NORWEGIAN BUHUNDS
Those of you who read these notes regularly will know that I enjoy writing about all the things owners do with their dogs, whether it just be doing something different like taking part in Bu Bumbles, going on holiday, we have two that don their life jackets and go sailing with their owners, or taking part in an activity. There are many various activities now ,you just need to find the one you and your dog really enjoys. Doing activities help with dog /owner bonding whatever the activity, but it must also be enjoyable, Fizz thought agility was invented just for him but when we retired him due to his age, he was never keen on doing scent, and definitely only did it for the treats ! but he did enjoy going back to showing as he was show-off and that brought more treat as well.! We now have dogs taking part in Barn Hunt the most recent activity to be started, agility, mantrailing, rally, scent, and many have also taken and passed their KC Good Citizen Tests, with several having their Gold award, one is also passed as a therapy dog. All these activities gain points for our Versatility awards which starts with Pewter with 6 levels up to Gold. I believe there is also one Buhund that is used for herding in Ireland, which of course is what they were originally bred for, and all of course are loyal pets and companions. As with everything there are those special days when everything comes together, very occasionally they come out of the blue but more often than not they take some time to arrive, and you can plan for them, but they may not work out quite as you had hoped especially if animals are involved. One of those special days arrived recently for Jenny Shorer-Wheeler as she describes below.
‘On the 23rd of February 2025, Muchly aka Ch Koromandel Tusen Takk JW(ai) completed the necessary wins to claim a show Certificate of Excellence from the Royal Kennel Club. To do this, a dog must gain 50 points from Open Shows, after they are 18months old. Muchly started his quest in March 23 at 22months old ,with a group win at Wath and West Melton under Richard Kinsey. Over the course of 12 shows and nearly 2 years, he won 4G1, 3G2, 1G3,Best In Show at Scunthorpe under Marion Sargent and Reserve Best In Show at the Nordic under Ian Gabriel. Along with 3 other shows where he was BAVNSC, this gave him 51 points total. Because he also achieved his Junior Warrant between 6 and 18 months ,he now also gets the official title of Open Show Winner ,the first Norwegian Buhund to achieve this. He has been joined at recent shows by his young kennel mate (genetically his aunt ) Inky aka Knytshall Thistle Ink It Up Koromandel, owned and adored by Ollie Wheeler and handled by Mum. She has been chasing her own Junior Warrants points, and helpfully in changes made a few years ago now, can claim points from wins in AVNSC and AV classes as well as breed classes. There must be at least one other dog beaten at open shows, where only one point per show can be claimed, and 2 competitors must be beaten at Champ Show level ,where 3pts for each breed class won that has 3 in it. Only breed classes count at Ch shows. The target is 25 points and now Inky has reached the halfway mark in her first four months of showing .Fingers crossed she can make it all the way!’ I am sure she will Jenny and Muchly’s full title is now Ch Koromandel Tusen Takk JW SHCEX OSW (ai).Thank goodness for copy and paste , when I am writing the breed notes in future!
I loved History and Geography at school, they were the only subjects where I managed to get an A+!
So, I am always interested as to how dogs developed their close relationship with humans and how it all started. I am sure you all know that dogs are known to have wolves are their ancestors, and it used to be said that, ‘ a dog is a wolf in your living room,’ which I think is going a bit far, but it does probably explain some habits dogs have like going round and round in circles before lying down, which could go back to the wild when they were finding somewhere comfortable to sleep. It is usually said that they come from wolves in Europe, so I was very interested in an article about wolves in another Continent altogether. In what has been labelled a ‘rare and unusual find’, scientists have discovered the bones of an extinct fox and found evidence that the animal shared a close bond with humans. The 1,500-year skeletal remains were found in a burial site in Argentina Patagonia suggest that the Dusicyon Avus, also known as the Falkland Island wolf, was a valuable companion to hunter gatherers .The bones were from a single animal buried alongside 21 human remains. It had no marks on it to suggest that it had been hunted so it was more likely to have been a pet. The study author Dr Lebrasseur from Oxford University, also said its diet resembled that of the humans buried with it, rather than the diet of a wild animal, this suggests it was either fed by the hunter gathers or ate scraps thrown out. The fact that the animal was buried alongside the humans suggest it was very important to them. The fox would have weighed about 10/15 kgs about the size of a German Shepherd and lived on the open grassy plains of South America. Records show that D Avus became extinct about 500 yrs ago although the reason for this is unknown, dogs arrived in Patagonia between 700 and 900 years ago so this might have been part of the reason. How they became pets and if they really did is also unknown, it might have been that some were less scared of humans and may have developed a closer bond like some wild animals do today with those who feed them, we can only surmise the answer to these questions.
Hope to see some of you at Crufts, whatever happens we will all take the best dog home.
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