15 December 2017

Finlay is 27 weeks old today, now into his 2nd 6 months!

He went for his 6 month checkup today with the vet who gave him a clean bill of health. She said he is teething quite badly at the moment and she had a right battle to look around his mouth, it is the one area Finlay is really unhappy about right now. He has lost 3 of his 4 razor sharp front canine puppy teeth, thank goodness! Those are the ones he would catch you with when playing. He has a lot of adult teeth coming through now.

Finlay was weighed at the vets as 6.7kg, so he is growing up fast and it is getting really noticeable now. No chucking him comfortably under your arm any more and he is feeling heavy. There is a picture below which highlights just two months growth in the boy.....

A big thing happened on Tuesday night, it was the Ringcraft Christmas dog show. It was a fun night where you go along, bring some food and raffle prizes and the club lays on a judge and you enter your dog in a class and do some proper dog showing, it's what Ringcraft is all about after all. We entered Finlay into puppy and 'non-sporting'. The judge was Mary Small and she seemed to really like Finlay, indeed he really liked her - he gave her lots of kisses on the table and a big hug. Way to go Fin, that's the way to endear yourself to a judge....not sure how that goes in a 'proper' show though. To be honest I don't really care, it is so cute because he is such a friendly dog with everyone he meets. It is who he is and I hope that is who he stays.

Well.....he came 2nd in his puppy class, we were chuffed to bits. He had some good competition from all sorts of breeds and on the night although he was pretty good on the table, he didn't walk very well. At the moment he has three speeds, too slow when he waddles/wriggles along, generally distracted. Too fast when he gallops along, generally soon after being too slow. In the middle of those two speeds is "just right" and we see it a lot when we're out walking Fin, but not that much when in the show ring. He is still too distracted most of the time, the tastiest of treats does not lure him away, liver, chicken, sausage, frankfurter.....we've tried them all and he's ignored them all. Only practice will cure it I think! He also came 2nd in non-sporting, but there were only two entries! So he has his first rosettes - lets see if he can win any more at his first show in Taunton early in 2018.

Here is Finlay on his favourite box. For some unknown reason he is obsessed with getting up on this box, has been ever since he was a puppy. You can see how much he has grown in just 2 months.

Same dog, same box, 2 months apart

Here is the boy with his first rosette, the first of many who knows!!

Check me out with my rosette!

Just to prove Finlay is a "go anywhere" dog, here he is last weekend. It was horrid weather, a lot of the UK was having a white out with snow, but here on the south coast it poured with rain. But Finlay was undeterred, out we went in the pouring rain through our local woods, Finlay got filthy, but then why not. Our previous Tibbies loved getting in amongst the undergrowth, Finlay would soon tell us if he wasn't enjoying his walk.

9 December 2017

Today is the day - Finlay is 6 months old!! Many happy returns to the 9th June 2017 Balgay/Jazpiper litter!

I'm going to try and tell Finlay's life story so far in GIFs, let's see how this goes:

Finlay arrived with some toys from Perth, this one was a firm favourite.

This toy is 'avin some!

Something Fin has just about grown out of thank goodness, playing tug of war with my trousers!

Grr, dad's trouser legs

What he most certainly hasn't grown out of, are puppy zoomies, which is good really because they are fun to watch.

Woooohooooooooo!

The first time he was presented with a Pizzle stick chew, this is one of my favourite videos. He will still play bow and toss 'unknown' items around for a bit.

Grr, Pizzle stick!

Bless him, he really loves his brushes now - "are you going for a brush" will have him running for the grooming table

I'll give you a brush mum, grrrrr

Just shows how much he's grown, you can barely see him here, and this pot isn't very big!

I've got this.....

He's got "the wave", I can't tell you how much I love the wave (as does everyone he does it to)

Cooooeeeeeee!

Another item to attack, a butternut squash this time

Don't know what it is, attack!!

Yes, it is the "he's got that camera in my face" look!

What you lookin' at?

That is just a small selection of Finlay GIFs for you. He is a gorgeous pup, who is starting to look like a small Tibetan Spaniel now, rather than a puppy. He is without doubt a challenge sometimes as is any puppy, but how can you not fall in love with this boy. Thanks Aileen McDonald for letting us have Finlay and to Spencer for your genes :-)

17 November 2017

Finlay is 23 weeks old (5 months) today and now weighs 5.8kg - so has doubled in weight since we've had him.

He's still going to ringcraft every Tuesday, which he absolutely loves because he gets to meet loads of people and dogs. Performance-wise he is showing glimpses of what he could do, but there is still a long way to go before he strolls around the ring like a pro. He can walk to heel very well when we are out on a normal dog walk so that is promising.

Big event announcement......!! I have talked before about the razor sharp puppy teeth. Well as does happen with puppy teeth, Finlay has lost two of them this week, the boy really is growing up. He actually brought me the 2nd one, I was washing up and he dropped something on my foot and then mouthed it around the floor. I asked him what he had and he picked it up and showed it to me, sure enough there was a tooth. Related I think to the lack of teeth, he does stick his tongue out a lot, it looks a bit comical. Hopefully it isn't something that will continue!

When we are out on a walk, the vast majority of wee's are now leg cocks, in fact every lamp post, telegraph pole and bollard has to be visited. Fin does still 'dip' to go for a wee, but these are getting less and less.

As I said at the start, he has doubled in weight since we've had him and people are telling us he is growing up fast. Here he is asleep in his bed, it isn't obvious here but this is a larger bed than his first one:

Tibetan Spaniels are always able to provide some humour, Finlay is doing so every day. He likes to lay on the hearth and entangle himself with the gas fire.....the fire isn't on I hasten to add. You can see from the picture below that he looks a right sight.

Finally, we went out for a walk one evening around a posh local estate, outside some big gates were a couple of stone dogs, very large. The Great Dane statue was probably 5 foot tall. Finlay initially hadn't spotted them, but suddenly did and froze. He obviously recognised it as a dog but of course it didn't have any smell. So he nervously walked a bit closer and laid down sniffing the air. After a short period he decided the best course of action was to run away, pretty reasonable really. We'll have to take him back there in the daylight where he can see better. It is one of the few times when we've seen him back away from an encouter:

1 December 2017

Well dear reader, Finlay is now 25 weeks old and 6.5kg. He is just one week off his 6 month birthday. Incredible.

This week saw another milestone for the boy. He has begun continually breaking into the other part of the garden, he is now too tall for the defences so he glides over them with disdain. So we have opened the gate and allowed him access to all of 'his' garden. He is investigating every last corner with glee. More to the point, he isn't being destructive or potentially doing himself harm by eating things he shouldn't. So it won't be long and the dividing fence may well come down.

He is a very agile dog, more along the lines of our first Tibbie, Louie. He is able to easily get onto the sofa and chairs in the front room and up the stairs. He is a glory to behold. Of course this agility does come with pitfalls in terms of him growing up to be a right escape artist, but we'll see.

He is finding his feet as a young male dog too, being very assertive at times, so we are having to keep him in check as best we can. It is really difficult because in the one breath he can be SO cute and in the other a little git. He still throws his puppy teeth around with gusto at times, so stern words have been dished out. Those puppy teeth are still falling out and he is growing a fine set of adult teeth too.

He has been on lots of different walks now and he is enjoying exploring his patch. He is not afraid of mud (likes to drink out of the muddiest of puddles) and undergrowth....he is a go anywhere Tibbie!

Having said Finlay is very confident, and he is most of the time, I think he is at that second fear stage of his development. He does woof a bit in the garden at night, which is a cross between defending his territory and woofing at what seems like nothing. We have had foxes in the garden before, but I don't think there is now. Finlay is also reactive to strange sounds on the television and outside. Hopefully just a stage he's going through and he'll grow out of it. He has been trying out his woof for size quite a lot, we don't want a woof-ey dog really, our previous two were pretty quiet dogs. Finlay has a woof for every occasion.....

This is Finlay in the back of the car after a walk, looking suitably cute:

Demonstrating just how easy it is to get up onto the sofa. Trouble is getting down is seen as a great game and stern "off" words don't always cut it. He has been known to growl slightly when gently pushing the bum off the sofa. That kind of behaviour won't be tolerated, don't let the butter wouldn't melt look fool you!

This next one is just a random quick photo, just to show the ear fluff development, he'd been brushed not long before. He's still got that white flash on his chin too....

26 November 2017

Finlay is now 24 weeks old.

The boy continues to grow up and become less puppy to look at, although still very much puppy in his brain and mannerisms. He is still capable of being very very cute but also capable of being quite a handful. He is already showing the stubborn streak that Tibbies are known for. He enjoys going out for a walk, but does not enjoy either having his harness put on or being put in the car, so will go out of his way to be awkward and hide given the chance.

He continues to lose puppy teeth and has lost at least 4 now, the sharp needle like canines still remain and are still able to draw blood however! He went to ringcraft again on Tuesday and it wasn't a very good day. Finlay still goes there to play and not perform, and as such means that by the time he has been there 15 minutes he has worn himself out and then is tired and slow when in the ring. He shows flashes of what could be, but needs more practice yet. He can perform much better when out of that environment, he can sit and stand very well when not distracted and walk to heel.

Getting to view his teeth, such as they are, is still a big challenge. He wriggles and bites when you try and get to the teeth, despite lots of practice. He gives every indication that right now the mouth is just too sore to be messed with. Certainly with him loosing teeth and wanting to chew a lot, this must be the case. We had a small piece of house damage down to chewing, some skirting board in the kitchen bit the dust yesterday, the little monkey.

We are looking for a few dog shows to book him in to early in the new year. It will be interesting/fun/scary to see how that one goes!!

As usual some photos. I've posted pictures before of Finlay and the fire, the fire is switched off or a guard is put in front of it. But Fin is obsessed with laying on the edge of the fire hearth and wrapping himself around the fire. It looks so uncomfortable, but he loves to do it. It is interesting to note just how much harder it is for him now as he is growing bigger. As a small puppy he fitted here easily....

Then another waving video. Finlay goes into waving mode very easily. My wife had picked him up and he immediately starting waving his front paws at me and it isn't difficult to get him to continue. I think he would do it for hours - it is SO cute!

Here's another video of him out on a walk. He is quite reliable off the lead so far, although there are only very specific places that we allow him off lead. He isn't fazed by getting filthy dirty either, the muddier the better!

10 November 2017

Finlay is 22 weeks old today.

Still no sign of that puppy growing up mentally, even if he is growing physically. He is still so mad keen to meet other dogs, standing up wagging, licking their muzzles, play bowing, zoomies. It is lovely to watch and both so cute and a bit exasperating at times. Cute for obvious reasons but exasperating because he is such a full time job to keep on the straight and narrow.

Training is going well, he will walk to heel and stand - the latter is very much still a work in progress because he naturally plonks his bum on the ground so we are working on treating the "stand" as quickly as we can before it goes wrong. Recall is pretty good too. Ringcraft was probably similar to the previous week in that there are so many distractions and Finlay can't ignore them just yet. His tail doesn't stop wagging for 90 minutes, wagging at every person and dog :-)

He is also throwing his weight around a little bit, which we are having to keep in check. His age and development mean that testosterone is beginning to course around his veins and he is beginning to find his feet and getting ideas above his station. So some occasional firm handling and commands are necessary to make sure he realises that my wife is the leader of the pack....as for me, well not sure I outrank Finlay.....but I'm trying!

Here are a few recent pictures of the boy.

Got some food for me?

I'm watching you from my house!

Finlay loves to lay on the hearth, I guess it is cool. He used to fit not that long ago, but he doesn't now. But that doesn't stop him. We're wondering whether we'll have to have the fire taken out to give him room - only silly dog-people would even consider such madness!

I Don't fit!

5 November 2017

Fireworks night.....or indeed Fireworks weekend!

I hate Fireworks, I've said it before and I'll say it again every single year. They are unnecessary and the focus has completely gone away from the "celebration" and it is all about who can make the most noise. So many of the things just make massively loud bangs, that is it. No visual spectacle at all.

We are so lucky that Finlay has paid them little attention, save for a few woofs at the loudest ones. The thing is that the most laid back animal can been spooked, and just because Finlay is fine now does not mean that he will always be. This was how it was with Louie, fine for the first 2 years of his life, then spooked by fireworks in May totally out of season and totally unexpected, he was frightened so much on that night, he then had 11 years of hell and if you've had a dog scared of fireworks you'll know it is absolute hell to watch.

We actually had more fireworks here on the 4th November than we did on the 5th November, which is frankly ridiculous. But enough of all that, it just makes me angry, the main thing is we got through this year and gave Finlay the best chance we could of him not being scared of them. We sprayed his bedding with DAP spray and also some product we bought from Pets At Home that I saw recommended on the Tibetan Spaniel Facebook page, some Beaphar Calming Spot On. I honestly don't know whether any of it was necessary and in fact Finlay would have ignored them anyway, but that doesn't matter. All he will remember is sleeping through most of them and not being scared.

Here are a couple of more pictures from a few I took after he had been groomed. Deb grooms him on the table partly because it is much easier, but also because it is a good moment to practice some show tactics, getting him to stand....which he does quite well.

Pretty relaxed....

Stickin' me nose in the air

Mum has been fluffin' me ears up!

3 November 2017

Finlay is 21 weeks old today!

Well this week Finlay has been getting a taste of the show world. On Tuesday he went to ringcraft again and on Wednesday he went to a local dog show held by the Romsey & District Canine Society.

Ringcraft.....well he did a lot better. This is his third visit and he still sees it as a massive opportunity to play and socialise, not necessarily to work. But when you are that young, who can blame him. He really enjoys it there, which is of course the most important thing. He gets loads of fuss and attention, lots of treats and gets to walk around a ring and get handled by a couple of lovely people on the table. So what's not to like. On the table he is still a bit too keen to kiss the judge, his tail never stops wagging. Walking around the ring he did pretty well, by far the best he's done. He had his distractions, but we were very pleased with how he went around. Deb is doing lots of practice when out on our walks and he is starting to do "heel" quite well, and "watch me" and "stand" are coming on nicely. He really does pick stuff up very quickly, although being a Tibbie he obviously picks and chooses when he will pull these tricks out of the hat!

The show.....again, lots of attention, the chance to meet some other Tibbies and loads of other dogs. Finlay loved it. The venue wasn't the best because it is done in a horse riding school arena and the floor is covered in a kind of wool mixed with horse poo and goodness knows what. Finlay was very keen on eating it, and showing your dog there must be a nightmare. But despite that Finlay wasn't fazed by the venue and just left wanting more.

He is definitely growing now and we took some pictures today and he is looking decidedly leggy. He met lots of dogs down the park today including a massive (in terms of physical bulk) Frenchie x Old English Bulldog who was 10 months old. Initially he looked a bit scary to us (not to Finlay) doing high speed fly-pasts....but once they met properly they had the most gentle play-time, the Frenchie cross laid down and they really had fun. It was lovely to see.

So a few random photos of Finlay. This first one was from earlier today after Deb had groomed him, it is possibly one of the best shots I've ever taken of him. Though I say this myself....isn't he adoreable!!

This one gives you an idea of how he is standing now, clever boy!

The paws, he is very animated with his paws when he wants something....

Look at me!

29 October 2017

On Friday, Finlay was 20 weeks old - 4.5 months old and growing up fast. When we meet people locally they keep saying "hasn't he grown".

I've been a bit remiss this last week with no blog updates, but it has been a busy week with the puppy. He went to another ringcraft session on Tuesday. His first session was just an introduction so the second visit was a chance to see how he would settle. I think he is fine on the table with the judge looking him over. He is very waggy and just wants to make a big fuss of the judge, which although endearing, is something he will have to rein in a bit. His journey around the ring needs a lot of work though. Right now there is just so much distraction from other people and dogs. Fin just wants to stop and say hello to everyone - there were a couple of good moments where Deb got his attention and he moved nicely.

Deb has been doing some practice with various commands whilst out on our walks, he has done lots of "heel" "watch me" and "stand". In isolation he can do all 3 when he is on top form. All he has to do is do this whilst at ringcraft, it seems like a big ask right now, but he will get there. Bearing in mind he is one of the younger puppies at ringcraft, a lot of 'puppies' seem to be around 12 months old.

We have also been working with him off lead some more and this is certainly very promising. With a trailing lead, he has had many romps with dogs of all shapes and sizes and he is loving every minute. People are so taken aback that the cutest fluffball ever can get stuck in and play with their much larger dog without fear. They clearly don't know Tibbies!! Finlay can be recalled pretty successfully now, not perfect, but work in progress. I took him out on Friday, he romped around the park and got absolutely soaked and filthy, needless to say I had to dry him out and brush him before my wife got home!! #HideTheEvidence

I've had an instance where we've been out and Fin was called a "Chug" which I had to Google (a crossbreed between Chihuahua and a Pug), I was also asked what he was a cross between. To be fair most people just ask what breed he is and most haven't heard of a Tibbie, which is quite nice.

It is also that time of year which I dread, Fireworks. We've had two Tibbies previously and one ignored fireworks completely (Nemo) and the other was crazy scared of them (Louie). I won't go on about it too much because I have blogged about it before in THIS BLOG. The summary of the story with Louie is that he was fine with fireworks for a couple of years, but got scared out of the blue by them, not even in fireworks 'season'. So my fear isn't so much that Fin will get scared now, but at any point in his life. But right now he seems fine with them. We had loads on Saturday night which he largely ignored save a few woofs at the really loud ones. We had quite a few tonight too and he totally ignored these, although we had purposely given him his pizzle stick and we know that nothing gets between Finlay and his pizzle stick :-)

Finlay also hit one of his personal targets this week, being able to get up onto the sofa unaided, which I must admit I hadn't expected quite yet. Someone on Facebook did say Balgay puppies were renowned jumpers, well Finlay is certainly that. Deb was in the kitchen when she heard a resounding 'thump' from the living room, only to go in and find Fin proudly sitting on her chair, the thump was probably him hitting the back cushion at some speed!! Way to go Finlay.....

As always, let's finish with a few photos from the week....

As part of the fireworks preparations we bought Finlay a nice den to snuggle up into just in case. Regardless of whether he uses it to escape fireworks, he loves it anyway. He went straight into it and has spent a fair bit of time in there. Here he is showing it off:

As he settles in with us, we've both had a couple snuggly cuddles with him on the sofa. This is him in my arms, he decided to put himself on his back.....but having got there decided he wasn't so keen on the idea, hence the big wide eye:

Finally, Finlay and some broccoli. Finlay likes to try all sorts of food, so as we eat quite a lot of broccoli, we wondered what he would make of a big thick stalk. Well, he mouthed it and chomped it a bit, it kept him occupied for 10 minutes. I don't think he actually ate any, but he seemed to enjoy sucking it!

23 October 2017

The boy is growing up.

We've noticed Finlay gradually changing over the last couple of weeks. He is more affectionate, he has sat on both of our laps and today even had a 20 minute snooze on my wifes lap. We wouldn't expect a Tibbie to be a lap dog necessarily, if he turns out to be then so be it. More than likely it is a phase, but it is nice he is settling into being a bit more laid back with us. He is also cocking his leg now, a sure sign of growing up and his 'boy' hormones starting to kick in.

Part of his problem I think is still teething. He is getting better with throwing his teeth around and he is being more gentle with us now. But clearly on some days he is desperate to chomp his chew toys and this will no doubt continue for a little while to come. He also is quite itchy and we aren't sure what is causing this. He is moulting out puppy fluff at quite a rate of knots right now, but it could possibly be because of his food. I know a lot of people recommend a 'grain free' diet to help with itching. So we have slowly introduced him to some different wet food and kibble to see how he does.

Some photos from the last few days:

Finlay still knows how to attract our attention, by "threatening" the items on the telephone table

He has also discovered the stream near us. He doesn't want to splash through the stream just yet, which I'm pleased about, but he is intrigued about it. So it is an area to be explored.

This next video made me chuckle. We have found a couple of places that are safe to let him off lead. I know Tibbies are notoriously unreliable off lead, but I believe that you have to try them when they are young, walk with a handful of tasty treats and make yourself someone who is going to be an attractive proposition to recall to. So far this is working. It is nice to see a dog off lead and free, but it has to be in the right place. Right now, I can outrun Finlay if he strays, but I won't be able to for much longer as he gets older/faster so let's get the training in whilst I can still catch the devil - I know the theory is you are supposed to run in the opposite direction if they leg it....but still! This video shows him almost doing that obedience, however this was a new place for him and he has discovered rabbit poo. I guess it does look a bit like kibble and it must taste better than what we had!!

22 October 2017

Another busy week for Finlay, particularly Friday. We had set up a puppy play-date with another Tibbie called Jinpa who is a little older than Finlay at 8.5 months old - so still a puppy in his own right.

Whenever you meet up with another dog you never entirely know what to expect, will they get on, will they just ignore one another. That said, we've never met a dog Finlay hasn't wanted to say hello to and to play with. We knew from Jinpa's owner Morrigan that he was pretty full on too. So it was time for our dogs to live up to their reputations. And boy oh boy did they live up to their expectations!!

You would expect some play then perhaps some rest, then perhaps things to settle down as they relax into each others company. Then by the end of the walk, they were calmly walking along together like old buddies. That's not quite how it went....

We decided to meet at Itchen Valley Country Park near Eastleigh, which is a large open space with lots of space to run. So a pretty safe place to let your dog off....an ordinary dog anyway. Tibbies of course are not 'ordinary' dogs and are never entirely predictable when let off the lead. Currently I can run faster than Finlay, although of course that won't soon be the case. It has to be said though, for such a young dog to be let off the lead, Finlay was really good and did have a good level of recall (ahem, better than someone else I could mention!).

So going back to the puppy play-time. These two dogs duked it out for over 2 hours, they played and played and played. When I say "play", things did look quite serious, albeit hilarious. I don't think I have laughed so much on a dog walk, ever. I think I can say that for all 3 of us humans. Jinpa was quite excited and decided to hump Finlay, which you may have thought may have thrown a 4.5 month old pup off his stride. But no.....Finlay having been taught the move by Jinpa decided he could do it too. So they swapped humping moves for most of those 2 hours.

So in-between the playing and frolicking, there was a lot of humping. Lots and lots of humping. I'd love to share some of the pictures with you, but they don't look the best. The main thing was the boys had fun. We had a cuppa in the cafe afterwards, and the boys did have a bit of a rest too. It is a shame that we don't live closer and couldn't meet more often, not because I want to see more humping, but hopefully they would eventually settle into one anothers company. Plus Jinpa is a gorgeous boy, so it would be good to see him again (and Morrigan as well of course....)

I had a such a good afternoon, and it was fantastic to see Finlay meet another Tibbie and have fun. Let's hope we can do it again one day in the not too distant future.

18 October 2017

To show, or not to show......

We hadn't intended to show Finlay when we bought him. Deb tried it with Nemo when we had him, although he showed pretty well his colour (tri-colour black, tan and white) was not favoured at the time. So after a short while we gave it up.

We went along to a show the other week in Havant and we wondered again whether we should try Finlay and see how he goes. He is a gorgeous dog, but that doesn't necessarily win dog shows! So we had a chat about it and decided to take him to ringcraft classes and see what he makes of them. We went to our first one in Upham last night and Finlay was actually very good....not so much with the ringcraft but the whole experience.

He was a lot more civilised that we would have expected. Of course he wanted to say hello to all the dogs, but he did so in a little less full on way than usual. It was almost as if he understood that he was there to learn rather than to play. He fell in love with 'Ebony' the Chow Chow.

His first experience at being looked at on the table went ok, he seemed to really like the 'judge' and therefore she had to be wagged at and kissed with gusto. Perhaps that is the way to a judges heart? But as it was his first time it was more of an experience than anything. He then walked around the circuit not too badly, very fixed on the treat that Deb had with her. 

Some of the people there were pretty serious, it seemed to be Red Setter and English Bulldog night, as there were about 6 of each there. In fact there were so many dogs there, in excess of 20, we only got one go in the time we had. We will go again.

This is Finlays time on the table - photo in focus except for the tail, which didn't stop wagging the whole evening:

16 October 2017

The spirit of the dog.

Don't get me wrong, I wouldn't change a thing about Finlay, his mischief and sheer will of character are so charming. He is utterly gorgeous. But I thought you'd like to get an idea about how single minded this Tibbie is, probably like pretty much every Tibbie.

They breed them well up in Scotland, from the moment he saw the fencing he resented it, Finlay has made it his personal mission to overcome the fencing and not only get over it but destroy it. As I have said before, it was only ever temporary, to get him through the worst of the chewing and eating phase (don't worry, he isn't left alone to chew this wood, we stop him before he gets chunks off. Not that he has that many teeth yet). 

This was Finlays mood today:

He decided he was now big enough that he could just hop over the fence, and hop over it with utter disdain he did. He then goes about destroying the posts that support it. This is an action photo of him jumping back over:

Ready....

....over!

The other things that are on marked time, are the pigeons. As shown in the video, he plots how he can get through the gate in the fence, then stalk and kill his prey. He has eyed up the lie of the land, he knows how fast he can run and how far it is.....one day soon he'll be flying through the air, inches behind a pigeon....

15 October 2017

So what has the boy been up to today? He went for a paddle....

I'd love to call it a swim, but it wasn't quite one of those. I have seen videos of Tibbies who seem to love water and go swimming, maybe Finlay will become one of those. Our previous two Tibbies were never that keen on the water. Louie would paddle at best and Nemo wasn't much different. Nemo used to go to hydrotherapy and would swim but it was never his ideal day out, he never jumped into the water of his own accord.

We will have to wait and see if Finlay becomes a swimmer, but he was brave enough to go in at least. If you are ever in the area I thoroughly recommend a walk along the Titchfield Canal which if you didn't know any better looks like a stream. It runs from Titchfield village out to Titchfield Haven nature reserve. Finlay is too young to do the whole walk, but we wanted to take him to where he could experience a splash around in the water, where it is easy to get in.

Initially he wasn't keen, but along came a spaniel who jumped right in, so Finlay followed. It went up to his chest, and he kind of froze there for a while, not really sure of what he had just done. But as he stood there, he saw lots of leaves floating by and if there is one thing Finlay loves doing, it is chasing leaves. So with trepidation off he went, and seemed to get some confidence as he went. Once he had got out, he shook himself off and pretty much ran all the way back to the car. He did seem to enjoy being towelled off at the end. So that is another experience ticked off. He also met LOADS of dogs today, including a Bernese (who was a bit scared of Fin) a Great Dane and something that resembled a Husky x GSD. He loved them all and the owners were most surprised such a small dog was so keen to say hello to the giants.

This is Finlays first paddle....

13 October 2017

Finlay is 18 weeks old today....

We made a decision today, that we would not take Finlay to puppy romp this weekend. He enjoys it, but the purpose is supposed to be two-fold, to socialise him and to get some basic training done. 

The first item is well covered, he meets loads of puppies and enjoys it very much, but as for training.....when Finlay is playing with other puppies he is in no mood to be trained. He goes deaf! So we decided to use some of the advice given, but to use it down our local park instead. Deb had successfully tried letting him off when she took him out on Thursday and all seemed well.

So we put a trailing line on him, took lots of treats and let him off the lead. He quite happily ran between us and came every time he was called. He seems to have a natural 'distance' that he is prepared to let us go before he checks on us and then comes running. This behaviour is totally absent at puppy romp, in fact there, we could have left and gone home and Finlay would not have noticed.

So without too much distraction, Finlay is obedient. Then along come some other dogs. He greets them quite boisterously but he is calmer. The dogs he met were big and small, young and old. He had no problems at all with them and the key thing was that we could get his attention if we needed to. There was no puppy deafness. So we are happy this is a better way to go with Finlay right now, the puppy on puppy action is just too much.

Finally, let me introduce you to "cow". Finlay loves cow, he brought the toy from Perth with him and the toy is a firm favourite. It has been remarkably resilient considering what Finlay puts him through.

11 October 2017

My day off today, so walked Finlay over to a local playing field which was largely empty except for a few other dog walkers. He met and played with those, and wandered around the field checking it out. All normal so far.

Then something happened, that had not happened before.....

Finlay cocked his leg up a goalpost!!

He has been sniffing around posts and bushes for the last couple of weeks quite intensely, he knew he was supposed to be doing something but hadn't quite figured it out. But today around one of the goalposts, there was some bushy grass growing. He kind of darted around in an excited manner then suddenly stopped and cocked his leg. Now it was a kind of 'puppy leg cock', it was very quick and the leg wasn't properly in the air, but it was nevertheless the real thing. Finlay was chuffed with himself.

Then we had our first encounter with a different animal species. Next to the playing field is a field with 2 ponies in, they've been there for years. Finlay spotted them and sat down to watch and consider. What they got was moofed at, in a slightly unsure way. This is a good thing, because being cautious around ponies/horses is wise for a tiny puppy. I'd have thought that being brought up in rural Perthshire with ponies he'd have been more prepared.

Next time Finlay, maybe next time.....

10 October 2017

Nina Ottosson puzzles, Finlay has had a go at one. If you don't know what they are visit Nina Ottosons site to find out more. They really are fantastic ways to keep your pet amused (other toy sites are available!). We preferred to go with the all plastic variety as they are easier to clean and with our previous Tibbies, they would have just chewed the wooden ones whereas the plastic version we have is pretty durable. Not indestructible, it isn't a toy we'd leave Finlay with unattended.....

The puzzle we have is classed as "moderate" level difficultly. Our previous Tibbies had a mixed experience with it. Nemo was a lazy boy and really couldn't see the point of doing the hard work and would just look at you and say "do I have to"? He would get there in the end, but he would just plod through it and would rather give up if it was taking too long. Louie on the other hand was persistent and would work at it, it was food after all, although he took a while to figure it out.

I've said enough about Finlay and his intelligence over the past couple of weeks, so can you guess how he did with it?

Naturally, there's a video.....