NORWEGIAN BUHUNDS
The Pandemic was a very difficult experience for nearly everyone, the only good thing to come out of it possibly was a wider use of the Internet, for things that in the past had always taken place face to face.
Sadly, this year David and I have attended the funerals of 3 close friends, but during the pandemic when most mourners were not allowed to attend funerals, live streaming was started so that mourners could be there, albeit not actually in person. This has continued and on Friday 17th November I along with other Buhund owners were able to watch the funeral of Nicola Joy Houston Davies, known to most of us as Nikki. She was born in Forres in Moray Scotland on 21st October 1976 and sadly died from a brain aneurysm on 19th October, having collapsed at home the day before, and despite the best efforts of the medical staff she never regained consciousness, she would have been 48 just two days later. The funeral was at the Peterborough Crematorium with the Wake at the Stage in Market Deeping. The sound of Bag Pipes was played as the mourners arrived led in by Nikki’s husband Jim and their eldest daughter 7yr old Emily, many of the mourners particularly the children and young people carried yellow roses. The crematorium was so full that many had to stand. Sid Bridges took the funeral with Jonathan reading the poem ‘A Life Well Lived’, Jim then gave a very moving Eulogy, saying what a wonderful wife and mother Nikki had been, and talked about Nikki’s passion for horses and dogs which had started from the age of 8yrs, with her first dog being Bruce, and how she would love walking him in the countryside also visiting friends with horses. After her father died the family moved to Market Depping in 1987, she had a German Shepard called Jess and bought her first house when she was 18yrs old, so she could have Jess with her. She became involved with handling and showing the breed and met Di Stirling who also had Buhunds. In 2001 she had her first Buhund puppy Rossi aka as Ch Arnscroft Di Hard, Jim said Nikki was thrilled when Rossi was BOB at Crufts in 2010, he was also BIS at the club Ch show winning from veteran, and also made successful trips to Kortrijk in Belgium, his kennel mate was a Border Collie called Murphy. When Rossi died Di gave her Dido, but she never showed her and turned her attention more to dog training and running Ringcraft classes, Jim admitted when he first met Nikki, he was afraid of dogs, but they soon became part of his life after he married Nikki on 7th August 2010.They moved to Deeping Saint James in Norfolk in 2016. Nikki spent nearly all her working life with Pearl insurance and later with the Phoenix Group when Pearl became part of the group, Nikki was very highly thought of, being a Senior Product Manager. After the Eulogy, several photos of Nikki were shown on a screen while Jamie Lawson’s record of ‘Wasn’t Expecting That’ was played. Ian then read the poem ‘Death Is Nothing At All.’ Everyone then stood while the committal was said, after this they sat down, and they were asked to remember Nikki. As people left Eva Cassidy’s ‘Somewhere over the Rainbow’ was played, and the yellow roses they had been carrying were added to the beautiful arrangement of yellow Roses on the coffin. Donations in memory of Nikki are for Magpas Air Ambulance Huntingdon , and on the evening of the funeral the money raised was nearly £7,000.
Three days earlier I had another reason to appreciate the Internet, when by using Teams, I was able to watch a KC Webinar Hip & Elbow Dysplasia. The talk was given by Dr Jerry Davies (with many letters after his name) chief scrutineer of the BVA and Elizabeth Baines who is another scrutineer, there are 8 in all. They work in pairs looking at x- rays, but do not always work in the same pair so that they have a fresh approach every time they assess an x- ray. X- rays are sent in digitally from the vet since the pandemic, and there is also now a system whereby the scrutineers can assess from home if necessary due to rail strikes etc. We saw a number of x-rays of dogs with Elbow Dysplasia and Hip Dysplasia. Elbow Dysplasia is not something that we test Buhunds for in the UK, although I know they do in other countries. X -raying dogs began in 1940, with Sten-Erik Olsson who was born in Sweden in 1921(he died in 2000) and graduated from the RVC in Stockholm in 1947.He was also interested in human medicine and graduated as a human Dr in the 70’s. He was a prominent and pioneering researcher of hip dysplasia, for many years he had his own ‘bone lab’ which was privately funded. At the time the disease was unknown, and his research was met with scepticism by the veterinary research community. His discoveries led to the diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of a group of disorders that affect the skeleton. The Hip Dysplasia Scheme was started by the BVA and the KC in 1965 to reduce the incidence and severity of the condition, testing for Elbow dysplasia stated in 1999.The scheme uses x- rays to screen for signs of abnormalities (poorly shaped elbow and hip joints). Some dogs can be lame with HD but there is often no correlation between the lameness and the x-ray. It was stressed that it is very important to x-ray all breeding stock as soon after a year old as possible, as there is a definite link between HD and a genetic weakness, although other factors such as Diet, Environment, Activity and Weight are also factors. Dogs with ED & HD may not always be lame especially when they are young, but we were shown x-rays of dogs with high ED and HD scores where extra bone had grown in the deformed joints with knobbly fingers, which usually leads to arthritis in older dogs, which can be very painful and cause the dog to be lame.
It was stressed that all x-rays should be sent in to get the correct picture of the breed, not just the ones that are thought to be good. There is no data on total populations and it is appreciated that ED and particular HD can suddenly pop up, but ‘Guide Dogs For the Blind’ have had a closed and careful breeding programme over the past 20 years, they screen all their dogs only breeding from the dogs with the best hips, and this has reduced the incidence of HD in their breeding stock, showing that screening is the way forward. When talking about activity affecting HD, a question was asked about allowing puppies to go up and downstairs. The answer was you need to be sensible puppies should not be allowed to rush up and down stairs or walk too far on hard surfaces as impact on hard surfaces can cause soft tissue damage.
We have it in our ‘code of ethics’ that all dogs must be health tested before being bred from, and we are lucky to have dedicated breeders who abide by our code, but not all breeds are so lucky.
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