Norwegian Buhund

Breed Notes 5th May 2023 Margaret Deuchar

NORWEGIAN BUHUNDS

In last week’s notes I wrote in detail about KC Rally and how it works and that one of its successful competitors is Jacque Cobb, competing with Bear and Eloise. The weekend April 22/23 Ilminster Lions held a Rally competition at Seavington Millennium Hall, Ilminster, Somerset and Jacque tells us about it. “On April 22nd we went to Ilminster arriving for the 8.30am Level 1 walk through. Bear aka Knytshall  Sashenka Bear, did even better than at Okehampton the week before  with an Excellent  score of 199. In the afternoon Eloise aka Knytshall Eloise qualified in Level 2 but with a lower score. I left before the presentations for the Level 2 as it was already 4.15pm and the Level 2 had not finished and it was raining, but I was told  the next day she had a score of around 184, but a friend had picked up the certificate, so I knew I would  not know the actual score till I saw  it, and when I did  I was very  pleased to find out  she actually had an Ex score of 192. The following day we returned to Ilminster, again for 8:30.  I made the mistake of over practising Bear before going into the ring.   Halfway round he just looked at me with an expression that said, “You want me to do yet another ‘sit’, I’ve done about 20 already”!   From then on, his sits were slow motion, and as a result his score was only 186, still it was a qualifying score.  Eloise was even more fed up with me and managed to get NQ’d.(Not qualified ). Her level 2 class finished at 2:30, and I was about to head home for a late lunch, when the level 6 judge stopped me and asked if I was doing anything. “No, why?”  “I’ve lost my scribe, will you, do it?”   On a sunny afternoon I would have enjoyed it, but with the wind picking up and rain starting it was hard work, but I learnt quite a lot.   It was heartening to see that even the best handler can make basic mistakes; or brilliant dogs can suddenly act the fool.” Thanks Jacque, there is a saying, ‘Never work with children and animals’ and I am sure we all know the feeling when the dog or even a horse can put their own take on things! I still remember seeing an agility dog going into the ring, when the handler went to start, it tore off round the ring didn’t do a jump and then would not  go back to the handler, it really enjoyed itself, not so much the handler!

Much further north in Leicestershire Sarah Stonton, took Jack aka as Ch Arnscroft In Di Ana Jack to the Best Paw Rally show, Jack does have RL1EX after his name meaning that he won out of Level 1 rally with 3 excellent scores but that was before the pandemic since  then Sarah and Jack have  been successfully  taking part in scent competitions and showing. Sarah decided it would be nice to go back to Rally, she said Jack  did some nice work  but not quite good enough  to get a qualifying score, but it was  good practice for next time.

You may remember a few weeks ago the KC said there would be no Discover Dogs this year, now the KC have asked all breed clubs what they think of the following suggestion, that Discover Dogs goes ahead next year combined with the London International Horse show, which is held at the Excel from 19th to the 23rd of December so just a few days before Christmas. There have been agility competitions held with the horse show for many years and they have been very popular, but agility and looking at pedigree dogs is not quite the same.  I personally am not sure that it is the right place for DD, bearing in mind you need at least 3 people and their dogs on the stand each day and this is over 5 days and very near Christmas, then there is the car parking it was quite difficult when it is a standalone event, and the dogs really need to go by car, taking everything on public  transport  would be very difficult, also some travelling from a distance to do  a couple of days might find it difficult to find a hotel. We will have to see what other clubs think, it would be a great shame to lose it altogether, especially as over the years we have had several owners who have found the breed originally through DD. However, I cannot think of anywhere else near London that could host it that would not cost a fortune, which of course is why the suggestion is to combine it with the horse show, as it was losing so much money before.

On a more positive note, having won BOB at Crufts, Marie Corin and Adam Camm’s Bergen aka Kligenthal Almuric, piloted as usual by  Marie  had a great evening at their ringcraft Woolwich, Bexley & D.C. A on Monday evening April 24th when they won Best Adult In Match and then Best In Match, the judge was Anthea Eardley who gives CCs in Borzois. The rosettes they won were lovely and were made by a clever Ringcraft member.

Stay safe everyone and enjoy the weekend.

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