NORWEGIAN BUHUNDS
Over the past few years ‘Buhund Bumbles’ as they have been called have become very poplar. A ‘Bumble’ is when members living relatively locally to each meet up and socialise, with their dogs also enjoying exercising and playing with others of the same breed. They have also become a great way for people that are thinking of having a Buhund meeting owners and learning more about the Breed, rather like an extended version of ‘Discover Dogs’ only here of course they can spend much longer with the owners and the dogs.
Marie Corin who with partner Adam own Bergen (Kligenthal Almuric) has sent me details of the latest Bumble.
‘The first London Bu Bumble took place on Saturday the 6th November in Regents Park Central London. Despite having to change the date (originally it was planned for the day of the Buhund Club Ch show), and not everyone who wanted to come being able to make it on the day, there was still an excellent turn out with 6 Buhunds and their owners, coming from all corners of London. The Buhund ages ranged from the oldest, Scarlett with owner Anna and her daughter Julia. Anna is Norwegian and told us how her grandparents had a farm in Norway and always had Buhunds. Then there was 8 yr old Loki with his owners Dorcan and Simon de Deney, then the three 2yr old siblings-my Bergen and sisters Loki with Thom Hoang and Jack, and Nova with her owner Maria (this was the first time the siblings had seen each other since leaving their mum)-last but by no means least was 6month old Bim with new first time dog owners Umm Ibby and her son Ibrahim, who had met Bergen for a walk some time ago when researching the breed. The humans did not need to do a lot of walking, as the Buhunds took advantage of running around the rather muddy park field, enjoying chasing each other as well as chasing a ball or two. Having never met another Buhund in London, it was a joyous sight, which also attracted the attention from a few passers-by including a young lad who stopped playing football, they all wanted to know what breed they were. We even managed to get everyone to sit together on a monument to a pose for a photo! There will definitely be more London Bu Bumbles organised in the future’. Thank you, Marie sounds, fun and a great way to get the breed seen.
The next Bu Bumble will be in Cambridgeshire on Sat 4th Dec 2pm at Hinchingbrooke Park, Parking £2.
I do not know if you read the article by Jane Lilley in Our Dogs 12th, she talks about the different traits in dogs of the same breed, and how they can often have passion for destroying different things! I have had 6 Buhunds and they have all been slightly different. Finn adored playing ball, I remember one evening at a training class, it was winter, and the curtains were all drawn, I left Finn in a sit and called him he disappeared down the hall and found a tennis ball someone had left behind a curtain, I think nowadays he would be good at scent. Time also loves playing ball but often expects me to go and find his ball if he can’t remember where he left it! Fizz on the other hand was never interested in playing ball but thought agility was invented just for him. Kiki was the destructive one but only for my husband’s glasses, I lost count of how many pairs he chewed but in the end my husband did learn to put them away! There has also been some discussion as to whether dogs can tell the time. Certainly, some seem to know the time by a chiming clock associating it with feeding time, but Kiki would be spot on without any clock, and although Time is not really a foody, he can be fast asleep and then suddenly gets up at the time he is normally fed. Debbie’s dogs certainly know feeding time without a clock, they also listen to the sat nav and when it says ‘you have reached your destination’ they bark!
There was an article recently in the Daily Express which said it had been shown that dogs know when their owner is likely to come home, and when it is feeding time. Apparently, they have a circadian cycle which is a natural internal process that regulates the sleep wake cycle and repeats roughly every 24hours and has been observed in plants animals and fungi. Dogs may also know when the owner is likely to come home using scent. This something I have heard before. The scent that the owner leaves behind diminishes during the day and the dogs learn the level it gets to when the owner is likely to return, rather than knowing the passing of time. An experiment was run when smelly shirts belonging to the owner were left around the house just before the owner was likely to return, and the dog that would usually get up at a certain time on this occasion he did not get up as the scent level had not dropped as usual.
I finish with massive thanks to Lisa Strong who with husband Alex set up and manned the breed booth both days last weekend at Discover Dogs. Their canine helpers were Eris aka as Leggatts Dancing Queen At Draccus and Loki Snowflake. Eris as most of you will know is black so great have both colours for people to see. There is of course Wolf Sable but at the moment we only have photos of them. Marie Corin and Adam Camm with Bergan aka Kligenthal Almuric having advertised the breed in a rather muddy Regents Park, enjoyed doing it again all weekend but in a somewhat drier venue. Tom and Penny Glibbery also helped on the Saturday with Indy aka Rikarlo Grant, as did Paul Martin with Ulfie aka Wolfen Dancing With Wolves who came all the way down from Stockton On Tees on the train. I gather the train journey was rather problematic and the food had all run out! not good. Thank you all so much it is very tiring for humans and dogs a like.Discover Dogs is such an important way of getting the breed better known and understood for those interested in owning one.
Stay safe everyone.
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