NORWEGIAN BUHUNDS
Those of you who read my notes regularly know that as well as enjoying reporting on shows, I love to hear of other things owners do with their Buhunds. Most of you will know the name Tom Glibbery, he has run the Paris and London marathons this year, in aid of The National Autistic Society. He and his wife Penny own Indy (Rikarlo Grant) and found the bred through Discover Dogs. A couple of weeks ago I saw a picture of Tom and Indy doing a Parkrun, and as I knew nothing about these runs, I asked Tom if he could tell me about them, the following is the article that he sent me:-
‘Every Saturday at 9am, hundreds of thousands of people gather in parks and forests around the world. Many of these people bring dogs with them. The reason they gather is for a Parkrun, which is a weekly 5k running event that is open to all, regardless of age or ability. It was founded in 2004 in London and has gradually spread to 20 countries across 4 continents. The recipe for its success is simple-it is free to enter, well organised and has a very welcoming atmosphere. Everyone, ranging from people who have never run in their life up to those who participate in ultra-marathons,is able to enjoy themselves and find some friendly competition. What makes Parkrun so special for me is that it allows runners with dogs. I am a very keen runner and one of the things that really attracted me towards the Norwegian Buhund breed, was the idea of being able to run with my dog. Indy is now nearly 9months old, meaning he is old enough to start using up some of his seemingly limitless energy by running. He has completed 2 Parkruns so far and has thoroughly enjoyed them. He has run very well easily capable of matching my pace for the duration of a 5K race. Thanks to Parkrun’s popularity (there were 422 runners taking part in his latest race!) he is quickly learning to run in crowds and resist the temptation to greet other runners as we pass them. On his aborted attempt, at walking a Parkrun he had a very charming habit of touching each runner on the leg with his nose…adorable but not ideal! He is now running with focus and isn’t distracted by other dogs or smells. It has been a delight to see how quickly Indy has taken to running, it definitely appears to be his favourite of his many activities we do with him. This is very encouraging and gives me hope, that when he is older I will be able to do longer events with him. There are lots of canal side and woodland paths near home, which will be gentle on his feet and also provide shade meaning that as long as he continues to enjoy it, we can have a long and happy running career together’. Thanks Tom, sounds just the thing a Buhund would enjoy.
Across the Irish Sea in Eire, two Ch shows were held over the last weekend, on the Saturday it was the Munster Canine Assoc Ch show, where the judge was Mr C Hastings who found his BOB & GSD in Kerry & Fritz Frost Addrienne Frost -Treadwell and Jacqui Walmsley’s Ir Ch Trelowen Aviator At Frostisen(Maggit) he is by Ch Trelowen Conar Tun x Trelowen Lola. RGSD Brenda & Tony Bethell’s Ir & Int Ch Zodiac’s Featuring Fredrik at Taevas of Minforst (Ir Jun Ch) (IMP US) (CW19) (Freddy) by Am Ch Hundehaven’s Captain Voyger x Am Ch Zodiac’s Gracious Gretchen. GSB& RBOB Kerry & Fritz & Karin Klouman’s Kyon’s Dronningen Av Frostisen(Imp Can)(Ma’am),she is by Nor Ch Kimura’s Uno x Ch Kyons Nordic Princess. RGSB Brenda and Tony’s Minforst Galadriel (CW19) (Ella) by Freddy x Int/Lux Ch Arnscroft Di Ola. BPB & BP Kerry, Fritz, Addrienne,Jacqui and Caro Flanagan.Leggatts Gimmegimmegimme from Frostisen(Keeva)BPD Kerry & Fritz & Addreinne’s &,Jacqui Walmsley’s Leggatts Fernando From Frostisen (Zorro)both puppies are by Frostisen Winsome x Knytshall Noor. The next day it was Cork and District Canine club show at Mallow where under judge Mrs Boardman the placings were all reversed, with exception of the puppies who stayed the same. Freddy gained his 11th Green Star and was BOB with Maggit in Reserve. Ella was awarded that all important 7th Green Star making her an Irish Champion which is even more special, as she is home breed and Ma’am was Reserve. Sounds as if it was a great weekend, congratulations everyone.
The same weekend back in the UK Southern Counties Canine Assoc Ch Show was being held. The society’s first Ch show was in 2011 and has had several homes over the years. It was the first Ch show I attended with my first Buhund, who later became Ch/Ir Ch Wolfen Just In Time (Okie), up until then I had been going to open shows, and in 1996 Okie BOB there. The show at that time had CCs for the breed and was held on its own ground at Ifield Wood near Crawley in Sussex, where it had moved to in 1986/7, after the land had been prepared to be a show ground. It was a bit noisy as it was in the flight path of Gatwick airport, but the real problem was that it was on clay soil, and in spite of it being drained it would flood very easily. By 2002 the committee felt a larger ground was required as more space was needed, particularly for caravans. There was also a narrow access lane which often delayed exhibitors. The committee applied to the Newbury Agricultural Society to use their showground which has 146 acres, their first show was held there in 2003. More recently the marquees with the in/out rings have been introduced, and the naming of the breed on the benches to help find numbers, which is always very popular, especially with numerically small breeds such as ours. Sadly, the show lost CCs for the breed many years ago but has kept the breed scheduled, nearly always with a Scandinavian judge. I was very sad this year when the numbers came out, there were only two entered, I knew they had to be mine, 8 month old Rikarlo Gable(Time) & 12yr old Ch/Bel Ch Tonylynn’s Charles Lafitte AW(P) RL2EX(Fizz), our judge was Marja Talvitie(Finland). She also judged the AV and AVNSC classes in Terriers,Working and Pastoral before us and had withheld on several occasions, I thought she might with hold on Fizz as he is castrated but he was BV with Time BOB BP & BJ. There were groups for all of these, we straight way withdrew Fizz from the Veteran Group, as apart from anything else it was a hot day and he had enjoyed his day out trotting round the ring with Alysha Branchflower. We wanted to just do the Puppy and Junior Groups with Time but were told we should do the BOB group, which I do understand as the show wants all the BOB to be seen. This year the show had decided to do as they do abroad and pre-judge all the groups including the BOBs, but there they only pre-judge one group at a time, here they prejudged all the groups, virtually at the same time. I understand why they did it to save time, as they had 3 Breed groups and they had 5 groups within each breed as they also had a Special Beginners. It was great if you had one dog in one group, but after that it was not so good, if you had one dog in more than one group or several dogs in various groups. One handler I know went home saying she could not be in more than one place at a time. All the groups ended up in the main ring but only for a very few minutes, and many watching the groups did not really know what was going on either. There were several things that could be done to help the situation so I am sure by next year things will be better.
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