NORWEGIAN BUHUNDS
Results from another one line show, Neil Hood’s Ch Arnscroft Di Nah Saw Us Rex (Dino)by Ch/Ir Ch Arnscroft Kimura x Ch/Ir Ch Arnscroft Di-Nahs-Mite was Pastoral G1 and BV in the Pastoral Group in the Paignton and District Ch show, which was run at the same time Paignton would have taken place, although over more days. Neil posted finally a Group 1! Dino had a very successful show season last year winning 3CCs so now has 8CCs and 6RCCs, he was also the first Buhund to gain the Veteran Warrant introduced by the KC in January 2019.
For many years I used to attend Paignton Ch Show with the late Elizabeth Coleopy, that was before it moved Westpoint Arena in Exeter, and before I became involved with the KC Agility Festival, which would normally run at the same time. The show itself started as a dog section of the Paignton Fanciers Association livestock show in 1909, the first open show was in 1923, running every year apart from the war years and becoming a Ch show in 1951. What I find really interesting is if you look into the history of Paignton and many of the Ch shows, it usually says they did not run over war years but never mentions the last global pandemic the ‘Spanish Flu,’ which happened in 1918/19 and killed 50 million people worldwide, and from which very few recovered. Even with Crufts which began in 1891, all it says is ‘1918-20 Cruft’s was not held due to the First World War’ again no mention of Spanish Flu. Both my parents lived through two world wars with my father fighting in both, and although they would mention the wars but never the Spanish Flu. Of course, there was obviously no social media and photography did not become common till much later, but there were papers. I wonder assuming either a treatment or vaccine is found for Covid, how long it will stay in people’s memories, but there will always be all those photographs! I am told by experts that the memory often shuts out things that are painful to it.
Onto more cheerful things, this week I have to thank Lisa Strong for writing about two Buhund Bumbles.
“The weekend of 5th September was a very Buhund related one for us. On the Saturday my husband and I took our Buhunds Loki and Eris to meet up with Penny and Tom Glibbery, plus their Buhund Indy and their Pugs Lilly and Harvey at Brixwoth Country Park, Northamptonshire. Parking is a couple of pounds for a few hours, there are toilets, a cycle shop, a swimming assessment centre and a cafe, all was very good for covid awareness. There are a mix of cycle and walking routes, with Kestrel, Lapwing and Skylark being the walking trails. These trails are predominantly off lead for dogs, with a section by the reservoir bring on lead as there are cyclists there. We opted for a circuit of the Skylark trail (2km) followed by the Lapwing trail (1.2km).Should anyone wish to do the Pitsford trail around the reservoir it is about 12km,but dogs must be on a lead at all times. There are beautiful wooden arches along the walks plus information boards, twig dens and wigwams and a little pond with a stream, plus there are plenty of poo bins. On completing our walk, we went to a nearby pub called The Griffin Inn in Pitsford, it was my first pub since lockdown, we all sat outside and everything was very safe, the food was delicious.
The next day I had organised a Bu Bumble at Hinchingbrooke Park Huntingdon in order for us to catch up with people, and for some potential Buhund owners to come along and meet more of the breed. At the moment the parking is free, the BBQ areas are now available for advance booking and the café is open for takeaways. On the day there were 7 Buhunds -Loki, Eris, Darcy, Anja, Teya, Ulfric and Jack – as well as Amka who is a Klee Kai and Ulfric’s kennel mate, and a German Shepherd. The humans divided themselves up into groups in order to maintain social distancing, but the dogs ran freely between us all. At various points the dogs had a chance to go swimming as we walked round the lake chatting, and answering the various questions the potential Buhund owners had, there were also stops for cuddles and if anyone was foolish enough to crouch down low or sit down there were lots of licks, the walk took about 1.5 hours. At the end of the walk some of us stopped at the café to get a drink and sat outside, whereupon all the dogs had more cuddles and then flopped for a bit. As Discover Dogs is not happening this year and with shows in question, it was a great way to introduce people to the breed to help them decide if they might want a Buhund in their lives at some point.”
Thanks Lisa, busy weekend for you but a great way for potential owners to meet the breed and with Eris there, they will know that they also come in Black!
I do not often suggest that you watch a TV programme, but if you didn’t watch ‘Dog Tales The Making of Man’s Best Friend’ shown on BBC 4 last week, and which I caught up with on the Iplayer, I think you might find it very interesting, it is scientific documentary and there are even two fleeting shots of a Buhund!
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.