NORWEGIAN BUHUNDS
I hope whether you stayed at home and enjoyed a relaxing time or went out and about you enjoyed the Easter break. On Easter Saturday Jacque Cobb went to a Rally competition organised by Rallydogs, she writes, ‘I travelled to Crudwell Village Hall & Recreation Ground near Malmsbury for a Rally competition. Eloise was entered in Levels 3 &4.I intended to do level 3 first, and then Level 4 later in the afternoon, however, by the time I arrived to sign in all the early level 3 slots had been taken, so we had to go near the end.(Unlike agility where you are given a running order, there is a sheet for each level and you can choose where you want to go, rather on a first come first served basis )We then ended up going first in Level 4.The ground was very spongey not easy to walk on, and I wasn’t sure how well we had done. I put Eloise back in the car and went for a coffee. Back at the ring side we watched two dogs competing, one brilliantly and one NQ’d(Not Qualified usually due to missing out a position on the course or fouling in the ring, so no marks are awarded )then it was our turn. Eloise did reasonably, until we were coming back up the ring next to a hedge, when my usually obedient dog stopped to have a pee! I was so mortified. Later we were waiting for the results for Level 4, when the judge announced that the ‘Judges choice’ for Level 3 was Knytshall Eloise. I was absolutely amazed. Then the icing on the cake, Eloise was 5th in Level 4 with a qualifying score”.
For those of you who have not competed in Rally, a Rally course has numbered signs that guide you and your dog through various exercises in sequence. The levels start at 1 then go up to 6, progression is dependent upon gaining 3 excellent scores under 3 different judges or 6 qualifying scores under 4 different judges’ 1-4 qualifying score of 175 out of 200 Excellent score is 190.Level 3 and above are off the lead.
Saturday 6th April saw club members traveling to the Hare and Hounds in Coventry for the AGM and fun day. We have had several BADs (Breed Appreciation Day) there and moved from Shirland the usual venue as the hall had a new floor last year, which they wanted to be completely covered by mats and any area that wasn’t was very slippery. The slight downside was downside was that the Hare & Hounds has a Restaurant we could not have our usual picnic, but the venue did supply a very good selection of sandwiches at lunch time and tea and coffee at day, which of course we had to pay for, but it was defiantly a plus not to have to cart the mats around.
The officers and committee of the club were re-elected for another year. The accounts were adopted, Chris Maynard our treasurer had laid the account out so well that it was easy to see where we had or hadn’t made money. Chris was thanked for all her hard work. The Chairmans Secretary and Breed Health Co-Ordinator Reports were read out these were published in the Bu News, which is so fantastically produced by Lillian, you should have all received yours by now, please do let me know if you haven’t.
Sue Crocker gave a rescue report, no dog last year had to be rescued but 2 were successfully removed one requiring a lot of travel arrangements. A third rehome Buddy came to the AGM to picked up on his journey from Scotland to Hastings, and stayed with his new owners and enjoyed the proceedings. Many thanks were given to Sue for the great work she does, with Rescue and Rehoming.
Anne Smith is going to start on a new website for us and would like ideas of what you would like, if you e-mail me or message me on FB, I can add them to my weekly email to her when I send her my weekly Blog. She also hopes to start a Gallery of Champions with the date of when they became a Ch and a basic pedigree and a Gallery of Crufts BOB winners with the year/s they won and again a basic pedigree.
There were several proposals, one was to confirm that the club would be giving £1,500 to the Canine Genetics Centre to help with the shortfall of money now that the KC Charitable Trust will no longer be supporting them. This was passed.
The next proposal was that the club continue with a booking for 21st August for a themed lunch at the Royal Kennel Club in Clarges Street. This includes a tour of the library with all its fantastic paintings and having been previously they are fantastic, and as it will be themed day they will try and find as many paintings and articles of Buhunds as possible. There will also be a chance to see the Crufts BIS Cup. Then there will a lunch with a glass of fizz, the cost will be £48.50. It was agreed to go ahead, and Jenny will be in touch with all members very soon to calculate numbers. Of course, it is in London but often people travelling to London, drive to station on the outskirts and then finish the journey by train.
Another proposal was to increase membership fees from next year as they have stayed the same for many years. This was also passed.
I finish with the great news that Roger Thomas has agreed to be our Patron after the sad passing of Shirley Dobson last December. Some of you may not know of his connection with the club so I asked him he would kindly write a piece about his history with the club.
“First of all, I would like to express my thanks to the club and everyone for putting me forward to be your Patron. It is a special honour for me to be considered and I know my late wife Madeleine would have been. ‘Over the moon’ about it. My reasons for saying that are that she fell in love with the breed and after extensive research and after seeing the Buhund in the flesh we went to see Sally and Dixie Dean near Gloucester and obtained Cigwaith Arctic Star (who was the dam of Ch Squirreldene Bjanka). That was when I fell in love with the breed too and we soon went to Michael Quinney and Adoram Toriana (dam of Ch Squirreldene Prince Ragnar) came into our life. That was in 1979, four years after we had registered our
Affix of Squirreldene with the KC. These two joined our kennel of Norwich Terriers and off we went with both breeds getting on really well with one another. I was born in Shropshire and after we married, we set up, just over the border in Herefordshire, with a few acres of land out in the countryside, the perfect start to setting our kennels up and from all this came the love and enjoyment we got from these two breeds. This was no hardship to me, as being from a farming family I had been around dogs all my life. Over the years eight Buhund Chs were produced, all of which, I hasten to add was down to Maddy’s work and input. I chipped in now and again with my opinions along with being bag carrier, driver, and financial adviser!! Along the way, the help from Michael Quinney, the Smart family (Lorraine and her mother Moira) and many others was invaluable to us and how lucky and fortunate have I been to arrive here today. I have of course worked on Committee and at different stages, have had the pleasure of carrying out the duties of Show Manager and Chairman and working with many people whose one aim was to promote, love and sustain our breed. I have awarded CCs to the breed on 14 occasions, with the Club Millennium show and Crufts having special memories along with judging in Scandinavia. Another great day was going to the Norwegian Embassy on a club visit to see the Ambassador who was our Patron many moons ago. Following this some twenty years later by visiting the Governor’s residence of The Isle of Man, to meet the then Norwegian Ambassador and his wife who were visiting the Island. We were asked to take some Buhunds with us, who of course stole the show. Finally, I repeat how deeply honoured I am to follow Shirley Dobson as your Patron.
I know our wonderful breed is in very good hands and I wish the club, it’s Officers, Committee, and everyone all success for the future. Roger Thomas.”
I will write about the 2nd half of the AGM and fun day next week.
Margaret Deuchar mailto: margaretdeuchar@gmail.com