NORWEGIAN BUHUNDS
Recently Bill Mcbain lost this battle with cancer; many years ago he successfully bred and showed Buhunds under the Willmac affix. The kennel was located in Aberdeen so the dogs were only lightly shown. I always think it is sad when people who were known in the breed many years ago pass, as often newer members in the breed do not know them, so I asked his daughter Suzi if she would write me a short obituary and she sent me the following:-
‘When I was 16 (1979) I went to work for Michael Quinney (Adoram) and gave mum and dad their first Buhund Adorum Yemana (Peanut) who was black, she was his foundation bitch and dam of Willmac Apollo and Willmac Atilena. He loved the breed his last one died in 2006 and he was excited, as hopefully he was going to have a new puppy next year. Although he was out of the breed for years, he always kept an eye on them. Sadly, on 6th Sept he went to hospital with suspected pneumonia, which turned out to be cancer. He seemed to improve and was cheery chatting away up to 2 days before his death. He was meant to go home on the Tuesday but his oxygen SATs were a bit low, so they decided to keep him in an extra night .We were all shocked including the nurses and consultants, when he declined rapidly and on the Thursday 3rd October he lost his battle. Dogs were his life and it had actually been arranged that Yogi (my PMD), was to be allowed into the family room to spend time with him. He stopped judging a few years ago as he felt he wasn’t fit enough as he had COPD, his last judging appointment was German Spitz at Crufts. He was cremated without ceremony which was his wish, but I will be planning a remembrance get together near Aberdeen as he wished his ashes to be scattered at sea in Scotland. He used to be the Commanding Officer of the Sea Cadets and they will help with this’. Thank you, Suzi, please accept our condolences.
Many of you know that Knytshall Angel Delight had a serious road accident at the end of September, when Jacqui and Michael were on holiday. She had to be in a cage for six weeks, and needed a lot of nursing, recently she had another operation on her right leg, but Jacqui tells me that at long last she is allowed to walk for five minutes three times a day. Like all operations the aftercare is always so important but hopefully she will make a full recovery.
On 9th November Jacqui Walmsley headed to Plymouth and District Kennel Assoc show held at the Exeter Livestock Centre with her Trelowen Amelia at Frostisen(Bunny),who she co owns with the Frostisen Kennel and her Blakk Extacy Van Koekie’s Ranch (Imp)(Mole).Carol Smedley judged the Buhunds and awarded BOB to Bunny with Mole in Reserve, Mole was then 4th in a huge AV Veteran class also under Carol Smedley . It was Jacqui’s Birthday so a nice present for her.
The following day Millie Lambert headed to Port Talbot & Neath Canine Society show held at the Neath Sports Centre with her Ch Svartkonge Av Sturtmoor(King) (Imp Nor)JW SHCM and Sturtmoor Free’n Eezee(Sheira) who continued her winning ways. Under Chris Bothell she was BOB and G4 she then won the puppy Group her third puppy group win in a row. Followed by RBPIS under Raye Party, what a fantastic start she has had to her showing career. The Monday before she had also passed her Puppy Good Citizen Test, clever girl. King was RBOB so another very good day.
Anne Smith and I attended Lynn Isaac’s funeral, it was a lovely service if you can say that about a funeral. It was the day of the awful rain in Yorkshire but we had sunshine all the time, which I think always helps whether it is a burial or cremation. Unless you have knowm a person all their life, it is often only at their funeral that you really learn what they have done during their life, with Lynn it was from an Eulogy given by the Rev Mark Johnson. Lynn was a lovely lady and will be very much missed, husband Tony said he would like to come and visit us, when the breed is at Malvern next year which will be great.
I finish with something that is not Buhund related. I was watching the Cenotaph service of Remembrance,
and was interested to see some Army dogs march with their handlers, I have not seen this on previous years. The first record of dogs being used in war was in 600BC. In the First World War Airedales were bred to carry messages on the front lines. Thousands of dogs were used in the Second World War, in May 1941 a few small adverts started appearing in the columns of various press publications. “To British dog owners ‘your country needs dogs for defence, Alsatians, Collies and other large breeds. Here is your great opportunity to actively help win the war-will you loan one? ’The response was over whelming within 2 weeks 7,000 dogs had been offered, mainly because owners were struggling to feed their pets. One woman sent a message with her dog. ‘It read my husband has gone, my sons have gone take my dog to help bring this cruel war to an early end’. The dogs went to the War Dogs training school near Potters Bar, to form the most unusual regiment of the war. Occasionally the bravery of dogs was recognised, one such dog was stray black Labrador called Rex, who helped to detect so many mines he was hailed by his platoon commander, as the bravest dog he had ever seen. However most never saw their owners again and their contribution to the war effort was never fully recognised. Now happily things are quite different and service dogs have the protection of ‘Finn’s Law’, which was brought in to protect brave service animals.
Margaret Deuchar margaretdeuchar@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.