NORWEGIAN BUHUNDS
I start by wishing you all a Very Happy and Peaceful Christmas and New Year, this of course includes all your four legged friends and or whatever species you have, as I know many of you don’t just have dogs, some have exotic pets.
LKA is the last Ch show of the year and is popular with some for buying that last minute Christmas gift, it is sometime also very exciting as the competitions for Top Dog, Puppy and Breeder can go down to the wire, with deciders being the winners from the show. This year for the first time it was one of the new ‘All Breed Ch’ shows. Pastoral day was the Sunday along with the Toy, Utility and Working groups, so a very busy one. There had been comments that the entries were not as high as expected, now it was an all breed show. I think this may have been partly due to the unpredictability of the weather. Twenty nine years ago a couple of years before I came into the breed and before the weather forecasts were so accurate, heavy snow arrived trapping people on their way to the show and not allowing those already there to leave. My friend the late Elisabeth Coleopy was one of those trapped on her way to the show and would not enter for several years afterwards. It was just becoming a very distant memory for those who had encountered it, when 2years ago much the same thing happened, although then we knew the snow was coming. It arrived late on the Saturday and fell overnight, we were meant to be doing Obreedience on the Sunday, the breed having been on the Saturday, but I withdrew the team which was a shame as we had won the heat the year before, but the risk was too high, and many drivers who did venture out were trapped on motor ways for hours. Some exhibitors have said to me that they have only entered one dog, in case they can’t make it so they don’t lose so much money, which does make sense.
The show still has an Obreedience heat but we really did not have a team after Angel had her accident, but she is well on the road to recovery, so hopefully we will be back out competing next year. There are also Rally classes for Levels 1 & 2, they have become very popular, and here Lisa Strong with her and husband Alex’s Loki Snowflake and Leggatts Dancing Queen At Draccus(Eris) flew the Buhund flag, in Level 1 part 2 in which there were 36 entries for judge Finula Barnes. It was not Loki’s day but Eris had a qualifying score of 178 with a very smart qualifying card, this was only the second time she had done Rally so many congratulations.
Our judge was Gail Hussey (Dawnro) who is a breed specialist and has judged the breed with CCs on ten occasions, the last one being Driffield in 2017 she also judged Crufts in 2013. Gail does not have dogs anymore but bred and showed Buhunds and Dalmatians for many years, one of her Dalmatians Zmila (Smila) had a part in Disney’s 101 Dalmatians. Her best know Buhund was probably Ch/Ir Ch Fullani Fine Flax at Dawnro, he was the first Irish and UK Buhund Champion, born in 1992 he won his Uk crown fairly quickly. Previously Gail and the late Elisabeth Coleopy(Fullani) had taken their Buhunds over to Eire, to do the Munster Circuit. In those days no shows had Buhund classes and so they were entered in AVNSC. Also, back then, the IKC had it own system on making up Champions which depended on numbers entered. Together Elisabeth and Gail persuaded some shows on the circuit to put on Buhund classes and encouraged English exhibitors to join them, the Green Stars became hard fought, 40 GS were needed to be an Ir Ch, and some had to be won from Majors when 5 GS were gained but then there had to be a certain number of dogs entered. Eventually Flax was the first Ir Ch and Elisabeth’s Reinark Touch of Class of Fullani (JW) the first bitch Ir Ch. Now a days of course it is quite different with Buhund breeders in Northern and Southern Ireland, and the shows are FCI, so if you enter a breed you have a class for it, but the dog has to be graded Excellent before it can be awarded a Green Star. A great change from the numbers game. Seven GSs are now needed to be an Ir Ch but they have to be won at least a year and a day apart from the first to last.
We were due to go in the ring after 107 Boxers with the judging starting at 9am, but by 2pm the Boxers were still being judged so we were moved to another ring, luckily, we had our picnic at the benches at midday!
Gail found her BOB & DCC his 2nd in my and daughter Debbie’s Rikarlo Gable he also has 2RCCs and is by Ch Koromandel Best Served Cold At Knytshall(Jamie)x Kimura’s Vera With Tapui (Imp Nor).RDCC his 10th he also has 5CCs Nancy Kent and Jacqui and Michael Cobb’s Jamie by Can Ch Kyon’s Bold Norseman x Ch Maidofcopper for Koromandel (Imp Fin)JW. Nancy was very proud of Jamie as earlier in the day he had taken and passed his Bronze Good Citizen Test.BCC Margaret Garvie’s Rhialis Lucie this gave Lucie her crown, making Margaret’s trip down from Scotland very worthwhile. Her first CC was at Richmond in 2016 under Dr Annukka Paloheimo from Finland, and her second this year at NW&PBS under breed specialist Sue Rolfe. Lucie is by Ch /Am Ch Visions Dino of Trollheimen(Imp USA)x Ch Ailort Just Jinks she also has 5 RCCs.BV & RBCC her 9th Jacqui and Michael Cobb and Nancy Kent’s Ch Trelowen Veryan To Knytshall RL1,she is by Ch Knytshall Ferdig x Int/Ir Ch Trelowen Yn Tek to Benzara ,and also has 7CCs.BP Millie Lambert’s homebred Sturtmoor’s Free’n Eezee (Sheira) by Jamie x Sturtmoor Eezee Luvva. Millie was thrilled as Shiera also took and passed her Bronze Good Citizen. So ended the Ch show season for 2019.
For those of you who live near or in Cambridgeshire the next Buhund Bumble in that area will be on 29th December at 10am. Location to be decided, further details will be on the forum or contact Lisa Strong.
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.