NORWEGIAN BUHUNDS
I have not written about scent trials for some weeks, mostly due to the heat as obviously the dogs cannot pant and sniff at the same time, so most sniffing activates have been cancelled or postponed with the welfare of the dogs being most important. Happily, there were a few cooler days down here in the south, so I was very happy to receive the following from Sarah Stonton. “Sunday 26th July Pixie (Wheatshade Snow Dreamer) and I had a lovely few hours at a scent trial with 9 other teams of friendly competitors and their dogs. We were parked mostly in the shade, with a lovely breeze and most of the time it was overcast and happily we finished before it got hot. In National Nosework Association trials, Pixie is now getting closer to her sire’s level of difficulty, of course that is my gorgeous Ch Arnscroft In Di Ana Jack as today she ‘staged up’ up to the next level called ‘Enhanced’. The trial was at a working arable farm in Bedfordshire. The 3 main searches at this level are 5 minutes each with 3 hides to find small pieces of cloth scented with gun oil (Hides). Pixie indicates where they are by freezing with her nose as close to the source to the hide as possible,and stays there while I raise my arm to indicate to the judge she has found the hide, the judge hopefully says ‘correct’ and Pixie should not move until I release her with an upbeat ‘yes’, then she returns to me for praise and a tasty reward which on this occasion was diced Wild Boar pate. The first search was 3 vehicles -a sit on lawn mower, a trailer and a car, she flew this finding all 3 hides in 72 seconds gaining a badge. Next was the interior -a village hall sized room leading to an outside courtyard, both full of a number of items, chairs, tables, bags, scentwork training items, balls and clothes. My handling here was pretty poor for the first half; I was overwhelmed by the number of items and hence nagged at poor Pixie too much instead of letting her do her job. Once I relaxed, she worked hard but found it difficult to locate the hides due to a swirling breeze. We ran out of time, only finding one, and not quite being able to source another. The exterior was a yard with big metal containers, perimeter walls and an outbuilding, success here in under 3 minutes so another badge. Finally, there was a selection test which is a row of plastic boxes with holes in the lids, at this level there are 10 boxes to sniff 2 with hides in. What makes it hard is the fact that the dog must search them all systematically following the line without the handler asking them to sniff each box, the dog cannot go back, and the handler must keep walking. Jack used to be amazing at this exercise, his daughter is somewhat wilder and less methodical. On this occasion however she was amazing she worked brilliantly found both hides with full marks for team confidence area coverage and indication. (Every search is marked so if at the end of the competition the dogs are equal on the number of hides found, the marks are taken int account to find the Winner and Reserve both of whom receive medals). At the end I jumped for joy as this was the final badge she needed to win out of this level of competition. The dogs find searching very tiring and by the time the judges were giving out the results, Pixie was nodding off in the car. It was a lovely, friendly trial, with great searches and super judges giving very useful feedback”.
A few days later on Friday 31st July, it was Pastoral /Working/Terrier Day at Paignton Ch show run by Paignton & District Fanciers Association, which was established in 1886 making it one of the oldest clubs which at the time reflected the growing interest in dog breeding and showing during the late 19th century. Over the years it has increased its number of canine activities and as well as the Championship dog show it now hosts a Ch Obedience Show an Ordinary Obedience show, Agility, Rally, Hoopers and even a Companion dog show on the Saturday, and this year for the first time it also hosted a YKC Grooming qualifier with the final being at Crufts. The show takes place over the three days at Westpoint Clyst St Mary, Exeter. The show is benched one of the few that are now, sadly. It did not get off to a good start on the Friday as there were hold ups on the M5 which is the main route to the show, so the judging was put back 15 mins but even so some still missed their classes. This was not a problem for the Buhunds as we had 6 breeds in front of us with 56 dogs, we were in Tent2 Ring 26, the weather Jacqui Walmsley said was a lovely comfortable summer day with a nice breeze, however the grass in the main ring did show how hot and it had been as it was quite difficult to see a blade of green grass, but I think that was preferable to what happened back in 2023 when storm Antoni arrived with winds of up to 78mph affecting the southwest, many outdoor events on that Saturday which was Pastoral Day were either cancelled or severally curtailed.
Our judge was Joe Smith who found his BD & BOB in Millie Lambert’s homebred Ch Sturtmoor’s Gon’n Dun It JW ShCEx OSW (Gunna), continuing his winning ways. RBD & BP Bridget & Chris Curnow’s Draccus Yin (Magnus).BB Anne -Marie and David & Mary Taylor’s Ir Ch Frostisen Blakk Zitter (Penny)RBB & BV Lisa and Alex Strong’s Ch Leggatts Dancing Queen At Draccus.(Eris). Penny was also awarded VHC in the AV Working, Pastoral or Terrier Dog or Bitch Trevor Rowe Memorial Open Stakes judged by Elina Haapaniemi, winning a voucher from Essenjay Leather Supplies
Margaret Deuchar margaretdeucha@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