NORWEGIAN BUHUNDS
Because the good people at Our Dogs will be taking a well-deserved break over the festive period these notes have to be in before Christmas holiday,so I hope you and your canine partners all had a lovely Christmas day and everything went according to plan.
Before Christmas Sarah Stonton was out and about with Pixie doing a Scentwork UK Trial, below she tells us how it went.
‘ Following on from Margaret’s scentwork notes a couple of weeks back I have been on another morning out with Pixie. As all of you who exhibit and compete with dogs know we sometimes leave before dawn and cover lots of miles! On Saturday 13th December we needed to be at Wybaston Village Hall, Nr Ashbourne, Derbyshire to arrive in time to ‘walk through’ the search areas at 9am. At 6.30am I scraped the pretty patterned ice from the windscreen before starting up the A1, then cross country on a 100-mile journey to the venue. Bonus was a lovely sunrise around 8am and the last few miles on the lanes in the countryside were beautiful with low lying mist, bright sunlight and frosty verges. Pixie (aka Wheatshade Snow Dreamer) is out of Lillian’s Kata Sundattir Av Fjeldvidda At Wheatshade (Darcy who does mantrailling) by my Ch Arnscroft In Di Ana Jack Rl2 who is successful and experienced at scentwork so I think she has good ‘sniffing genes,’ as well as being exuberant and happy she thoroughly enjoyed herself. It was a Scentwork UK Level 5 Trial-Pixie did her first one in mid-October then another which she won in mid-November so this was her third .The odours were gun oil and clove and there were 12 to find over 3 areas .In area 1 there were 4 in a narrow stock room with chairs ,tables, a piano, lawnmower and various miscellaneous items -we were given 3 minutes. Area 2 was outside a long wall, some steps up to a door, a wooden fence with various items at the base, a tree and a box of Christmas decorations- 5 to find in 4 minutes .Finally area 3 was another interior a small side room with tables set out ,items and a dressed Santa skeleton for good measure -3 to find in 2.5mins.Pixie was a dream ,worked hard and thoroughly, just stopping outside poised on the steps to watch 2 horses being ridden past. I am thrilled to say she was the only dog to find all 12hides so won with full marks-She brought home a certificate, a red rosette, and a large red/white/blue one as she had now gained her excellence at this level (20points),a bag of doggie treats and the proverbial cuddly toy, for those of us who remember the Generation Game! Now to start on Level 6 which includes Truffle Oil -fun times playing with our furriers.’ Congratulations to you both.
The next day it was my and Time’s (aka Rikarlo Gable JW)turn to head up the A1 for a Christmas scent trial organised by Chippers Sniffers, not nearly so far as Sarah’s only into Essex a round trip of 120miles .We also had three search areas ,but they were all inside and very much with a Christmas theme, Holly Hall, Sniffmas Search and Christmas Conga, needless to say nearly all the hides were hidden in things with a Christmas connection from a Christmas card working up though things wrapped in tinsel ,boxes wrapped as Christmas presents ,Christmas hats, if could be made to look Christmassy it was ,although there were a few hidden in a pile of chairs on a step and under a table. Time really enjoyed himself finding the most hides and won a lovely rosette and trophy.
Of course we do scent work with our dogs for fun, but for years the military and police have used dogs for so many things including locating explosives, finding people, money and even in the smallest amount of drugs, in the last war dogs were used to find wounded soldiers. I do not know if you watched David Attenborough’s ‘Kingdom’, in the last episode it showed how vital dogs are in tracking poachers, finding snares ,illegal ivory and guns ,the dogs are so important that they are guarded all the time and the latest recruit is learning to accept being taken by helicopter so that he and his handler can be dispatched anywhere in South Luangwa National Park in Zambia as it covers such a large area.
On 14th December Marie Corin headed off to Wealdstone & Northolt Canine Society show with her and Adam Camm’s homebred Mazads Nom De Plume (Dexter), where under Anne Cove he was BOB. The show has moved a few times recently, it was held at Brunel University in Uxbridge for many years, but after a very difficult one moved to Ardingly but is now back nearer home being held at The Agricultural Hall, in Maidstone Kent.
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