Norwegian Buhund

Breed Notes 20th August 2021 Margaret Deuchar

NORWEGIAN BUHUNDS

Paignton and District Ch show had its beginnings back in 1909 when the late WJ Nichols judged the dog section of the Paignton Fanciers Association in the basement of the Public Halls in Paignton, which housed the various livestock sections of the Society. In 1923 their first open dog show was held, increasing in popularity year in year out. There were no shows during the war years. The last open show was held on 19th July 1950 with an entry of 584 dogs. The following year on 4th July the first Ch show was held at Queens Park, the show was well received with comments saying ‘it was a lovely show in a superb setting’. There was an entry of 1260 dogs representing 35 breeds with 342 classes. It was the first all-breed Ch show to be held in the county.

This year the show was celebrating its 70th Anniversary and ran on its originally planned dates, starting on Saturday 7th August and ending on Monday 9th which was Pastoral Day. The show is held at Westpoint Exeter, the venue is used as a conference, meeting centre as well as a wedding venue, but also offers everything for a Ch dog show, with space for caravans, free car parking and plenty of room for show tents and trade stands, and is only 1 mile from the M5. This year it was one of the few Ch shows to have benches, and the main hall was used for the BIS ring. It is also one of the few Ch shows to have open Agility and Championship Obedience classes which this year were held on Friday 6th.

I have not been to Paignton for a number of years, I used to go every year to the previous venue with the late Elisabeth Coleopy, in those days they also had Elkhound classes and as I had both breeds, I would show them both and one-year open dog in both breeds was on at exactly the same time in next door rings!

This year I am indebted to Millie Lambert for sending me  her report on the show.

“I must say Paignton show was as enjoyable as ever, with a super friendly committee who are willing to help with anything you need, it made for a great day. Danco benches were in attendance, the first benches we have seen since Crufts 2020! I will admit, although I would have liked to be using our benches, there were a lot of large dogs around us so we moved to a quieter area closer to the ring and entrance. Our judge was Mr Shaun Watson, who I believe is British but lives in Cyprus. He was a very pleasant judge and was super with the dogs giving them lots of time without taking forever! Only two entries in Buhunds but with the several litters on the ground at the moment, it’s not a surprise. Mr Watson awarded my Sheira (Sturtmoor’s Free’n Eezee) Best Bitch and Best of Breed, with Mary Dosson’s Teddy (Kligenthal Bran Mak Morn) taking Best Dog (his first such award!). Mary spent the whole day with Mum and I, we had a great time with lots of laughs and some training too! Teddy is quite definitely in love with Sheira, in true ‘bitch’ fashion, she would start to talk to him (with a view to playing) and then tell him off because he just wanted to show her how handsome he was! LOL! The group came and went with no love for the Buhund, we had a change of judge from Steve Hall to Jill Peak. Sheira wasn’t impressed with being indoors but showed better than I expected (the hall was extremely noisy). She was also very bored considering we thought we were pushing it being late to the collecting ring, then found that we were one of only two people present! We eventually got into the group at least 20 minutes later by which time she’d had enough and wanted to go home! Just goes to show that dogs aren’t machines!

All in all, it was a lovely day, and now we are looking forward to Bournemouth.” Thanks very much Millie.

I finish with the good news that my and daughter Debbie’s Rikarlo Gable (Time) has had a clear eye test.

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