NORWEGIAN BUHUNDS
We are only a few days away from the summer solstice the longest day of the year when there will be 16 hours 38 mins of day light, summer seems also to have arrived, so I hope you are all enjoying being out and about with your dogs.
Jacqui Cobb has said she took Ch Trelowen Veryan To Knytshall RL1 and Knytshall Eloise to a Rally competition in Bratton Clovelly Okehampton. It was a very hot but windy day and Veryan who is in Level 2 Rally was not keen on working, but Eloise pulled out all the stops and had a qualifying score of 187 in Level 1, which I think may be her first Rally competition, as last year Eloise was on maternity duty and before that it was lockdown, and no Rally competitions took place except online. Jacqui had a rather worrying experience as just as she was leaving the competition her passenger door window shattered, which meant she had to drive home with no air con but happily they all arrived home safely.
Pastoral day at Three Counties Ch show was the Saturday 11th June. Sadly, although there were two entered neither were able to attend, the owner of one still is recovering from an accident a few weeks ago. I heard from her a few days ago and hopefully it will not be long now before she is out and about again. The other one had to stay at home, as at the last minute her owner had to judge at the show. We were not the only breed with low entries and even some breeds with CCs did not have the numbers normally expected, hopefully Three Counties will keep the breed on for next year when there should be more entries, as there are puppies in the West country who are too young to show at the moment, and hopefully the cost of fuel might have eased, which I am sure is affecting entries. With only 13sets of CCs (14 this year as we have two club shows), if shows without CCs do not schedule the breed there is no training ground for new judges or young dogs alike.
Open shows are also good training grounds for judges and dogs , one such society Newmarket and District Canine Society used to hold shows with Buhund classes for many years .At the time there were several Buhund breeders in the area, Kirsty Irvine (Tapui) who now lives much further north, Sue Sercombe and her daughter Jacqui (Trelowen & Tokyn) they now live in Northern Ireland and the late Elisabeth Coleopy (Fullani ) and the late Gail Hussey(Dawnrow).I judged the breed one year giving Kirsty’s Ch Tapui Tane BOB, he went onto be BIS. In those days the show was held on Newmarket Racecourse. The problem with a numerically small breed such as ours with exhibitors spread all over the country, when there are exhibitors in an area, societies will put on classes for them at shows, but once entries drop in an area the shows quite naturally drop the classes. Now however as there are several owners in the southeast, and I am told that Newmarket may put classes on again next year. Below is a report from Lisa Strong about this year’s show.
‘The weekend the 11th and 12th June my Ringcraft Club, Newmarket and District Canine Society held their Premier Open Show at Littleport near Ely. I decided to offer my services as a steward for a full day on the first day,and as a pop in and out steward on the Sunday as I wanted to show.
I arrived nice and early on the Saturday and after being shown to the stewards parking, I was directed to the steward and judge room, and was promptly offered tea and toast! Perfect. I was assigned ring 3 which had a mix of gundogs and hounds and so I collected my box and off I went to check out my ring. The weather was a mix of sun and cloud with a breeze but when the sun was out it was hot, so I was glad that there was a gazebo. The judge for my ring duly arrived so we discussed where the line-up should be and the table if needed, plus placing line up and critique numbers, and after weighing down as many items as we could to stop them blowing away, we were ready. There was a minute’s silence at the start of the show in memory of Andrew Gullick and all loved ones that have been lost since the show was last held in 2019, followed by a huge round of applause, the show was then open, so I called the first class. At times the wind caused havoc blowing things across the ring, taking things off the stewards table despite paper weights and even ripping pages out of the judges’ book, and sending them off down the field with me running after them! It was lovely to watch the different breeds in action but sad that some classes had a huge absentee rate i.e., 9 entered and 8 absent but fell in love with a Rhodesian Ridgeback and an Afghan Hound who were stunning to watch as they moved around the ring. Our ring was completed nice and early so I offered to take over from another steward in the next ring, so that they could go see to their dogs. After a few Gundog classes we broke for lunch which was a full-on carvery and a pudding before heading back for AV veteran Gundog, this class meant that all dogs that came into the ring were given a cooked sausage, I was very popular with the dogs as a result, and they all wanted a fuss before leaving the ring. I rounded off the day assisting with the Gundog Groups and then it was off home to prepare for the next day. Sunday dawned gloriously sunny and having packed the car the night before Alex and I loaded up our picnic and the dogs Leggatts Dancing Queen At Draccus (Eris) and Loki who was NFC and off we set. On arrival we promptly met Marie Corin and Adam Camm with Bergen (Kligenthal Almuric) so we all headed off to set up near our ring, which was ring 3 so I knew exactly where to go and the best spot to set up. A gazebo and a sun tent were quickly set up and cups of teas or coffee acquired. Ruby (Draccus Obsidian) who is one of Eris’s puppies and her owners Jo, Nick and daughter Bethany Guillod -Rees arrived at the showground shortly after and headed straight for ring 6 as the Junior Handling Association were starting their classes at 9am, and Ruby with Bethany (age 7) were entered. They did their age group and won their class which was brilliant, the judge was Tom Casentieri. After handling was over it was a dash for them over to ring 3 as AVNSC Pastoral Puppy was first in the ring at 9.30am, they came second. Next Bergen and Eris were against each other in Open, Eris came first!! In the challenge Eris was BOB, Bergen was then called in and was RBOB, the judge was Sally Duffin. Most people then had the chance to chill and catch up and I went and did some stewarding duties. I was collecting judging slips and covering comfort breaks plus asking for call outs on the Microphone. After lunch Ruby went into the puppy stakes with Nick (no luck) and then into Good Citizen stakes with Jo and came 4th winning £5 the judge was Derfel John Owen who also judged the Open stakes where Bergen with Marie were also 4th winning £5. Then it was time for the Pastoral Group so off I went with Eris. The judge opted not to do a shortlist and went straight for placing, there was no luck for us but we had a fantastic day which ended with happy tired dogs as well.’ Thank you so much Lisa for writing this a article for me after two long days at the show, very much appreciated.
The same day Sarah Stonton headed off to Beancroft Farm in Bedfordshire with Ch Arnscroft In Di Ana Jack RL1EX L1EX where they qualified in Level 2 scent, he now only needs 2 points for his Excellent Level 2.
I have to thanks ‘Our Dogs’ for showing the groups live at Ch shows, love being able to watch them while sitting in the living room.
Stay safe everyone.
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