-old puppy Hallie (aka Wheatshade Iridium Sky) to her first mantrailing at Walltown Country Park Northumberland, where she was full of enthusiasm and soon learnt what to do.
On Sunday 6th October Millie Lambert headed off to Aberystwyth & District Canine Society Show, held at the United Counties Showground Carmarthen with Gunna (aka Sturtmoor’s Gon’n Dun It)to his first show at just 6months and 5days,where he was Best AVNSC and shortlisted in the group, Best AVNSC puppy then going PG1 followed by BPIS under Marianne Benton also winning treat money and a fantastic rosette, many congratulations, he is homebred by Draccus Diamond Day O’ Buhcafrey x Ch Sturtmoor’s Free’n Eezee, proud granny as Time is his grandsire .
I finish with two clear eye tests for Sue Crocker’s Leggatts Superstition (Franny) by Kligenthal Bran Mak Morn (Teddy) x Knytshall Noor Ul Ain and Leggatts Jive Talkin (Noodle) by Sturtmoor Floki x Leggatts Voulez Vous (Tissy).
Margaret Deuchar margaretdeuchar@gmail.com
Any 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