NORWEGIAN BUHUNDS
Into February already, and at least now the evenings and mornings are getting a little lighter even if the weather is still causing a problem in many areas, although nothing like the heavy snow and very cold temperatures they have been having in the US, this of course has been a worry for those attending the 150th Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show held in New York , which in America they describe as the great promotion of Pedigree Dog, to them the equivalent of our Crufts. Both shows have a long history; Crufts was founded by Charles Crufts with its first International dog show held in 1891. Westminster originated in 1877 as a show for Gundogs and is named after the bar in a long-gone hotel in Manhattans, it is now the second longest continuously held sporting event in the US with only the Kentucky Deby being older. The only times the show has not been held were during America’s Great Depression, World Wars 1 & 2 and during the covid pandemic. Like Crufts thousands of dogs compete for BIS from over 200 breeds, interestingly dogs from the Terrier Group have been the most dominant for BIS at Westminster whereas at Crufts it has been from the Gundog Group. The shows have a few similarities but many more differences. This year the show started on Saturday January 31st with the Masters Agility Competition & Master Obedience Competitions, and Flyball, pedigree and mixed breeds can compete in these classes so long as they meet the AKC requirements ,the competitions took place from 4.30pm-7pm. No competitions on the Sunday, on the Monday the Junior Showmanship (handing)with 99 handlers having qualified started along with the breed judging from at 8.30am to 4.30pm for 3 groups, then on the Tuesday the other 4 groups. Buhunds are in the Herding Group in the US. .This where there are main differences with Crufts, the show is split with breed competitions and handling taking place at the Jacob K Javits Centre with the Handling finals and all the Group Judging and BIS being held at Madison Square Garden, after the end of the breed judging on the Tuesday, the evening is from 7.30pm to 11 pm, and the Centre and the Garden are a 19minute walk away from each other! Another difference is that all the breed judging is live streamed and followed by some of the TV Channels, although I think there may be a cost involved in some instances. How the breed dogs take part is very different from Crufts, the breed dogs all have to be Champions, making up a Champion is also very different to ours; it is much more like the Irish system before they became FCI. Minor win 1 or 2 points awarded at smaller shows with fewer competitors 3,4, or 5 points awarded at larger shows with more competitors, Championship title needs 15 Total Points but must include two major wins under two different judges, all in breed classes of course. Then being a Champion is not enough you have to be invited to Westminster. The top five dogs in each breed based on the number of other dogs they defeated in the breed competition during the qualifying period, which is usually from early October to late September of the preceding year. Dogs that have won several ‘Best In Show’ or ‘Best in Speciality Show’ might also qualify. After the invited dogs, Westminster opens a limited number of remaining spots to other champions, these spots are filled on a first come first served basis once entries open online and these are gone in seconds. You will realise that to gain an invite dogs must have attended a number of shows, and with the size of the US there have to be many long journeys often taking days, many of the dogs are also shown by profession handlers to give them a better chance to break into the Top Ranking in a breed. As I said earlier the show did take place with a backdrop of some very wintery weather, Faye Adox who took two dogs and is President of the American Buhund Club said the temperature was 20degrees with a lot of ice. There had been talk before the show about whether the show should be cancelled but that was never going to happen because of some snow, as unlike the UK the country is more used to snow, but this year it was the low temperatures that caused the most concern, with airlines not flying dogs as they go into the hold which is not heated so would freeze. How much this affected the entry for dogs coming from across the US I do not know. By the time you read this we will know who BOB was, apart from Faye I know Amie McLaughlin was going ,and in recent years she has been very successful winning BOB and her GCHP CH Cloudpointe Ringside Gossip(Buzz) was third in the herding group the first time a Buhund had been placed.
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