NORWEGIAN BUHUNDS
Now Crufts is upon us I feel it is the start of the showing season proper! The next one for the breed although without CCs is Working & Pastoral Breeds of Wales,held on the Royal Welsh show ground at Builth Wells. The judge will be Debbie Stansbury who gives CCs in 9 breeds in the Working Group and 9 in the Pastoral Group, the show will be unbenched. WELKS is next with Pastoral Day being the Sunday 28th April held on the Three Counties Show Ground Malvern again no CCs and unbenched,the judge is Barry Blunden who gives CCs in 13 breeds in the Working Group and 6 in the Pastoral Group. I have said before that having lost CCs at Richmond we can now hold 2 Ch shows, so long as one is with a partner show, so our first Ch show will be in conjunction with WELKS .The judge will be Marion Hodgson, this will the first time of giving CCs in the breed, she also awards CCs in 4 breeds in the Working Group and 12 in the Pastoral Group. Friday 10th May is Pastoral Day at Birmingham National which I am happy to say is benched. Our judge is Dr Annukka Paloheimo Segersven from Finland. She began her judging career in 1988 training with the great Hans Lehtinen and Rainer Vuorinen. She is now an FCI All Breed judge and has judged in 40countries around the world as well as judging at five World Dog shows, and in the UK on many occasions doing the Toy Group at Crufts last year. She says her love of riding and horses has helped her understand balance and structure. The next show and with CCs is much further North on the Royal Highland Show ground Edinburgh, where The Scottish Kennel Club is again holding its double Championship shows giving Exhibitors a chance to enter two Championships on the same day, how they manage this I have no idea their committee must have very good management skills. Pastoral day for both shows is Saturdays 18th May. If you enter both shows there is a discount, we only have CCs with the May show which is an All-Breed show (Blue Schedule) the judge is Jeff Horswell, he awards CCs in 170 breeds across all 7UK groups judged BIS at Crufts in 2017, and has judged all over the world. He has judged the breed on 4 previous occasions the last time was in 2021 as a replacement judge at Leeds, when the listed judge was taken ill on the day. No breed classes at the October Ch show (Yellow Schedule) but there are AVNSC classes which can be entered, the judge is Mrs Elizabth Stannard who gives 22 CCs in the Toy Group, 3 in the Utility and in Wolf Hounds. There are no benches, and the shows are in halls not outside as SKC was years ago. Back down south to Bath for another All-Breed Show with Pastoral Day Friday 24th May, held on their own ground, the Three Shires Field near Bath with marquess and benches. The judge is Toni Jackson giving CCs for the first time in the breed. She gives CCs in 3 Utility breeds 3 Working and 14 Pastoral and has judged in the Nordic Countries and on the Continent. The next show is Three Counties held on the Three Counties Showground Malvern, I am very surprised that they have kept the breed on as there was only one entry last year, but again they have given us a good classification including puppies and veterans, but unfortunately there are no CCs, and it is on a Friday June 7th again no benches. The judge is Mr Richard Morris who gives CCs in 1 Hound Breed 29 Gundogs and 1 Pastoral. Then it is up to Blackpool again for another unbenched show with no CCs, but it is on a Sunday 23rd June. The judge is Dianna Spavin who gives CCs in 25 Hound breeds 17 Utility 1 Working 9 Pastoral and 10 Toy breeds and has judged in many other Countries. The next show is benched, Windsor All-Breed Ch show but again another weekday, this time Thursday 27th June and held on Home Park Windsor, a lovely setting in the shadow of the Castle. I should have judged one of the years that the show was cancelled due to the pandemic, so I am judging this year. I have awarded CCs to the breed on 4 occasions including Crufts in 2018 and give CCs in Elkhounds. Then it is 2 non-CC shows on the same day Sunday 7th July, which will be Boston Ch show and our own Open Show. It is a new venue for Boston as it has taken over the E of E dates and venue, now Rutland Showground Oakham. The judge for Boston is Mr John Ritchie, he gives CCs in 1 Utility breed 7 Working and 17 Pastoral and had judged in most countries in Europe, Scandinavia and in the USA and Australia. Our Open Show the judge is Ms Penny Roberts she gives CCs in 2 Utility breeds and 1 Pastoral breed and had judged in Slovakia, Estonia, Australia, and New Zealand. There will be no benches at the show. The only other schedule out now with classes for the breed is Paignton, another weekday Friday 2nd August, but it is in the school holidays so should help those working in schools or with children. They have given us a good classification with classes for puppies and veterans. The show is benched, and the judge is Gary Clarke who gives CCs in 8 Pastoral Breeds and has judged in many continental countries and the USA.
The shows that do not have benches mostly say ‘No Gazebos or Pop-up Tents permitted and bring your own chairs’.
We often talk about the breed being numerically small, well it is not just in dogs, I was reading that South Korea is very worried about its falling birth rate to 0.72 not the 2.1 needed to maintain the country’s population. In other mammals as well, the North Atlantic Right Whales are only having 17 calves a year rather than the 50 needed to keep the specials viable. So, we are doing really well keeping the Buhund numbers steady.
Margaret Deuchar margaretdeuchar@gmail.co.uk
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