NORWEGIAN BUHUNDS
I first came into the breed in 1992, at that time HC had been found in the breed a few years earlier with a number of breeders giving up, leaving only a handful to keep the breed going. We are indebted to those breeders without whom we would not have a breed today, but genetic diversity did start to become a problem. The only way to bring in a Buhund from another country was for the dog to spend 6 months in quarantine, this had been in place for 100yrs, which apart from being very expensive was also stressful for the dog, the reason being that we were and still are a rabies free country, and quarantine was designed to keep the country that way. Two breeders did try and help the situation, one brought a bitch in whelp, she had her puppies in quarantine so that rather than spend the six months in quarantine, she could go home once the puppies were weaned and the puppies could come out and go to the breeder. Another brought in a bitch visiting her every day in quarantine to try and alleviate the stress, but sadly when she came out her first eye test showed her to have HC. Then in 2001 Pet passports came in, the dog had to have a rabies vaccination then after 28 days a test to make sure the rabies vaccination had taken , then after 6months the dog could travel abroad and come back into the country, after being checked against its microchip and been wormed for tapeworm. (There were certain restrictions to countries not considered to be rabies free). This meant a bitch could be taken abroad to be mated, and that dogs that had passports could come in from abroad and help the gene pool, a couple of dogs visited and several came to live, a number of bitches also came in although not all were bred from, but gradually the genetic diversity increased thanks again to a handful he dedicated breeders.AI has also helped recently in using dogs from abroad and in some cases dogs that have passed, for many years it was used for cows, pigs and sport horses but took longer for it to be used in dogs, and even now sometimes the litters can be small, and of course the AI must be done by a vet.
The age puppies could come in also changed to 4 months from 6 months which was a great help as a 4-month-old puppy is not quite established in its ways, but now The Animal Welfare Import of Dog, Cats and Ferrets Bill will become law. The law will set a minimum age of 6months for imported puppies a kitten preventing the transport of very young animals that are vulnerable to illness and poor treatment. The RKC had stressed the importance of introducing a tightly controlled permits for the importation of dogs for genetic diversity, as they felt that six-month restriction posed a risk for the breeds that are reliant of new genetic lines, but it appears that this has not been implemented. The third reading highlighted the suffering if illegal breeding and the young and sick puppies that are imported, so for this reason the Bill is very important. It does mean though that AI may be used more frequently or bitches taken abroad to be mated if more genetic diversity is needed, however the fact that Pet passport is to be reintroduced will help. Brexit caused a major problem as dogs could no longer use the pet passport but now 5years after Brexit a new agreement has been reached between the UK and the EU, so dogs travelling to and from UK will no longer need the very expensive health certificates from a vet every time they travel, as Pet Passports will return, it will be a single document that is valid for life as long as rabies vaccinations are kept up to date, so far we do not know exactly when they will be re-introduced. At the moment you can only get a EU pet passport from a veterinarian in a European Country.
Happily, for the breed three puppies have come in recently, one from Norway born on 30th April and a litter brother and sister from Canada born on 1st July so hopefully in the future they will add to the genetic diversity of the breed even further, which is so important particularly in a numerically small breed such as ours.
Saturday 29th November was Jacqui Walmsley’s birthday, and she celebrated in style. Her and the Frostisen’s, Trelowen Amelia At Frostisen (Bunny), had qualified for the Devon Top Dog Veteran Competition held at the Lord Haldon Hotal, Dunchildeok, Devon by winning Veteran 7-9yrs, under Louise Paterson. Dogs competing must have won at an open or premier show in Devon or be a Devon resident if the dog qualified at a show outside Devon. The judge on the day was Frank Borg from Malta, Bunny won through to the semifinal, being knocked out by the winner a beautiful Doberman owned by Debbie Stansbury. Being her birthday, they decided to stay for the gala dinner and spend the night in the hotel with friends. Jaqui said the event is very glam with lovely qualifying rosettes. At the end of the meal Gary Quest had the whole room singing Happy Birthday to Jacqui. Think you could say Jacqui enjoyed her Birthday.
The following day but much further north Sedgely & Gornal Canine Association show was held at the Stafford County show ground. Jenny Shorer -Wheeler took her son Ollie’s Knytshall Thistle Ink It Up Koromandel JW (Inky), where she was BOB under Russell Mosedale and was then in the last 8 in the group of 19 also under Russell Mosedale,and was third in the Open stakes under Richard Kinsey winning treat money.
Margaret Deuchar margaretdeuchat@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