NORWEGIAN BUHUNDS
Those of you who read these notes regularly know that I love to write about the various things owners do with their Buhunds, and of course we now have the Michael Quinney Versatility Awards where you can gain a lovely rosette, from Pewter through to Gold by doing various activities, not just showing but taking part in things like Bu Bumbles attending Discover Dogs, Good Citizen Tests and various competitions including such activities as Scent and Rally, so I was really pleased to receive details from Jacque Cobb of Angel and Eloise competing in Rally. Jacque writes -: ‘On Saturday I took Eloise and Angel to the pretrial day for the South West rally team. The day did not start very well, as I went to the wrong venue; I walked into the hall to find they were setting up for a wedding breakfast! Mary Dosson sent me the right directions; however, we arrived just as the last few dogs were completing the level two course. I had not walked the course but I though we would give it a go anyway. Eloise did not like it. The floor was polished wood and her feet were slipping, and to top it all I went the wrong way around the spiral. I learnt a valuable lesson -do not take a dog straight into a competition without a warm up. There was a break for lunch, and the level 2 course was left up for people to have another go whilst the judge had lunch. I quickly went and got Angel out of the car, doing the level 2 course gave her a chance to “feel” the floor. Angel was last to go on the level 3 &4, I was so impressed with her as she had not done a course let alone compete since her accident- and this was a long course designed to test the Level 4 dogs. To get 4th was the icing on the cake. On Sunday a different venue and the main try-out for The Inter-Regional Rally Competition at Crufts, where dogs working at each Level try out for the team at that Level. When I volunteered to scribe, I had not realised that I would be scribing for the whole thing. First it was the Level 5 & 6 course, then the 3&4 course. We then had a change of judge for the Level 1 course. By then it was 2pm and time for a lunch of jacket potato, cheese, and coleslaw, bread, lots of butter and cake. Finally, it was time for Level 2 which some of the Level 1 people also tried. Being on my feet scribing for the whole day was exhausting but fun. There were so many different breeds, but the two that stood out for me were two papillons working Level 1 and 2. I am sure that at least one of them will be in the team. Next year we will aim for a 1st to make the team’. Angel is aka Knytshall Angel Delight, Eloise is aka Knytshall Eloise
Rally exercises originated in pure Obedience and is known by several names Rally O in the USA and Rally Obedience in the Nordic Countries where it has gained wide popularity, but regulations vary from Country to Country and so they have to work to harmonize the rules for the Nordic Rally Championships, where there is a combination of exercises used in the highest competitions from the competing countries Denmark, Finland Norway, and Sweden. The exercises have been divided into different categories depending on their level of difficulty 1point 2points 3points and 4points.A Nordic Championship course must consist of 18-20 exercises, of which at least three are from level 2 three from level 3 and five from level 4. This year the Championships were held in Finland on 26th /27th November, the competition moves round to a different participating Country each year. The Nordic Championship consists of a team championship and an individual championship and runs over two days. On the first day, there are two rounds for all participants. These rounds define the team results and are the first two rounds for the individual championship. On the second day, there is one round for all the participants which is the individual final. This year the team from Norway was third and one of its members was a Buhund, Keira aka Fantejenta Caja who is owned by Stine Strander and is the first Buhund to compete in the Championships, she was also 5th in the Individual Championship. The other team members were 2 Border Collies an Australian Kelpie and a Standard Poodle. The Championships are held inside but the surface is artificial grass, which of course prevents the dogs slipping as Jacque Cobb encountered with Eloise.
Stine Strander writes (translated from Norwegian) ‘I live close to Lillehammer with my partner and two Norwegian Buhunds. Dogs are the big love in my life, and it became extra fun when I started competing and our team bond developed into what I have today. I started with Obedience and Agility before I was hooked on Rally Obedience. Keira has never competed in anything else. I have competed in Rally Obedience since 2016 and Keira made her debut in it one year later. I am very focused and have a well-developed competitive instinct. I will not give up and work very hard when I have set a goal I want to achieve. My understanding and knowledge of my dogs is very good, Keira loves to train Rally Obedience, she shows lots of energy and great endurance and one of her cute things is that she is very pleased with herself, after succeeding in some thing we are working on. Keira is very sweet and our bond is very strong which makes her really give it all when we do things together. Keira was 2nd in the Norwegian National Championships in 2020 having been 3rd in 2019.’
You never know one day there might be Rally World Championships as there are in Agility.
Stay safe everyone
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
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