NORWEGIAN BUHUND
Shaftesbury and Gillingham Agricultural Show was held on the 18th and 19th August on its own Turnpike showground in North Dorset, it is the biggest Agricultural show in the south, this year it was restricted to 2 days due covid planning/restrictions. It always starts on the third Wednesday in August, and often has attendance of over 24,000 visitors. Held alongside the Agricultural show is the Pawscars nominated Gillingham and Shaftesbury 2-day Open dog show, with our own Jacqui Walmsley as Secretary, with assistance from Alysha Branchflower this year. There were 6 entries for the two classes PG Dog /Bitch and Open Dog /Bitch, for judge Debbie Stansbury who is on our judging list. Knytshall Eloise won the PG class, she is owned by Jacqui and Michael Cobb and Nancy Kent; this was her first outing since being on maternal duties. In 2nd place was Mary Dosson’s Kligenthal Bran Mak Morn (Teddy to his friends). Ch Trelowen Veryan won the open class and was BOB she is owned by Jacqui,Michael and Nancy. Sine Riley-Moore brought along her Osker (Koromandel Bated Breath) to watch, she only lives 10miles away and enjoyed meeting up with other owners and their Buhunds.
The show is very much the old-fashioned Open show, with big prize money for the Stakes classes, donated by local businesses, with Arden Grange as the main sponsor. Free tea and coffee is given to all the exhibitors in the afternoon as a thank you from the committee for entering.
I think Jacqui must have been exhausted by the end of the show having previously worked for a week at Bath being on the committee, then working 3 days at Paignton and 3 days at Bournemouth.
Much further north Pastoral day at Blackpool Ch show was Sunday 22nd August. The show started back in 1921 but it was not until 1934 that the first Ch show was held in the tram sheds in Blackpool. The show has often been the first to do things, in1939 it was the first show to ban dogs remaining on the showground overnight, most shows followed this lead by the late 40’s. In 2001 it was the first show to announce all show entries would be sent to the printers to be processed, now this is the norm for most Ch shows. The show has had several homes, for a time it was at the Oval at Stanley Park, when it out grew this venue, it moved to land near Blackpool Zoo. Later moving to Lytham St Anne’s on part of the Royal Guardian Insurance Estate. Then in 2000 the society purchased its own land just 1 mile away, but this did not work out as the site was very exposed, and the land did not drain well. So the show moved again to Redwood Park, Inskip Nr Preston.Now Manchester Ch show is held at Stafford, Blackpool is the only General Ch show in the North West of England.
When the show was held at Lytham St Anne, I would often go for all three days showing the Papillon, Elkhound and the Buhunds, the dogs all loved their beach walks but they had to be after the Papillon had been shown, as sea and sand was not quite the right preparation for the show ring, for a Papillon!
I would like to thank Nancy Kent for her report on this year’s show: –
“Blackpool is my local show, only an hour away, so we left home at a civilized 9.00am. We were due in the ring after the Dogue de Bordeaux, but not before 11.30 so plenty of time to find the other Buhunders and get set up. It was drizzling when we left home, the rain got worse as we neared Blackpool. However, on approach to the show ground the rain stopped. When we arrived, there was little evidence of recent rain, the ground being mostly dry. The weather for the day alternated between sunny & warm and breezy & cool. Jackets came on & off but it was very pleasant for the dogs. Due to covid the show was unbenched but the showground was set up in the usual manner with four large tents along two sides. They were empty so there was plenty of room for anyone who wanted to be sheltered from possible rain or sun, to set up inside. The main ring and admin was on the 3rd side. The rings were laid out in the middle with the Trade Stands setup in between. The rings were spacious and allowed plenty of space between for exhibitors. (No gazebos were allowed). The ring adjacent to ours was empty when we arrived so we set up near there. We could keep an eye on our ring so we knew when it would be our turn but not get in the way of those exhibiting. The empty ring was shortly reassigned to the Siberian Huskies so we became an island of wheaten surrounded by the most magnificent colours. Our turn came, Graham Hill being our judge. He was good with the dogs, gentle and kind but moved through them efficiently. We had only a small entry, 7 dogs entered. There was one absentee so we were Blaze, Betty, Anja, Darcy, Hildy and Jamie. They all showed beautifully and there was delight all around when Hildy was awarded BOB. Well deserved” Thanks Nancy”.
The full result was BOB & BB Lesley & Liz Butterworth’s Kormandel Gild the Lily (Hildy) by Am/Can/Uk Ch Kyon’s Bold Norseman x Ch Maidofcopper for Kormandel (Imp Nor)
RBB Kirsty Irvine’s Kimura’s Vera with Tapui (ImpNor)(Betty) by Multi Ch Kimura’s Peer Gynt x Nor Ch Kimura’s Nelly.
BD Nancy Kent, Jacqui& Michael Cobb’s Ch Koromandel Best Served Cold at Knytshall (Jamie) he is Hildy’s litter brother.
RBD& BP Kirsty & Alex Irvine & Callum Gillies Tapui Let’s Blaze by Jamie x Betty
BV Lillian and Michael Rumsey Ch Arnscroft Di Nah May by Ch/AKC Ch Visions Dino of Trollheimen(Imp US) x Arnscroft Di Sing On Ice
Later in the day Blaze represented the breed in the Puppy Group with a 4th place, another great result, the judge was Patsy Hollings, many congratulations.
It was great that we could again sit at home and watch the live stream of the groups, but sadly at Blackpool not the puppy group as it did not go into the main ring.
It was a good day for breeder Jenny Shorer-Wheeler (Kormandel ) as in Gelsenkirchen Germany the same day Kormandel Kjaereste was graded excellent and took BOB CAC & CACIB, for those that do not know that is the CC of the country and the International CC.
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