NORWEGIAN BUHUNDS
With the easing of lockdown, it does look as if some shows will go ahead. The first show with breed classes if everything goes to plan will be at the Royal Cheshire Show (Dog Section) on 22nd of June. Then the first Ch show with breed classes will be East of England at Peterborough, with Pastoral Day 11th July, this show does not have CCs. The first show with CCs will be National Working & Pastoral Breeds at Malvern on 17th July. The following weekend it is Leeds on 25th July again with CCs. Bath also has CCs; this show is on Tuesday 3rd of August but definitely worth taking the day off if you can, as Bath is also hosting our Open show.
I recently received a copy of the Pastoral Breed Record Supplement which gives details among other things of the number of puppies born each quarter and each year. In 2019 there were 20 puppies born last year just 7, partly due to the Pandemic as it was not easy for owners to travel dogs and bitches. There were 8 Pastoral breeds that had lower numbers. Interestingly in the Top Twenty Breeds there was only one Pastoral Breed which was in 8th place and that was the German Shepherd Dog with 7,067 registrations. In 2019 the Border Collie was in 19th place with 2,087 but surpassingly last year it was not in the top 20.
This year if everything works out as breeders hope our puppy numbers will be on the up.
Wenna Wallbank, many will know the name. Wenna held several committee places in the past, in 1988 she took over as Editor of Bu news, the following year she gave this up to become club secretary. You may have been judged by Wenna as she has awarded CCs in the breed on a number of occasions. In the 1980’s she was a highly successful Exhibitor and Breeder of Buhunds. Wenna said that much of the credit for the success of her small kennel was due to her foundation bitch Ch Alkola Llian who in 1984 was not only Top Winning Bitch of the Year but also Top Brood Bitch, and for a while she was also the Bitch Breed Record Holder with 17CCs. In 1986 Dewin Cymro JW was Top Puppy and joint Our Dogs /Pedigree Chum Top Puppy with Dewin Cerian JW who was BOS Puppy.
More recently Wenna wrote the Breed notes for Dog World for many years before I took over in 2010 writing them until Dog World folded. During lockdown Wenna was also one of the judges for Addrienne Frost -Treadwell for one of her online shows.
Here Wenna kindly tells me how she ended up with her affix. “I finally managed to acquire my affix in 1980 after about 17 rejected ones! In the end I chose a Welsh word (living in Wales), thinking it might stand a better chance of being unique. My first Buhund was Sam, Kennel name Magician of the Mountains, so called because of a current picture book in work (and one of my favourites as I was a librarian) it was about ‘The Magician who lived on the Mountain’, and we had recently moved to a house with beautiful views of the Clwydian range, so a few years later, trying vainly for an affix, I checked the Welsh translation of Magician- Dewin, easy to pronounce and short. Still happy with it 40yrs later!” Thanks Wenna.
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.