NORWEGIAN BUHUNDS
This report on Bath is a little late as my notes obviously had to be in early doe to the Bank Holiday.
Pastoral Day at Bath All Breed Ch show was held on its own ground in the hills above Bath on Sunday 24th May. There have been occasions in the past when the show was said to be aptly named, but not this year with the hot weather arriving on the first day of the show and by the Sunday it was the hottest May Day for 79years, although that was surpassed in the following days as the temperature continued to rise . Happily, the show was benched and with the in /out rings with the front of the benching tents being open onto the rings the dogs stayed relatively cool. We were also first in the ring at 9am which helped, although this did mean an overnight local stay for some and leaving home at silly o’clock for others.
It turned out to be a dream day for several and an amazing day in so many ways for the breed.
Our judge was Addrienne Frost-Treadwell (Emma) who is co-owner of the very successful Frostisen Kennel of Norwegian Buhunds in Southern Ireland. She had a very busy show as she judged all the Junior and Adult handling classes over the four days and the Foxhounds and Harriers on Hound Day, two breeds also close to her heart. She last judged Buhunds at Richmond in 2019. She found her BOB & DCC his third so awarding him his crown, he also has 4RCCs in Cheryl and Paul Denham-Horton’s Tapui Haraldsson at Jjavacobe (Hogan). His first CC was last year at Windsor under breed specialist Celia Vines, his second at SKC just a week earlier under allrounder Fran Kaye. His breeder Kirsty Irvine travelled to the Kimura Kennel in Norway in the Spring of 2024 with her little lady from down under Ch Blackcombe Bodil At Tapui (Bodi), for a romantic liaison with NUCH Kimura’s Harald Harfagre, Hogan being born on 13th May 24, along with his litter sister Ch Tapui Herja At Blackcombe who as I said in my notes of 29th May now lives with Bodi’s breeder Roberta Crouch in Australia, and has just become an Australian Ch. The special day continued as BPIB & RDCC his first was Bridget & Chris Curnow’s Draccus Yin (Magnus), born on 21stSeptember 2025 bred by Lisa and Alex Strong his is out of their Ch Leggatts Dancing Queen At Draccus (Eris) by Hogan. VD & BV my Ch Rikarlo Gable JW (Time) he has 9CCs and 11Res CCs he is by Ch Koromandel Best Seved Cold At Knytshall x Ch Kimura’s Vera With Tapui. BPB & BCC her first Cheryl’s Riverhund Kyon Where Shall I Wonder To Jjavacobe (Goose) (Imp Can), she was bred by Ashley Martin & Karin Klouman in Canada and was born on 1st July 2025 and is by Am Ch Fabrajs Marquis De Lafyette O’Kyon x Can Ch Kyon’s Fine Flotte Rue. RBCC & Best Special Beginners Lewis Rawlingson & Laura Begney’s Draccus Yang (Nala) who is Magnus’s litter sister. She was later G4 Special Beginners under Tom Mather. Of course, now Magnus and Nala are both out of Special Beginners having won RCCs .VB Maddy Normans’s Ch Arnscroft Delilah at Veeka (Lottie) she has 10CCs &11RCCs. So, three of top awards were all from the same breeding DCC who was the sire of the two RCC winners, that does not often happen. Judging over we had a party to celebrate Ch Sturtmoor’s Ffascination With Koromandel (Fable)gaining her crown the weekend before at SKC, with a fabulous Birthday cake made by Jenny Shorer-Wheeler, with pink icing saying, ‘Champion Fable the unstoppable’ and as with all Jenny’s cakes it was delicious. So, two Champions made up within the space of 7 days does not happen often either.
We were in ring 20 and when the judging was finished, we had the ring till 1pm for a Level 4 CC Judges Assessment, this is run by the RKC and is mandatory in the Judges Education Programme (JEP)and is designed for breed-show judges who wish to award CCs. On this occasions there were four candidates, and 5 Buhund owners who had kindly lent their dogs to be assessed ,this was a big ask for the dogs as all but one had already been shown and they had to be gone over and moved by every candidate and the three assessors, who were two CC breed specialist and one allrounder who gives CCs in the breed. The dogs ranged in age up to Veteran but no puppies. The assessors discussed the dogs and decided together which order they would place the dogs. The candidates wrote a critique on each dog giving the good and bad points and putting the 5 dogs in class order, it did not necessarily have to be the same as the assessors so long as they could justify their good and bad points. The assessors then discussed the critiques with only the KC representative knowing who had written each paper. The candidates had to receive three Excellent out of the four sections which were the combined judgements from the assessors, and I am thrilled to say are own Lisa Strong was one of the passes, congratulations Lisa. Our thanks go to Marie Corin with Mazads Nom De Plume (Dexter). Jasmine Freeborn with Leggatts Voulez Vous (Tissy). Mary Dosson with Leggatts Part Time Lover (Barnaby). Nancy Kent with Koromandel Best Served Cold At Knytshall (Jamie)and Jenny Shorer-Wheeler with Ch Knytshall Thistle Ink It Up Koromandel JW (Inky).
The next day and much further north Kirsty Irvine took her Ch Blackcombe Bodil At Tapui (Bodi) Hogan’s dam ,to Great Harwood Open Dog Show which was part of the Great Harwood Agricultural show, where under judge Jody Cater, she was BAVNSC and PG2 so a great weekend for the lady from down under, her son and grandchildren.
Down south again the following weekend it was Pastoral/Working /Terrier Day on Saturday 30th May at Southern Counties Ch Show, it was another hot day although not quite as hot as Bath, the show is held on the Newbury and District Agricultural Showground just off the M4. Last time we had classes there was in 2019, so it was good to have them back. We were in ring 6 after 34 Great Danes and 8 Hungarian Pulis. The show is known for having judges from overseas and our judge was Tiina Taulos from Finland, she has judged in 50 countries in 5 different continents. She found her BD & BOB Millie Lambert’s Sturtmoor’s Gon’n Dun It (JW(Gunna).RBD was Marie Corin and Adam Camm’s Mazads Nom De Plume (Dexter).BB Ollie Wheeler’s Ch Knytshall Ink It Up Koromandel (Inky).RBB Anne-Marie and David & Mary Taylor’s It Ch Frostisen Blakk Zitter (Penny) she was also shortlisted in the Champion Stakes under Allyson King.
Margaret Deuchar margaretdeuchar@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