NORWEGIAN BUHUNDS
Having written about Crufts and the Discover Dogs, I am now catching up with some of the various activities you amazing owners have been doing with your dogs, with some travelling over the ‘High Seas’. I am sure you do not need me to tell you that to the Irish St Partick’s day is very important, and they even have dog shows to celebrate. On Saturday March 14th The Celtic Winners All Breed International Dog Show was held at the National Show Centre in Dublin, thanks to Jacqui Walmsley for the results. Under judge Janelle Robinson (Australia) Green Star Bitch her 7th (like our CC) and 3rd CACIB was Anne-Marie Taylor & David Taylor’s Frostisen Blakk Zitter (Penny), this win made Penny an Irish Champion, you need 7 GS to become an Ir Ch. Dog CC CACIB and BOB Jenny & David Langford’s Ch & Ir Ch Frostisen Zeffer (Loki) he is Penny’s litter sister. The following day at the same venue the Irish Kennel Club held its St Patrick’s Day Ch show. The judge was Gerard Cox (Ireland) who awarded Penny the GSB & Loki the GSD & BOB he was also shortlisted in Group 5 (Spitz Group).CACIBs are only awarded at International shows, they go towards the FCI International Beauty Champion (Champion International de Beauty).To be an International Champion the dog must win 4 CACIBs under at least 3 different judges a year and a day apart from the first to last, and usually in at least 3 different countries, my Flekke won his in Ireland, Holland, Belgium and Germany and is still the only UK bred dog to do so, but residents of Ireland can earn them all in Ireland ,this goes back to the days of quarantine before Pet Passports were introduced, so Penny needs only one more CACIB to be an International Champion. Jacqui said it was a great weekend enjoyed by all, if rather windy and she was not sure whose bright idea it was to have a trip to Ireland the weekend after Crufts!
On Wednesday 18th March I, as the Norwegian Buhund Breed Health Coordinator, attended an online workshop given by the RKC called Nose-to -Tail Veterinary Assessment,which is designed to help breeders to produce healthier dogs with less extreme conformation. To make a positive difference for dogs, it is important that everyone works together. This was the first of the workshops and the intention is to build on each workshop and then there will be a more comprehensive summary next month after the last workshop has been held.
The workshop began with a 30-minute presentation by Dr Alison Skipper, Veterinary & Research Advisor at the Royal Kennel Club, and was followed by a Q&A style discussion led by attendees. In total, 36 participants joined representing 33 different breed communities. Alison’s presentation covered the RKC’s new Breeding for Health Framework, which divides the key areas breeders should be thinking about when breeding for health into three categories: genetic diversity, conformation and breed related disease. Clearly issues with conformation affect some breeds and types more than others, but there is increasing concern, both nationally and internationally, about these matters. Alison introduced the development of the RKC Nose -to-Tail Veterinary Assessment, which draws on scientific evidence to consider exaggerations of body shape with a welfare impact in a standardised way. The assessment is being designed to be carried out by vets who will be asked to evaluate each dog using a set of carefully defined criteria with the proposal that each criterion will have a numerical score, which at moment it is thought will be from 0-3, with 0 being the best. The total score would then be calculated to give an overall metric of the dog’s conformation. This would allow data to be collected that can monitor a breed’s progress and change over time and allow comparisons of breeds in terms of physical tendencies to exaggeration. For our breed a Spitz curled tail is not considered as an exaggeration.
Saturday March 21st saw the club hold an in-person Breed Appreciation Day at Overseal Village Hall Derbyshire. Thanks to our Secretary Jenny Shorer -Wheeler for the report on the day.
Eleven prospective judges attended, Jasmine Freeborn one of our newer breed specialists is still progressing through her Level 1 requirements so attended the talk for her own development and helped in the afternoon as a dog handler. Nancy Kent took her usual able charge of the catering which was a good breakfast and lunch provision for the candidates. Of those taking the Multiple-Choice exam, we had three breed specialists, Marie Corin, Jo Rees-Guillod and Paul Glaholm, and seven others with various interests, in Spitz breeds mostly. We also enjoyed helping to socialise a delightful and well-behaved young Schipperke. All but one candidate passed the MCE, which was taken first. Lorraine Bolton our BEC (Breed Education Coordinator) then lead everyone through a detailed history and look at the breed standard which took us up to lunchtime. After lunch there were three groups for mentoring. Three dogs followed by three bitches were handled by Nancy, Jasmine and Cheryl Denham-Horton, giving mentees a chance to observe both black and wheatens, and various ages. Kirsty, Lorraine and I acted as the group mentors. The sessions went well and we now have nine new level 2 judges for the breed with their first mentoring session under their belt. We will look forward to their progression in their future judging.
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