NORWEGIAN BUHUNDS
I start with an apology to Lillian Rumsey and Sarah Stonton, as I left out the winner of the Progeny Class in my results of the Club Ch show in last week’s notes. The winner was Lillian’s Kata Syndattir Av Fjeldvidda At Wheatshade ( Imp Nld)(Darcy),helping her win the class were Sue & Paul Martin’s Wheatshade Crystals of Ice (Freya), Lillian’s Wheatshade Iridium Sky (Hallie)and Sarah’s Wheatshade Snow Dreaner (Pixie) who was RBPIS .The puppies are by Sarah’s Ch Arnscroft In Di Ana Jack.RL2 L7EX.As well being a good sire Jack is a very good scent dog as Sarah tells us.
“Friday 25th Oct, we went to an NNA (National Nosework Association) scent trial where Jack was competing against 12 other dogs at an Enhanced Level (4th level in difficulty) trial; the venue was Sywell Air Museum in Northants. Previously I had been to Sywell Aerodrome years ago for a flying lesson gifted to me by my late cousin; luckily on that occasion there was no fog! On Friday the fog stopped any view of the airfield until we were nearly ready to leave when it suddenly lifted to allow an army type helicopter to practice some acrobatics -wow! Fog, however, does not stop a dog sniffing out the finds which at this trial were all gun oil. We were lucky to have different judges for each search element. The interior search was the entire air museum made of Nissen huts all on one level -full of so many exhibits, plane parts, models, photos etc. This search is up to 10 minutes to find 5 hides. Jack worked steadily trotting around were he wanted and found all 5 in just 5 minutes, by far the speediest dog of the day. To say I was ecstatic was an understatement as this was the final ‘badge ‘needed for him to stage up to the next level of difficulty called Excellent. Next for us was the selection test; there were 20 items (a mix of scent boxes, upside down flowerpots and a couple of miscellaneous items) set out in a horseshow shape in the car park. The dogs must work on a lead and sniff each item sequentially to sniff out 3 finds. Jack was a star; this judge was so impressed with his perfect search that she awarded him a coveted Synergy Badge. Finally came our exterior search which is again 10minutes to find 5 hides. The area was a fenced site around 2 aeroplanes, bomb, torpedo, scaffolding, steps up to and including a doorway to the Nissen Hut, a pile of cones, tables & benches and the perimeter fencing. This judge decided that all the dogs had to work on leads as part of the perimeter was a hedge directly accessing a busy road; the leads made it much harder as we had to keep ducking under plane wings and other obstacles. Jack worked hard but only found 3 hides -on a gate, on the inside of a plane wheel and on one of the wheel chucks. He knew roughly where the other 2 were but failed to work to source. No dog found all the 5 hides in this area. As if Jack getting his final badge, and a Synergy award, wasn’t enough I was truly amazed that he also won the trial. NNA has an overall league table and one for each group. Jack is presently in 2nd place in the Pastoral League before Friday’s results are added. Not to be forgotten, Pixie (Wheatshade Snow Dreamer) now 7 months old is also learning scent. The judge of the selection test let her have a quick go before I helped pack the items away. Pixie found all 3 finds and indicated them to me, the search just wasn’t quite so tidy as her sire’s.” Thank you, Sarah, congratulations.
Pastoral Day at Midland Counties Ch show was Sunday 27th October, the last time the show scheduled Buhunds was in 2019 .We never had CCs there as long as I have been showing but the late Robert Greaves who was the Chairman of the show until his sad passing was a great Spitz fan, and under his leadership the show scheduled the breed for over 10yrs but gradually the entries dropped, partly I think due to the year when we were so late being judged the BOB only just made the group. Although we lost classes most years since, there have been at least one or two Buhunds entered in the AVNSC classes This year it was Millie Lambert with her 6-month homebred Sturtmoor Gon’n Dun It (Gunna), he is by Draccus Diamond Day ‘O’ Bucafrey x Ch Sturtmoors Free ‘N’Eezee. He is definitely on a roll as the weekend before he was BPIS at the club Ch show, and the weekend before that at South Wales Ch he was BP BOB and shortlisted in the Puppy Group. Here he was Best Dog and BP AVNSC under Allyson King and VHC in the Eukanuba Puppy Stakes under Tim Ball winning a product voucher, so certainly kept the Buhund flag flying.
I finish with congratulations to Jenny Shorer-Wheeler whose home bred Ch Koromandel Tusen Takk JW (ai)(Muchly) is currently 6th in the Pastoral OD/Royal Canin Top Dog Awards 2024 with points calculated up to 8th October. He is by Multi Ch JR Made For Cascilius x Sturtmoor’s Ffascination With Koromandel.
Margaret Deuchar margaretdeuchar@gmail.com