NORWEGIAN BUHUNDS
Gloucester & District Canine Society held its 250 class open show in the Avon Hall Three Counties showground Malvern on Sunday 18th February. There were no Buhund classes, but Penny aka Frostisen Blakk Zitter handled as usual by Ann Marie Taylor who co owns her along with Addrienne Frost -Treadwell and Mary & Dave Taylor kept the Buhund flag flying by going Best AVNSC and the PG4 both under judge Wendy Simmons, who gives CCs in Bouvier Des Flanders.
In my breed notes 12th January this year I talked about Junior Handling, and how in this country we have a competition for ‘Junior Handler of the Year’, with the winner representing the UK in the International Junior Handling Competition at Crufts. In those notes I also said that in the US the competition is called ‘The Junior Showmanship Competition’ with the winner receiving a $5,000(nearly £4000) scholarship. The competitions is for handlers 9- 18yrs of age and was held at the end of last year at the AKC National Championships in Orlando on Saturday 16th December 2023, with the final being judged by Dr Adam Stafford. The wonderful thing was that the winner was Octavia Stensen with her home bred 3yr old Norwegian Buhund ‘Pineapple’ aka GCHB CH Cultiva Cruisin For A Bruisin, the first Buhund to be represented in the Junior Showmanship finals. Octavia started handling when she was 10yrs old with a Shiba Inus before discovering Buhunds. Now Octavia will be representing the US alongside Paige Hughes representing the UK in the ‘Joe Cartledge Memorial International Junior Handling Competition.’ The competition brings together young handlers from across the World with handlers from 36 countries entered this year. The competition takes place on Friday 8th March in the main arena 8.30am -10am with the second part at 6.00pm- 6.40pm.The handlers have each selected a first, second and third choice of breed but will only meet their individual dog, less than an hour before the first round, when they are required to demonstrate their handling ability and showcasing their skills and breed expertise in front of the judge. The judge will make a secret shortlist, with all the handlers later returning to the arena for the final parade, where the winner will be crowned with the ultimate title, ‘International Junior Handler’. The judge of the event will be Rony Doedijns from the Netherlands. Rony has been involved in the dog world for years and started competing as a junior handler with his Finnish Spitz. The final is the peak of any young person’s Junior Handling career, the competitors will be between 11and 19yrs.
Octavia will be coming to London with her mother Autumn a few days before Crufts and will be staying near James Stewart in Gloucester Road, before going up to Birmingham for Crufts. Autumn posted on the forum that they will be there on Saturday to watch the Buhunds, so we look forward to meeting them both. We wish Octavia and Paige all the best for the International Handling Competition.
I have often said how important Bu Bumbles are, not just as a social event for owners particularly those we do not see at shows, but also for those who thinking that they might like a Buhund, having seen them at Discover Dogs or having read about them. It is so important that a prospective owner of any breed know as much about a breed as possible before making their choice. Bumbles started as a social event about 11 years ago as Sarah Stonton reminded me, she would meet up with the late Nikki Davies and Lillian Rumsey and go for a walk in Ferry Meadows Peterborough, then Karen with a Wolfen bred dog Toby joined and at that time the name Bumble started to be used. Lisa Strong then joined and the Camm’s when they had Teya Jack’s sister. ‘From Little Acorns Mighty Oak Trees Grow’, as Bumbles are now held all over the country and are a very important part of the Buhund year. The first one this year was held in Hinchingbrooke Country Park Huntingdon on the 27th of Jan and the most recent one on 17th February in Regents Park. For many years I was the only one in London area with a Buhund, but now there were 8 on the London Bumble. Happily the day dawned dry and stayed that way, Marie Corin who organised the Bumble and was worried it might be very muddy, but it was not as bad as feared and the dogs and owners had a great time, with many fantastic photos taken by Joe Allen posted on the forum, he together Dean Cox own 19month old Oslo aka (Leggatts Mr Writer ).There was also a lovely video of Marie and Adam Camm’s 8-month-old home bred Dexter(Mazads Nom de Plume ) and Sanjay Azim Nazerali’s Rumpole(Mazads LePetit Soldat ) Dexter’s litter brother playing chase, the first time they had meet up since they were puppies. Also joining in the Bumble were Tash and Rich Howard -Lacey’s 2yr old Waffle (Frostisen Yankey), Maria Percuklievska’s 4yrs old Nova (Kligenthal Shadownova), Anna and Julia Engstat with 13yr old Scarlett (Trelowen Passopp Scarlett) and Andrew Gerogiou with Leo previously called Lotto(Sturtmoor Destiny’s Day)the only Black Buhund on the Bumble,and last but certainly not least Marie and Adam’s 4yr old Bergen Kligenthal Almuric ,Dexter and Rumpole’s dad and Nova’s litter brother, so quite a family outing .
The following weekend on Sunday 25th saw Marie taking part in a completely different activity, when she took part in the 10K London Winter Run in aid of Cancer research UK, she completed the run in 1hr 2 mins gaining a medal to mark her achievement.
I was reading an article entitled ‘Is It Game Over For A Beloved British Breed’, apparently there were only 406 puppies born to Scottish Terries last year. Doubt that even in the Buhund heydays that 406 puppies were born! Interestingly one breed with numbers going up the fastest is the Bernese Mountain Dog, which is a large dog and as we are in a cost-of-living crisis must cost quite a bit to feed.
Stay safe everyone
Margaret Deuchar margaret@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