NORWEGIAN BUHUNDS
From 1st January 2021 the Kennel Club requires all Breed Clubs to hold a Breed Appreciation Day every two years, known in short as a ‘BAD’. The idea is to educate anyone interested in the breed, whether they be pet owners, exhibitors or those wanting to judge. With the permission of the KC these BADS can be held on line. They used to be called breed seminars, the idea was the same to inform and educate, particularly those who wanted to judge a breed, they could be run in various ways some better than others. Then a few years ago the KC decided how judges were trained should be revamped, it caused a great deal of controversy and it went back to the drawing board. Originally called the JCF (Judges Competency Framework) a new system was developed taking into account feedback from exhibitors, judges and show secretaries and is now called the Judges Education Programme and covers the education of every level of judge, from the aspiring judge right through to open show judges and for those that progress to awarding CCs, judge groups at Ch level and BIS. It gives a structured and logical step by step approach and a criterion at each level, which must be completed before moving onto the next level. The Code of Best Practice has also been updated for the BADs and Multiple-Choice Exams (MCEs). The beginner judge must first meet Level 1 criteria to be able to sit the MCE for the breed. They must have a minimum of 5yrs interest in pedigree dogs. Attend but not necessarily pass ‘The Requirements of a Dog Show Judge’ Attend a ‘Conformation and Movement’ seminar and complete a minimum full two days stewarding. The KC now recommend that breed clubs hold group mentoring sessions as part of BADs but candidates must be at Level 2 to be mentored, but they can attain level 2 by passing the MCE at the BAD.
Our BAD was held on 30th July at the Hare & Hounds Coventry, not perhaps the first place you would think of a BAD being held, but is a dog friendly Hostelry allowing dogs into the bar although not the Restaurant, they also have a large function hall on the side of building with its own facilities and a large car park, which has been revamped during the pandemic, and with easy Motorway access it was very suitable for our requirements.
Each breed club has a Breed Education Coordinator, our is our Chairman Lorraine Bolton. The proceedings started at 10am with Lorraine who has been in the breed since 1973 giving a history of the breed, she was assisted by Millie Lambert-Dovey who has been in the breed for 39yrs so many years of Breed knowledge between them. Many BADs are run using a projector for slides but Lorraine had prepared an excellent booklet, so that she could go through the Breed standard with photographs of dogs’ past and present showing the points she was discussing (no names of dogs were given). She also used 4 dogs to show specific points, Bergen (Kligenthal Almuric) Loxy (Trelowen Andrea AWS L3ex) Muchly (Koromandel Tusen Takk (ai)) and Time (Ch Rikarlo Gable AW L4ex). Questions were invited throughout the talk which ended just after midday. Those that wished to then did the MCE, the questions used have to be sent to and approved by the KC. It was then lunch time with food chosen in advance from an excellent bar food menu from the ‘Hare and Hounds’ another good reason for having it there! After lunch there was a class of 5 dogs of varying ages and sexes for the attendees to go over, see move and write notes on. The veteran was 7yr old Ch Maidofcopper For Koromandel JW (Imp Fin) (Pikka)then 6yr old Ch Arnscroft In Di Ana Jack RL1 ExL2ex.Knytshall Eloise who is nearly 4yrs old and Black. Sturmoor’s Ffascination With Koromandel (Fable)who is 3yr and the baby of the group Draccus Diamond Day O’ Buhcafrey who is 13months, he really enjoyed his day out and all the fuss. It was then time for the mentoring session with the mentees being divided into 3 groups to be mentored by Lorraine, Jacqui Cobb and myself. The KC issues mentoring forms with suggested areas of discussion about the dogs that had been gone over by the mentees, so that the mentor can ascertain their breed knowledge. The day ended at 4pm and with positive feedback about the day.
At the time of writing these notes Lillian and husband Mike are on a sailing trip to the Hebrides with Anja (Ch Arnscroft Di NahMay) and Darcy (Kata Syn-Dattir Av Fjeldvidda At Wheatshade (Imp NLD), but before they went Lillian wrote to tell me about her latest activity with Darcy. She wrote, “at 6pm on Friday 15th July, Darcy and I headed off for our next Mantrailing session. Solway Aviation Museum was the destination. Lots of familiar faces and dogs awaited us. The table piled high with reward boxes for when the dogs found the “misper” (missing person). It’s a great place to trail as lots of old aircraft, trucks, fuel cells, building etc. We started with our ‘misper’ going off the hide behind an aircraft some distance away. This time I knew where they were, but Darcy did not. This was a delayed scent article start. Meaning, the ‘misper’ had left the scent article and hidden. I got Darcy into harness and long lead and had her sniff the article left for us. On the “trail” command, she headed off with no hesitation in the direction the ‘misper’ had gone. She stopped briefly, sniffing the air doing a large circle, then off she went towards a plane, so keen to find her ‘misper’, she ran under the plane with me having to duck under the fuselage to avoid running into the plane. She had her ‘misper’ and reward. No problem on the second part either. A rest in the car came next, till her next try. Decoys, something different. We had to walk around 2 people, 1 of whom left a scent article prior to hiding. Both went in different direction. Off Darcy went, at the junction, left, or right? She chose left, finding the decoy! Nope she decided, not correct, circling and sniffing, she headed back the way we came straight over the junction and found her ‘misper’ and reward behind the building. Our third try was again decoys. This time a field full of 5 people and the ‘misper’ was 1 of them, not hidden, in plain view. With a sniff of the scent article left for us, she had to choose the correct person. Off she went, with no hesitation, she bypassed two decoys, went close to another, before turning quickly and heading towards the ‘misper’ she needed and her reward. I’m still amazed that with just a sniff of a clothing article, dogs can find the owner of the article. I took one tired, happy little girl home, looking forward to the next trail.” Sounds great Lillian, you must tell us about your next trail. It is interesting people always think of gundogs as being the scent dogs, which of course they are but there are now 6 Buhunds out there doing scent related activities and really enjoying it.
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