NORWEGIAN BUHUNDS
I hope you had a good New Year and that the fireworks weren’t too bad for those dogs that hate them. Only one Buhund gained their Champion title in 2024. Marie Corin and Adam Camm’s s Ch Kligenthal Almuric (Bergen) ShCEx. He is by Ch Arnscroft Di Na Mo Farah of Koromandel JW ShCM x Ch Koromandel Gild The Lily. He won his first CC at Crufts in 2023, his second at Birmingham National and his third at Windsor both in 2024. Then on 3rd November 2024 he gained his ShCEx, only the second Buhund to gain this award, then to finish off the year at his Ringcraft Club end of year Christmas party he was ‘Best Adult’and ‘Dog of The Year’ winning two very nice Cups and Rosettes. Many congratulations.
Top Buhund ‘Our Dogs’ and in the club awards Jenny Shorer-Wheeler’s homebred Ch Koromandel Tusen Takk JW (ai)(Muchly),he is by Multi Ch JR Made For Cascilius x Sturtmoor’s Ffascination With Koromandel he won 10CCs of the 11 CCs on offer at shows he attended (13CCS are available). He also won the Group at Manchester and had two other Group placings all gaining points for the ‘Our Dogs’ awards.
Jenny was also Top Breeder with her Koromandel Kennel with Muchly’s wins and at Leeds Ch Show Lesley and Liz Butterworth Ch Koromandel Gild The Lily (Hildy)won the BCC adding to the CCs won by the Kennel , she is by Ch/Can Ch Kyon’s Bold Norseman x Ch Maidofcopper For Koromandel JW.
Top Puppy ‘Our Dogs’ and the club awards 2024 ,Mary & Coralie Dosson’s Leggatts Part Time Lover (Barnaby). He is by Kligenthal Bran Mak Morn x Knytshall Noor Ul Ain, he also won 3RCCs while a puppy, and four during the year. For the ‘Our Dogs Awards’ points are gained from shows with CCs on offer .For the club awards points are also gained from Ch shows without CCs and RCCS, but not from Open Shows .
Not forgetting the dogs that do activities, Lucy Beatrice Gilbert’s Leggatts Fly Like An Eagle (Zuki) who is by Ch Rikarlo Gable JW x Knytshall Noor Ul Ain was named ‘ Agility Dog Of The Year’ at their Crazelpup Christmas Party.
Some end of year news from our friends in Eire, where shows are FCI. The Frostisen Kennel of Kerry and Fritz Frost , Addrienne Frost-Treadwell and Jacqui Walmsley finished as Top Breeders and were also in 6th position overall in Group 5 (Spitz & Primitive Breeds ).
I have received the Autumn Breed Record Supplement Pastoral from the RKC, and it shows that last year there were 15 puppies born and this year 20 which is good news, especially as quite a few are being shown, and doing other activities. There is also more good news as I gather that there are already puppy enquiries for next year.
This is all the Buhund news I have now as these notes have to be in on 19th December due to the Christmas holidays, so keep sending me details of all your show and activities successes and I will catch up with them in my notes in the New Year .
I recently read a fascinating article that I hope you will also find interesting .
Some of the older members will remember that nearly 40ys ago on 26th April 1986 there was the worst nuclear disaster that the world has seen, when reactor Unit 4 at the Chernoby nuclear power station in Ukraine exploded. Several explosions caused a large fireball which blew the lid off the reactor. This caused large amounts of radioactive material to be released into the atmosphere, which was carried great distances in the air, I remember it reaching North Wales and Cumbria with thousands of sheep being slaughtered and many farms having restrictions. In Ukraine 30,000 inhabitants of Prypiat the town near Chernobyl were evacuated leaving behind most of their belongings and animals as they were originally told they were only leaving for 3days! Now there is an 1,600 square mile exclusion zone round the accident site and is now a large radioactive wildlife refuge, one of the largest nature reserves in Europe. The animals are radioactive because they eat radioactive food, so they tend to produce fewer young and some have deformities, but there are Przewalski horses, wolves, badgers, moose, bears, various types of deer foxes, beavers, bison and mink to name just a few, along with various birds and rodents and of course dogs which originate from pets left behind when their owners were evacuated. Many died of radiation but some survived and they now have unique genetics compared to other dogs worldwide and are being studied by scientists from the US, Poland and Ukraine. Samples have been takes from 302 dogs living from between 15 to 45 kilometres from the disaster area. The findings have shown that the semi-feral dogs or “the mutant wolves of Chernobyl” as they tend to be called, like their wild ancestors tend to form packs of related individuals, and that their complex family structures suggest that they do not have random matings, which can be seen in the DNA of the dogs living in the exclusion zone . The family packs tend to live near other packs which is not the same as territorial nature of the close ancestor of dogs the Grey Wolf. They are all still exposed to high levels of radiation, but researchers have found that part of their genetic information appears to be resilient to the increased risk of cancer. There are still people at the power plant and some of these have adopted the stray dogs and keep scraps for them, as the dogs find it difficult to hunt in the forests because of the wolves, although there have been questions as to whether some are breeding with the wolves. There has also been a bizarre discovery to come out of Chernobyl in recent years, as scientists have discovered a fungus which has the ability to consume radiation and have helped to decomposing radioactive particles! Nature is so amazing .
Margaret Deuchar margaretdeuchar@gmail.com