NORWEGIAN BUHUNDS
Pastoral Day at Crufts this year was the Saturday, and thankfully no snow like last year. We were in Hall 4 as usual and were second in the ring after Samoyeds with 119 entries and did not go in until 3pm! Our judge was Kevin Young he gives CCs in 44 Breeds across 4 groups. This was his third time of giving CCs in the breed the last time was in 2017 National Working & Pastoral Breeds. He found his BOB & DCC his 13th in Jenny Shorer- Wheeler’s homebred Ch Koromandel Tusen Takk(ai)JW, he is by Multi Ch Trollheimen JR Made For Cascilius x Sturtmoot Ffascination With Koromandel (Muchly), he also has 4 RCCSs. He was later short listed under Barry Croft in the Pastoral Group. Jenny was thrilled saying, ‘It was a dream come true, in 2019 I became the breeder of the Crufts BOB, in 2020 and 2022 I was lucky enough to be the breeder /handler of the Crufts BOB. Now finally I have had the treble Breeder /Owner /Handler, and to have bred two Buhunds considered worthy of a group short list at the greatest show on earth must certainly be a step in the right direction’. Muchly was also top Buhund ‘Our Dogs’ and in the ‘Buhund Club’ last year and won the Group at Manchester this year. Many congratulations Jenny. RDDC making the long trip to Crufts all the way from Sweden which took 3 days, worthwhile, was Sabine Bernhardtz with her home bred Swe /Fin Ch Lissrakkans Atle(Attis) by Tomtelundens Arthur x Lissrakkans Fenja.Sabine told me Attis has 3 CACIBS and just needs one more to be an International CH, so will be going to Europe this summer, and hopefully we might see her and Attis back in the UK.BCC her 10th she also has 11RCCS Maddy Norman’s Ch Arnscroft Delilah at Veekay(Lottie) by Ch Arnscroft Di To Be A Sailor x Ch Arnscroft Do or Comply. RBCC her 5th Michael Patrick and Leigh Ashman’s Ch Tapui Starla (Freya) she is by Ch Koromandel Best Served Cold At Knytshall x Ch Kimura’a Vera with Tapui and has 4CCs.BV Jenny Shorer -Wheeler’s Ch Maidofcopper For Koromandle JW (ImpFin)Pikka by Swe /Nor Ch Gnipagrotten Qu x Multi Ch Cipacan Mila Magia she has 16 CCs & 12RCCs. I must give a special mention to Miranda Taylor Smith with Ch Ailort Just In Time (Bulah) who is now 16 yrs old, but you would never know it to see her trot round the ring with applause from the audience and gain a third place, she had also done DD the day before, she just loves Crufts. BP Lisa and Alex Strong’s Draccus I have A Dream (ai) by Zeal Loke x Ch Leggatts Dancing Queen at Draccus. As I said earlier, we did not go in until 3pm, so we had our picnic at the benches at lunch time, as usual we could have fed most of the NEC! but it was great as Sabine and her friend joined us, as did Octavia and her mum Autumn Stensen. Octavia as you know from my previous notes came to Crufts to represent the US in the International handing having qualified handling her homebred Buhund ‘Pineapple’, she did not win but was shortlisted out of the 36 handlers the first time a representative from the US has made the short list for many years. They visited the DD stand on the Friday and then came down to the benches on the Saturday. It was lovely that Autmn posted on FB, ‘we had an amazing time watching the Norwegian Buhunds at Crufts. Everyone was so friendly and so nice and welcoming. Amazing to meet so many people I follow on FB in person. Octavia had the pleasure of showing Knytshall Noor Ul Ain in the Good Citizen Bitch Class. They looked amazing and won the class. Thank you, Sue Crocker, for lending your pup’. It was great to watch as Octavia who had only met Noor a few minutes earlier.
Discover Dogs was very busy as usual, and I have already had people who had visited the stand who want to join the Forum and learn more about the breed. Can’t say how grateful we are to Lisa Strong and husband Alex who do a fantastic job setting up taking down the stand and manning it over the 4 days, with Lisa taking just a few hours off to show her dogs on the Saturday, especially as neither of them were feeling very well with this very unpleasant cold and cough that is going around. One visitor they had on the Friday was Cathryn Mellersh from the Canine Genetics Centre Cambridge University, who popped in to thank the club for the support we are giving them, because as you know the KC Charitable Centre Trust will stop funding them from April. She also appreciated the poster Lisa had done to advertise how to help the Centre. DD is so important in getting the breed better know and of course there was not one in London last year. Others that helped were Nancy Kent with Toby & Jamie, Miranda Taylor Smith with Bulah, Keir & Robbie Jones and family with Otto, Paul Matin with Ulfie, Lucy Beatrice Gilbert with Zuki,Penny & Tom Glibbery with Indy, Sue Crocker and Jasmine Freeborn with Franny and Tissy, Jo Gr and family with Ruby, and of course Lisa and Alex’s Eris ,Loki and Raven.
It wasn’t our year in the ring, but we had a great time meeting friends old and new, and the ones we only see once a year at Crufts from Eire. I hope that all of you that went enjoyed yourselves and whatever happened we all took the best dog home.
Stay safe everyone.
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