NORWEGIAN BUHUNDS
The Christmas and New Year celebrations are now behind us for another year and gradually the days are getting longer. I hope that those of you that had covid or the very unpleasant winter cold over the festive period are now fully recovered, and are looking forward to 2023. However, before we finish with 2022 completely there are a few activities I need to report on, because the good people at ‘Our Dogs’ quite naturally needed a holiday the notes had to be in early. The first report is on the last Bu Bumble of the 2022 organised by Lisa Strong, she writes: – ‘Recently Cambridgeshire has been covered in several cms of snow and to my delight it was still on the ground when our pre-Christmas Buhund Bumble happened. We all met up at our regular spot of Hinchingbrooke Park as it has firm paths plus a lake, a café, toilets, and a couple of play parks for children. I think it is safe to say that we made our presence known that day, as when we all got together there were 11 Buhunds! 8 Wheaten and 3 Black. We had Loki, Eris, Ruby, Otto, Peanut, Toby, Teya, Jack, Loxy, Tia and Emily. In addition, we had a few non Buhunds including a Norwegian Elkhound and a Sprocker so we were quite a pack. A couple also joined us on the walk having seen the breed at Discover Dogs, they wanted to find out more and see if the breed was for them, they certainly picked the right walk for it as we had both main colours, a wide age range, males and females and a good range of sizes. We headed out of the car park and past the cafe to one of the fields and as several of the dogs had met each other before and had got along with each other, the dogs were let loose. Zoomies promptly commenced as various versions of tag between the dogs happened as they bounded around in the snow. Once things had calmed down a bit we headed off to the path round the lake and my Eris promptly got soaked, as she went to get a drink in one of the little rivers and due to the foliage cover mistook ice for solid ground and went into the water up to her ribs. She did not seem to mind that much, taking her time to get out (after a drink), shook herself, went for a rub in the snow and carried on. The regular dogs were a little puzzled at finding their usual drinking and paddling spots did not exist thanks to the lake being frozen solid, there was one hairy moment when one of the younger Buhunds decided to run out onto the Lake but thankfully it returned safely. When we had finished our circuit of the lake, we headed back to the main field so the children could go and play in the park for a bit whist the dogs had another round of chase, then it was off to the café for a warm drink before heading back to the cars’. Thank you, Lisa, the Bumbles are so great, and it is wonderful to hear of prospective owners joining as a follow up to Discover Dogs.
The next activity is about scent trials that Sarah Stonton did with Loxy and Jack. The first one was at Fosdyke in Lincolnshire, this was Sarah and Loxy’s first Level 5 trial, and as I have said in previous notes L5 is so different from the previous 4 Levels, as in this level you just have 2 room searches and an outside search and over these three searches you have to find 9 out of 12 hides to qualify which Loxy did finding 10 out of the 12, but unfortunately, she also had 4 wrong alerts which disqualified her. A wrong alert is when the dog indicates the hide has been found but it is not there. You are allowed 3 but no more. Sarah said she was not disappointed as Loxy had really enjoyed the searches and Sarah herself had learnt a lot. The next Level 5 was with Jack just 4 days later a Elton in Peterborough, Jack having previously won out of L4 at the end of November, this time wrong alerts were not a problem and Jack found 10 out of the 12 hides and was 3rd, a great start for his Level 5 trials and I am sure Loxy will be fine the next time she competes.
I am not sure whether Marie Corin had a late Christmas present or an early New Year’s present, when on Dec 27th at Wealdstone & Northolt Canine Society Premier Open Show held at the Sports Centre of Brunel University Uxbridge, Marie and Adam Camm’s Kligenthal Almuric (Bergen)was BOB under Michelle Smee and then Pastoral Group 1 under Sandie Tadd, winning a beautiful Gold and White rosette and a lovely glass with Pastoral Group 1 written on it, a very nice keepsake. Great result Marie and a fantastic end to the year for you.
Wishing you all a Very Happy and Peaceful New Year and enjoyable 2023 with your dogs.
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