NORWEGIAN BUHUNDS
I write these notes, but they are all about you and what you do with your dogs. I can find out about most shows fairly easily, but it is all those other activities you do that I need to know about, so this week I am very pleased to have heard from three owners about their activities and their plans for the future.
Sarah Stonton wrote, “Recently I made the decision to semi-retire Ch Arnscroft In Di Ana Jack RL1ex L5ex from breed showing due to his progressive dislike of being ‘gone over’ by judges. He remained throughout happy standing and loved running around the ring, the bigger the better, with me. It’s disappointing as in my opinion he is still in his prime at 7 years old and our breed entries will now temporarily contract even more, but his happiness comes first. Having owned and shown Buhunds since 1995, he was my first to be awarded a CC and to this day has been my only champion, with Loxy obtaining her one and only CC at 10 years of age. Jack goes out with 13 CCs and 10 RCCs to his name so has won over and beyond what I could ever have hoped for – thank you to all the judges who have admired him and been both patient and kind to him. Jack and I will still be out and about doing other dog disciplines; he didn’t take to agility, but we have gone back to competing at Rally Obedience which we started pre-Covid. He is close on achieving his Level 2 award. The exercises give us something to train for and help to enrich our walks. Last weekend he achieved his Level 5 excellence with Scentwork UK having achieved 4th place at that trial. Now he needs to add truffle oil to his existing ‘sniffs’ of clove and gun oil to begin competing at Level 6. We hope to do at least one trial at this level with Margaret and Time, but as Time is close to achieving his Level 6 excellence, it is likely to be only a single trial. Hoopers and Barn hunts are the other adventured we may investigate together”.
I then heard from Jacque Cobb who had a very successful weekend 10/11 June with Knytshall Eloise and Knytshall Sashenka Bear . “On Saturday I took my two young blacks to a Rally Show in Okehampton Devon. We arrived in light rain, but the dogs didn’t seem to mind. Eloise started the day with a sixth place at her first attempt at level 3, next Bear was fourth in level 1, and with a score of 206, so now has his RL1ex title. That was the mornings winnings, and I felt the day couldn’t get any better. By the afternoon the rain had changed to humid heat that sapped my energy. By the time it got to Eloise’s turn in level 2, I was really struggling, when it came to the fast pace, which was up hill, I took a deep breath and ran. So did Eloise, and she was well ahead of me by the time we reached the finish sign! The level 2 was a hugh class and was quite late finishing. I didn’t think we had done particularly well, and I wanted to go home so I asked the chief steward to collect her certificate if she had qualified. No, she said – you can’t go, it won’t be long before the results, but you must be here. No one was more surprised than me when 15mins later I found out that Eloise had gained her level 2 ex title and third place! I feel very proud of both Bear and Eloise. On Sunday we were back at Bratton Cloverly, and if anything, the humid heat was worse than Saturday. During the morning Bear got another qualifying score in level 1 but both of us struggled to get around the course. For his first level 2 round I made sure that he was the last to go as rain was forecast for later. This was a wise decision, as the air was cooler, and he came away with a qualifying score of 201.
The rally show at the weekend also ran an ‘Action Rally Dog For Fun’ ring in the hall. Action Rally is very similar to Rally Obedience but with some crucial differences. Firstly, anyone could pay £5 to have a go with instructions, but to be judged you must be registered with Action Rally at £15 a dog. I registered both Eloise and Bear. This gives them an ARD number, and wherever/whenever they compete, they will compete under that number. The heelwork section is laid out like a rally course, and you move between signs, but each sign is an individual act, and you stop after performing each sign, and you can pat/praise the dog at the end of each sign. At the ‘Nursery Level’ you can have treats in your pocket (not in a treat bag) and you can treat your dog twice during the round. Depending on the difficulty of the action there is a little number on the sign indicating how many cues you are allowed to use. You get extra points for using less than the number indicated. In free style you stand on a mat, and you must not move your feet, and the sign is held up by the judge or scribe. The exception is doing either forward or backward weaves. At nursery level there are 25signs and the assessor will pick 15 to use, however you only need to do 12. At the start you say which 3 you will miss out. I nominated ‘bow’ straight way as Eloise knows how to do it but does not hold it for minimum 5ses, then ‘left hand touch’ and ‘shimmy’ neither of which I have taught her. In the heelwork section I chose ‘bow’ ‘left hand static’ and ‘turn back together’. When we had finished, I felt Eloise had tried really hard and that with a little more practise we could start qualifying. Imagine my surprise when later the chief steward handed me a qualifying certificate for both her freestyle, and her heelwork!” Thanks Jacque I had not heard of this before, so thanks very much for telling us about it.
Last but certainly not least I heard from Kirsty Irvine she wrote, “What a lovely day for our first Northern Bu Bumble on 11th June. A big thank you to those that came along to Marton Meadow Dog Walking Field it was Fa-Bu-lous! We had six people and baby Henry, the Buhunds were Ulfi, Jamie, Blaze, Bodi, Ruskin and Hildy and showing they come in Black as well as wheaten Toby, with honorary Buhnds for the day Max the cocker Spaniel and the Alaskan Klee Kai Amka. Afterwards we had cold drinks and cakes at Abbot’s Harbour. I would say it was a very successful event! Cannot wait to do it again.”
Stay safe everyone .
Margaret Deuchar margaretdeuchar@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