Part 2
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| Part 2 Click on picture to see enlargement |
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27 September Saturday morning had been moist and drizzly. Sunday morning, however, was bright and clear. And as our arrangement with Arild was not until 11 o'clock, I had plenty of time to pack our things. Nina arrived at 10 and came along on what had already become our "usual" morning round; across Ankerbrua and back along the other side of the river. Then we set out for Lillomarka. |
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We met Arild at the same rendezvous as the day before. By now Milloup was fully aware of what was expected of him, and he was dead set on the task in hand. He pulled at the lead and wanted to go into the woods where we'd been the day before, but that was not where we were going now. This time Arild led us to the right, back along the road. The beginning of the trail was pointed out to me, and I put Milloup on the trail. From the marking I could see that he was indeed following the right trail. We crossed a small stream, and shortly after this Milloup made the same show as the day before; he searched back and forth a couple of times before deciding on which way to go. |
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The terrain was not as hilly as that of the previous day, but we were put through some climbing nonetheless. After a left turn the trail again turned right, and I was aware that we were by now more or less following the road. Milloup seemed to be working correctly, and it didn't sound as if there were any interesting dogs around, so I started relaxing a little. After a while and another couple of changes of directioon we reached a fairly big, flat knole in the terrain, and Milloup climbed - with me in tow - up onto the knole. The plateau was covered with huckleberry shrub, and Milloup heroically fought his way across. On the other side he progressed down the slope, sniffed around a little and then hurried back up the hill again. Once up he made a circling movement, caught the trail again and went directly to the end of the trail where the deer - or at least the lower leg of a deer - was waiting for him at the foot of a tree. I was overjoyed, and Arild looked quite amazed. Why this was so I found out later. |
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Milloup was handed his prize bag and happily set out to devour the contents, while I pulled out my camera to take some pictures of the wonderdog. Then Arild started telling me the reason for his amazement. A good while ago - 4 weeks exactly, it turned out later - Arild had tested another dachshund in the same area that we had just been walking in. |  |
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The trail had not exactly followed the same lines as ours, but it had crossed ours in a couple of places, had crossed the knole where our trail ended and had continued down the slope that Milloup descended to end around the corner at the foot of the knole. All the way through Milloup had clearly marked and worked both the old trail and the new one, upon which he had each time selected the new trail and followed this.  |
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All of this Arild told me while we were walking back through the woods towards the parking lot. When we exited the woods I was amazed to see how far we had actually walked. The test had lasted only 25 minutes, but still we had worked our way a long way down the hill leading up to the parking lot - and that hill was long. Arild was in a hurry, because he was very curious to check when exactly the other trail had been made. From afar he called out to Nina if she could remember. She couldn't, and Arild dived into his car and sat down to study his papers from previous tests held. After a bit of searching he found what he was looking for. "31 of August!", he shouted out to us. |
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While Arild was writing his review of Milloup's performance, Nina and I were talking. Nina was very happy for us and wanted to know the details of the test. I for my part thought Arild would be able to give a better account of our doings, so we waited anxiously for the judge's decision. This turned out to be beyond all expectations. "Et meget serdeles bra ekvipasje" (An exceptionally good team) and "en hund med meget skjeldne spor kundskaber" (a dog with very exceptionally rare tracking abilities) were among the praise heaped upon Milloup by Arild. The first prize was also accompanied by an honorary prize, so it doesn't come better than this. |
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For a moment I was quite overwhelmed. Two months of planning and preparations and a fairly large investment had at long last paid off. On Saturday Arild had had two other dogs to test after us, and besides he had to make the trail for us to work on Sunday. On Sunday, however, only Milloup was being tested, and Arild therefore had plenty of time to stay talking after the deed had been done. So we talked on and on, and Arild's dogs waited patiently in their box for Arild to redeem his promise to take them walking in the woods. The idyl was briefly shattered, however, when Milloup got the idea into his head that his new status as double champion gave him the right to inspect the interior of Arild's car. This idea was vetoed loudly and clearly by Arild's two dogs who weren't that impressed with the new champ. |
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"So, what would you like to do before we have to go to the airport?", Nina asked me, when we were once again seated in the car and driving towards the city centre. I suggested the castle; that must be just the place for my bright dog. Maybe we even had time for a quick audience? The sun had come out when we were strolling around the park surrounding Oslo Castle, so in fact we did get the possibility of seeing the city in sunlight, too. When we were strolling along the front of the castle on our way back to the car we also managed to get to se a guard on top alert. |
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As we were passing the main entrance to the castle, Milloup managed to stick his precious nose through one of the infrared lights of the castle's security system, and the result was fast and furious. A guard at the end of the castle started flailing both arms and legs wildly, and despite the distance it gradually occurred to us that we were the cause of his displeasure. We hurriedly withdrew. There are things it's better not to stick your nose in.. |  |
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And then all that was left to do was to say good bye - to Nina and to Oslo. We checked in and sat down to wait. On the plane we were lucky to meet once again our friend from Friday, and we managed to organize to share a seat like we'd done on the outbound trip. To Milloup's unmitigated delight food was served soon after takeoff, and to his even greater delight the food served was smoked salmon, so all the nice food went into the dog - Milloup's mum does not like salmon, and then it isn't every day either, that a dog returns home as double champion.
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Epilogue Before we left Oslo Nina handed me a Norwegian championship application form and told me that I didn't need to send any other papers along - the Norwegian Kennel Club (NKK) would check with the Danish Kennel Club (DKK) if the other merits and show results of the dog fill the requirements for the championship. One week after sending the championship application NKK returned it to me requesting I sent them proof of my dog's Danish Working Championship. This was done. Two weeks later the form came back once again, this time with the request that I send proof that the dog had won at least 2 x 2 prize in shows. Slightly annoyed I sent copies of Milloup's show results, 9 firsts, Res-CAC, etc, asking them to send any further queries they might have by e-mail, as this method of communication is much faster. Then, however, came the great chock. On 27 October I received a mail from Inger Falleth, NKK's championship department: "Er prøven tatt på en bevegelig prøve kan jeg desverre ikke godkjenne denne som Norsk viltsporchampion." (If the test was taken at a "movable" tracking competition, it cannot be acknowledged as merit for the Norwegian Working Championship). That was a really nasty surprise. Frantically, I contacted Nina, who in her turn contacted the NKK, and gradually it occurred that the NKK has changed the rules governing the adjudgement of Norwegian Working Championships to dogs from the other Nordic countries - "movable" tracking test shall no longer be considered sufficient merit for the championship. As it is, however, the NKK has not yet seen fit to publicise these new rules, neither in their own magazine, Hundesport, nor to the variety clubs concerned. And, as a matter of fact, the NKK itself is still blithely handing out the old championship rules, as Nina learnt when she went and asked the NKK for the rules on 29 October. And should anybody surfing the net be interested in seeing for themselves, go to the NKK's homepage at (www.norsk-kennelklub.no), where the old rules could also still be found as late as January 1999 - who knows, maybe you can still find them there today... Of course, the NKK is entitled to changing the championship rules, but on the other hand it cannot be proper conduct to make the new rules ex post facto and enforce them without them having been publicised in advance and a decent warning given of the change! As dogowners taking part in various venues we must be able to count on the rules sent to us from official quarters being valid and in force. If this is not the case it gives the impression of a banana republic, and that is not exactly what I expected to find in Denmark's brother country Norway. Norske Dachshundklubbers Forbund (Norwegian Dachshund Club), on the other hand, have supported me wholeheartedly. In no way do I intend to accept the highhanded treatment metered out to me by the NKK, and if need be the case will be taken all the way to the FCI. Until my claim is refused by a body much more worthy than the NKK, I shall continue claiming that Milloup did indeed win his Norwegian Working Championship from trails on 27 September 1998. Until now the NKK has taken well over 2 months, and my complaint has not yet been answered. I take this hesitation as an indication that the NKK "does not really have a foot to stand on in this matter " - and that they know it and are playing for time hoping to tire me out. If the matter was quite clear, there was no reason whatsoever to prolong it like this. In the meantime - on advice from the legal consultant of the DKK - I have sent a few reminders to the NKK. They needed sufficient time to deal with my complaint, so the Danish legal consultant. Okay. As it were, the people I met in Oslo were definitely bright and capable of taking decisions, but this does not signify that it is not possible for a specifically slow and dimwitted type of Norwegian to hide out in the NKK offices, so I waited patiently. In the beginning of the new year, however, even the legal consultant had lost patience with the NKK, and his advice was now: Write a letter to the DKK and ask them for help. This letter was sent on 9 January, and already on 14 January I found a copy of the DKK's letter to the NKK in my mailbox. The DKK fully supports our claim to the NVCH for Milloup and recommends that the NKK awards him his championship without further delay. Furthermore, the DKK asks the NKK for a speedy reply. So do wake up, NKK! On 2 February 1999 NKK finally did wake up long enough to award Milloup the Norwegian Working Championship from Trails that he should have been awarded long ago. But better late than never. |
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Updated on 28-12-05 |
