NORWEGIAN BUHUNDS
Bank Holidays mean my notes have to be in early, so I am a little behind in reporting on some shows. Pastoral Day at Welks (West of England Ladies Kennel Society) was Saturday 29th April. The show is held on the Three Counties Showground set just below the Malvern Hills. I was told that the hills had not been seen for several days due to the very wet weather, this meant that all the judging was indoors, mostly in the cattle sheds together with the breed benches. We had a lovely dry sunny day, which was also one of the warmest of the year so far but were lucky as the rain returned the next day. The last time we had CCs at WELKS was in 2018, so we are very grateful that the show has kept scheduling the breed. Judging started at 9am and we had three breeds in front of us, 45 Pembroke Corgi,18 Swedish Vallhunds & 22 Japanese Spitz, the paperwork said we would not be in before 11.30am, we all know that this was very optimistic, especially as all the dogs in front of us were table dogs, but it did mean that as our judge was only judging us, we could be moved after that time. In the end we went in at 2pm, which gave time for Mary and David Dosson to take their Kligenthal Bran Mak Morn (Teddy) into the Sybil Churchill Open Dog Stakes, where under Mrs Del Richards he was 4th winning £5, Teddy had a new handler as David handled him for the first time. Sarah Stonton also had Ch Arnscroft In Di Ana Jack R1 EX L4ex entered into the veteran stakes, for a while it looked as if it would clash with the breed, but happily it didn’t,
and Jack was 3rd under Ken Andrew winning a £10 voucher for Petcetera. It was then time for the breed, our Judge was Val Dyer JP, she last judged the breed at East of England in 2021 and gives CCs in 3 Utility Breeds and 4 Pastoral Breeds. She found her BD& BOB in Jack he was also BV; Teddy was RBD this time handled by Mary, so both Jack and Teddy had a very busy and successful day. By chance Sarah was on a 5day holiday and was staying locally, so did not have to worry about travelling home after the Groups.BB was Sue Croker’s Leggatts Voulez Vous (Tissy). RBB was Sue’s Leggatts Jive Talkin (Noodle) handled as usual by Jasmine Freeborn. Sue’s kennel had a good day as Leggatts Dakota at Knytshall (Toby) owned by Nancy Kent and Jacque & Michael Cobb was Best Puppy.
Toby has a litter sister Leggatts Fly Like An Eagle (Zuki)owned by Lucy Beatrice Gilbert who has started Zuki on ‘Trick Training’ so I asked her to tell us all about it. “I have been told numerous times that Buhunds are a very versatile breed and can adapt to all sorts of tasks and activities. I have decided to try a range of activities with Zuki, since she is my first Buhund and I want to make the most of her versatility. Our end goal is to compete in agility, but whilst Zuki is only ten months old, I am taking this time to try many other activities to keep her busy, happy, and socialised. We attended group Trick Training classes back in January, learning some fun skills which proved entertaining to the general public when putting them to the test at Discover Dogs. A couple of children got to ‘high five’ Zuki during Crufts, and giggled with joy when she reached her paw up to their hands. After the six weeks of training classes, we decided not to continue with Trick Training in a classroom environment. Zuki struggled to concentrate in the school hall, and I didn’t want either of us to lose our enjoyment and create a negative experience. We decided to continue working on tricks from home, using the study in our home as a training room. I was introduced to an online group, where I could share videos of Zuki’s progress, and receive awards for completing a certain number of tasks. In the USA, there is a tiered set of ‘tricks titles’ that your dog can receive, based on the number of tricks they can perform competently. The program is known as ‘Do More With Your Dog’, and you can take part in performing tricks to go towards your awards from anywhere in the world. There are a number of trainers in the UK who are qualified to reward you the DMYWD titles. The trainer behind ‘Trick Dogs Indahouse’, is one such qualified trainer, and has also created their own set of trick awards in the UK. Not only can you receive awards for preforming tricks with TDI, but you can also receive awards in fitness, agility, and obedience. TDI also create seasonal themed challenges; for example, if you can perform 15 tricks relevant to royalty and being British, you can be awarded with a special ‘Coronation’ trick rosette. Zuki, care to sit on the royal throne ?!It is a great opportunity to become creative with the tricks you work with on with your dog.
I started creating a portfolio of all the tricks that Zuki could perform competently; from the basics of sitting to the more advanced of running through a tunnel from the opposite end. I submitted the portfolio to TDI for review and we received an email from the trainer congratulating us on completing a couple of trick titles! Zuki currently knows a total of twenty-one Novice tricks, six Intermediate tricks and two Advanced tricks, meaning she has been awarded the titles of DMWYD Novice Trick Dog, TDI Novice Puppy Trick Dog, TDI Novice Amateur Trick Dog and TDI Intermediate Puppy Dog! Zuki needs to learn one more advanced and two expert tricks in order for her to be awarded with the title of Puppy Champion Trick Dog; we are focussing on getting this completed before she turns 1 year at the end of June. I never thought I would be capable at teaching a dog entertaining and advanced tricks, yet here I am with a Buhund that now pesters me every day after work to go into the ‘training room’ and do some work. Leaving the classroom environment and focussing on a 1:1 session at home has been a major success with Zuki . I have recently started teaching some expert-level tricks which has involved the odd purchase of several children’s stacking toys! With these toys, Zuki is slowly becoming quite good at stacking rings on a hoop toss! If only she could learn to pick up her own toys and tidy them away after playtime”. Thank you, Lucy, certainly seems to be another activity a Buhund can be good at, and we look forward to hearing that Zuki is a ‘Puppy Champion Trick Dog.’
I finish with the good news that Knytshall Eloise has had a clear eye test. She is by Blakk ExtacyV.Koekie’s Ranch (Imp NLD) x Ch Trollheimen Elske To Knytshall (Imp USA).
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