NORWEGIAN BUHUNDS
The weekend of the breed Ch show Celia Vines and her ever green Ch Ailort Highlander At Parvodene JW Sh CM (Perry) had a very busy time. At the Ch show Perry won the Vintage Veteran class and the Special Working Class (which is for dogs that have been placed in any KC activity).The following day they went to Tredegare and District Canine Society Show held at the Abergavenney Leisure Centre, where under judge Huw Morris, Perry was BOB. Then under Leanne Lewis he won a large Pastoral Veteran class, and then under the same judge he was 2nd in the Pastoral Group. Celia said Perry really enjoyed his weekend, he is by Ch Olpenden Malachy At Parvodene x Ch Fullani Farek At Ailort ShCM.
Pastoral Day at Midland Counties was the Saturday sadly we have lost classes there, but we had a very successful presence who kept the Buhund flag flying. Neil Hood and Julian Collins Ch Arnscroft Di Nah Sawr Us Rex VW, who recently made breed history by being the first Buhund to gain the new veteran warrant, was RBD & Best Veteran AVNSC. He is by Ch/Ir Ch Arnscroft Kimura x Ch/Ir Ch Arnscroft Di Nahs Mite. At the other end of the age scale Millie Lambert’s Sturtmoor Free’n Eezee(Sheira), was not only BP AVNSC but also RBB and 3rd in the Pastoral Puppy Bitch stakes under Michael Forte from Ireland. What makes this really great is that Sheira is only just 6months and this was her first show, so I am sure she has a great show career in front of her. She is by Ch Koromandel Best Served Cold At Knytshall x Sturtmoor Eezee Luvva.
The same weekend I heard from Sarah Stonton who also had a busy time, she wrote:- “Buhunds need to be active both physically and mentally-this weekend pleased mine. Saturday I took Loxy (Trelowen Andrea) AW(S)to an agility show, luckily inside an equestrian centre as it rained steadily all day at 6-8, it was Dog Vagas at Oakridge Arena nr Newark. Many of you know that Loxy competes at KC shows where she measures to compete at medium, and has worked her way through class wins up to Grade6 (there are 7 grades)and has a Silver Agility Warrant, based on counting points for clear rounds and rosette placings (usually for the top 10-15% of the class only). In theory she is still in her prime at 8yrs old as it takes time to gain ring experience-I also estimate that over 7yrs she has had around 300 hours of agility training classes, which give physical and mental challenges. Yesterday was the most successful day she has had in a long time being totally keen and focused with a good speed, fantastic accuracy and was obedient throughout in all 4 runs at Grade 6 or combined 6 & 7. In the first 2 classes I let her down with a minor handling timing error in each class resulting in manoeuvring her incorrectly, it’s important not to let on that things have gone wrong so we carried on finishing the course happily. In the afternoon she narrowly missed a rosette placing by completing a lovely clear round in a combined 6/7 agility course: then a little later did another superb run in a grade 6 Jumping resulting in a 2nd place. She needs four class wins to get to Grade 7-no mean feat against some of the working cockers, shelties and smaller collies, but she has now gained some more points to get closer upgrading her agility warrant from Silver to Gold. Loxy is muti-talented having 2 RCC’s, she competes in the club Obreedience team and more recently in Rally, additionally she has done 2 scent work classes for which she seems to be a natural. The next day Sunday, both my Buhunds and I met with another 5 Buhunds and their owners at Hinchingbrooke Park, Cambs for a group walk. This involves the dogs in lots of running, playing, sniffing, and swimming followed by a cuppa at the cafe for the humans. This time there were 6 wheaten and 1 black with ages ranging from 5months to 8 years.
One of the fastest growing Canine Activities is Scentwork, where the dog’s natural ability to smell things is trained, based on the detection work of the customs and excise dogs, bomb explosive dogs and the medical detection dogs. There are two main organisations running training classes, ‘Talking Dogs’ & ‘Scentwork UK’ which is the most popular as it runs trials from Level 1 to 8. Progression is by passing the individual levels at any scentwork trial, which is run to a national standard. The nice thing is that you can go on competing at a level even if the dog has passed at that level, so long as you do not compete in and pass the next level up. There are points and rosettes for the first 4 places, and clean sweep rosettes for those who find all the searches. If you obtain 20points as one level you can put letters after your dog’s name. I first started doing scent work with Trelowen Ancorya (Kiki) when he went blind after getting an eye infection, which steroids and antibiotics did not cure. He loved it and was 2nd in his only Level 1 trial, he sadly fell ill and died not long after that from a very aggressive form of stomach cancer. Although I primarily started it for Kiki, I had also taken Fizz (Ch/Bel Ch Tonylynn’s Charles LafitteAW(P)R2(EX)(Fizz) along to the training and earlier this year he passed a Level 1,then a few weeks ago we did a level 2.The searches go up a notch at this level ,although the scent being searched for is still cloves. Usually there are no than 20 dogs taking part and it is a drawn order for each search. There are 3 cars to search, 2 with scent on and one without. The scent can only be as high as the smallest dog competing can reach. Fizz found the scent on the two cars very quickly, he has always loved searching the cars, I have no idea why. Then there was a search of 17 items that can be found outside, such as hosepipe, wellingtons, garden chair etc. Here the dogs has to find two items, when one is found it is taken out the dog can go out of the search area and be rewarded, then taken back in and the clock started again (5mins allowed for each search).Fizz found the first item very quickly but it was a mistake to take him out, as he thought he had finished and did not really continue to search, he showed interest in another item so I told the judge but it was wrong. It had been near the original item and obviously picked up the scent from that which I should have realised, so he only had one out of two for that. Next was table and chairs, 8 chairs around a long table. Fizz found the scent very quickly, but I took him round them again to make sure, he then showed interest in a different one, so I called it but it was wrong he had been right the first time!, so I let him down by telling the judge the wrong one. This search has two parts the other part is items around the perimeter of the room such as a vacuum cleaner dust pan and brush etc, I did not take him out of the search area this time and he continued to search and told me it was on the vacuum cleaner which it was, so only one out of two again. This meant we had had to get two from the baggage and luggage search. The scent is on one box and one piece of luggage again when the first item is found it is removed, he found both items so we passed with a find of 6 out of the 8 searches, the minimum for a pass .I need to learn to trust him more when he finds it quickly. We will not be moving up to level 3 for a while where you have 2 scents to search for, the other one being gun oil. He has had lessons on this but I think we need to improve on Level 2 first. It is a great activity that any dog can do, as Kiki showed and a fairly quiet one with not too much rushing around as the dogs do the searches on their own either on or off the lead, the handler’s choice.
I finish with the very sad news that Lynn Isaac lost her battle with cancer on the evening of 24th October. I first met Lynn when she had a puppy from the late Elisabeth Coleopy, Fullian Feema Avec Tonylynn (Sable), until then she had successfully shown and bred Cavaliers. In 2007 she bred a litter from Sable, I was at a NW&PBS show when Gail Hussey said she was going to see the puppies and would I like to go with her, never one to give up a chance to have puppy cuddles, Debbie and I joined Gail on her trip to Hereford. There were 4 puppies 3 dogs and a bitch. Lynn said they were keeping the bitch puppy, one of the dog puppies was going to France and one of the other 2 was already spoken for, but the other one still needed a home. I had no intention of having another dog, but the puppy reminded me so much of my first Buhund, that a week later Debbie and I dove back to Hereford to pick up Tonylynn’s Charles Lafitte (all the litter were named after Champagnes), who is now best known as Fizz. Lynn was always very supportive of all Fizz, and the others in the litter. Although she has not shown recently as she had a number of grandchildren to keep her busy. She will be fondly remembered by those who knew her, as the comments on the forum indicated as nearly all spoke of her as a ‘ Lovely kind lady’. Her funeral will be on 7th November at Hereford Crematorium.
Margaret Deuchar margaretdeuchr@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.