NORWEGIAN BUHUNDS
A few dates for your diary the AGM and fun day will be on April 1st (No not an April fool) at Shirland Village Hall, Alfreton Derbyshire. Open Show July 15th hosted by NW& PBS at Malvern. Ch show 22nd October again at Shirland Village Hall.
As promised below is an obituary written by Sarah Stonton for Loxy .
Trelowen Andrea AW(S) “Loxy” 02/08/11-16/01/23
‘Loxy will always hold an extra special place in my heart, in part due to the emotional help she gave me through bereavement and episodes of depression, but also due to her ability to enjoy and succeed in a wide range of activities. Small in stature, huge in character. Sentiment aside, what a multi-talented girl Loxy turned out to be. The NBC of UK last year began a Versatile Buhund Award where points are accrued in a large range of disciplines including helping at discover dogs, taking part in our group walks, as well as dog sports. Loxy was the first Buhund to achieve Gold having been a busy dog throughout her life. In the breed ring, she was lightly shown but was still seen in the ring from 6 months up until 2 weeks before she passed. Loxy was awarded 2 RCC’s early on, one of which was at Crufts, then finally a CC having just turned 10 years. At one of those early championship shows she passed her Bronze Good Citizen Scheme test. Next came agility, my main activity with her. Her debut at 18 months old she started competing in independent shows as they are mostly fenced unlike KC rings. Early on she was just too excited to do the correct course so would “take her own line” at speed. Her KC agility debut was at a snowy venue in Jan 2015, a show I still remember so well. She was entered in Grade 1, the starting level, but on one course beat all the other medium dogs in grades 1, 2, 3 and 4and hence immediately won to Grade 2. Over the course of the next 18 months, she worked steadily up to Grade 6, gaining her Bronze then Silver Agility Warrants along the way. Grade 6 allowed her to compete at the KC International Agility Festival in the “British Open” for 3 years, running along with champion agility dogs and grade 7 dogs. The first year she came 22nd out of 220 dogs, narrowing missing the opportunity to run in the semi-final (the final of which would have been at Crufts or Horse of the Year Show). During our agility years the Bu club asked for Loxy to compete in Obreedience alongside 3 other Buhunds forming team Quatre Bu. We all had such fun as a team, winning a few events and narrowly missed the chance to compete at Crufts 2 years running, being the first reserve team. Loxy, as well as doing team heel work, performed the retrieve. Other team members started doing Rally Obedience and as it was often held at the same events as Obreedience, Loxy obviously could not be left out. Finally following agility retirement, in part due to the onset of Covid lockdown, Loxy still needed work to do so we started training scent work initially via an online course, then later in classes. Always a dog to enjoy sniffing, Loxy ended her final year competing happily, confidently, and successfully at Scentwork UK’s level 5 with a 3rd place at her final trial.
My remaining Buhund Jack (Ch Arnscroft In Di Ana Jack RL1ex) enjoys a range of activities including breed showing, rally obedience and scent work trials. He also does scent at level 5; on Friday 27th January we headed to Wichenford village in Worcestershire for a Trial, there were only 3 qualifiers out of 11 competitors and he took the 3rd place’. Thank you, Sarah. Loxy certainly was a special girl.
Saturday the 28th was a busy day for the breed, the second Bu Bumble of the year was held in London’s Regents Park, organised by Marie Corin with 10 Buhunds bringing along their owners, so that owners and dogs alike could all enjoy the social event. The dogs ages ranged from a puppy in arms to veterans with every age in between, there was also wheatens and blacks which was good a there were families who came to see if Buhunds might be for them in the future, which was great as I have said before it is an extension of Discovery Dogs with prospective owners being able to see the Breed out and about, to make sure they are the right breed for them.
Then much further west Mary and David Dosson’s Teddy aka Kligenthal Bran Mak Morn won a very good open AVNSC class at The Newton Abbot & South Devon Canine Society Show, held at Matford Livestock Centre in Exeter Devon, he is obviously on a roll having won the RCC at Manchester Ch show. The judge was Clare Osborne, it is always good to see a Buhund doing well in AVNSC classes.
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