NORWEGIAN BUHUNDS
The weekend 5th/6th November was a very busy one for Buhunds and their owners all over the country. On the Saturday, Working & Pastoral Breeds of Scotland Ch show was held in the Lowland Hall on the Royal Highland Showground, Ingliston, Edinburgh. When I first came into the breed the show had CCs for Buhunds and my first Buhund won one of his CCs there, and they had a reasonable entry, but as the numbers of Buhunds being shown dropped it lost the CCs. Since then, the entry has been very variable and confined to Buhunds living in the north of the Country, often there have been no Buhunds entered. This year there was an entry of 4 for judge Caroline Friend-Rees (Amical) who of course should have judged our open show at Leeds, but tested positive for Covid on the day of the show. She found her BD and BOB in Jenny Shorer -Wheeler’s Ch Koromandel Tusen Takk (ai)(Muchly). BB & BP was Kirsty & Alex Irvine and Callum Gillies Blackcombe Bodi With Tapui (Imp Aus)(Bodi),she also won the Arthurlie Oes Pastoral D/B Puppy Stakes under Steve Hall (Shenedene)winning £10.Jenny Shore-Wheeler’s with Ch Maidofcopper For Koromandel JW (Imp Fin) (Piika) was sixth in a large Veteran Stakes also under Steve Hal, winning a £1!
On the same day but much further south and west, Torquay & District Canine Society Show was held at the Exeter Livestock Centre, Matford, Exeter, Devon where Sue Crocker’s Leggatts Jive Talking (Noodle) won A.V.Pastoral Puppy under judge Richard Kinsey (Kitarn).
The following day the show was in the Midlands and below Lisa Strong writes about her day.
‘The morning after Bonfire night dawned grey and wet but for once I was not on the road at silly o’clock. The car had been packed the night before so it was just a case sorting food and drink out, and loading Eris into the car and then we were on our way. The destination was Ryton-on-Dunsmore to attend the Coventry (Foleshill) Canine Association Show. I made good time and arrived before the show started, so I had time to set up and keep some space for the other Buhunds that would be arriving later, I had arrived before the others as for some insane reason I had taken it upon myself to enter Adult Handling. There were 10 of us in total in my Age Group and all of us turned up. As the ring was quite small the Judge Victoria Wilkins (Velvetquest)had half of us step out of the ring to give everyone more space to move their dogs. The judge then had everyone move round the ring and called us up one by one. When it was your turn, the Judge walked round your dog and you had to move as well to avoid blocking the Judges view of the dog. The Judge then asked you to show teeth and then they examined your dog before asking you to move in certain patterns, which whilst doing you had to keep an eye on where the Judge was in the ring and ensure you did not block the Judge’s view of the dog. I knew that I had made a few mistakes in the ring so I was pleasantly surprised when I was awarded VHC. Class over I returned to where I had set up to await the arrival of the other Buhunds and their owners, who when they arrived all turned up at the same time so there were a few minutes of chaos as everyone got sorted, and the dogs all said hi to each other and then we settled down to catch up with each other and wait for our breed to go into the ring. Finally, it was our turn to go into the ring, our Judge was Linda Jenkins (Bruxly)and the results were as follows Junior- Leggatts Jive Talking (Noodle), Post Graduate- 1st Noodle, 2nd Leggatts Voulez Vous (Tissy), Open – 1st Leggatts Dancing Queen at Draccus (Eris),2nd Kligenthal Almuric (Bergen), then Noodle and Eris were up against each other for the BOB challenge, and to my delight Eris won. There was no luck in the Pastoral Group for Eris but she showed superbly, I was proud of her. Noodle had better luck in the Puppy Pastoral Group gaining PG3 under Caroline Nicholson (Shilstone) and for both Groups there was a cheer squad. All in all, a good day at a show.’ Thank you, Lisa, and congratulations on your BOB.
The following Wednesday afternoon, Time and I headed up to Marston Moreteyne in Bedfordshire for a Level 5 scent trial. There are 8 Levels of trials, with Levels 1-4 you can move up to the next Level once you have qualified, but for 5-8 you must qualify twice, but in all levels, you can stay in and gain your Excellence, you need 20 points in levels 1-4, 30 points in 5-8. I have stayed in each level and gained the Excellence, not because there is a lovely Excellent rosette but so I feel that both Time and I know what is required in that level before moving up, as each level gets progressively harder, and each time we compete I learn something.1st place is awarded 10 points then 8 6 4 and 1 point if you have a qualifying score, we only needed 1 point for our Excellence. Level 5 is very environment 2 inside searches and an outside one, and overall, the dog must find at least 9 out of the 12 hidden hides, which are pieces of material 2×2 cm scented with either cloves or gun oil. The trial was on a farm, and the first search was a small barn with everything in it but the kitchen sink! there were 3 hides to find in 3 minutes which Time did. Then it was the outside 5 hides in 5 minutes, the outside was a driveway with barns one side and barns and a wall the other, it was windy so the scent was swirling around, but Time found the first 4 very quickly but he could not get the last one which was in the wall although the judge said at the end, he was very close, but we ran out of time, in fact only one dog out of the 10 found all 5. This meant that going into the final search which was large room with various objects and 4 hides to find in 4min, we needed to find 2 hides to qualify. I think Time must have wanted to go home for tea, as it was very dark and cold outside by this time, as he went round the room finding all 4 hides in 71 seconds! So, over the trial we had found 11 out of the 12 hides. When you go into the prizegiving you know of course at any level whether you have qualified or not, but not how the other competitors have done, I knew we had our Excellence and that was all that mattered. No dog had the maximum points which would have been 150, but there were 5 on 130 and out of these Time was the fastest overall, so we not only had our Excellent Rosette but a 1st place one and a Trophy, so a very good afternoon at the office! For Level 6 Time has to add Truffle oil to his scent repertoire, so that is our project for the winter.
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