27 April 2018

WELKS championship dog show, Malvern, Friday 27th April 2018.

What. A. Day!

To cut a long story short, Finlay and my wife, Deb, had the most brilliant day despite horrible cold weather. Finlay has now qualified for Crufts at pretty much his first attempt, we're so proud of him. But now for the long version of the story.....

This proved to be a very long day, having arrived just gone 9am and didn't leave until 6.30pm, not at all what we were expecting. Right now our expectations are that Finlay will have fun, he will wag and smile at every person and dog that he meets and anything else (in terms of dog showing success) is a bonus. Maybe we have to revise our expectations after this!

Firstly thanks to the Tibetan Spaniel judge for the day Sally Lafferty. In all Finlay was judged a total of 7 times during the day and he did the best he has ever done. So in order of appearance:

Puppy dog - he was in a class of 3 dogs, one of which was his brother Taggart. I was over in another hall because Fin was supposed to take part in a puppy stakes class, but it clashed with the Tibbie puppy class so I gave up and ran back to Hall 5. I'm so glad I did. I didn't see Finlay strut his stuff and arrived just as the judge was going over the last dog. After one last walk around she walked up to Deb, I really couldn't believe it, it must have been around that point when I got something in my eye! 

Special Beginner dog - we had also entered Finlay into Special Beginner, because both us as exhibitors and of course Finlay are new to this game, and in a class of 4 Finlay came first again. Two of the dogs in the class, Finlay and Rio, were bred by Aileen McDonald (Balgay) and it was ever so close, it looked like Rio was just going to edge it. But again the judge walked up to Deb and Finlay.

Dog Challenge Certificate - incredibly because at this point Finlay was unbeaten, it meant he got through to the 'dog final'. Surely it was too much to hope he'd get any further, well indeed it was. But to be in this situation was a bit unreal. The CC went to a lovely dog though.

Best Tibetan Spaniel Puppy Dog - here we go again. In line for another shot at winning and he did, he beat the Dog Minor Puppy for best Puppy Dog.

Best Tibetan Spaniel Puppy. A straight two-way fight between the winner of the Bitch Minor Puppy and Finlay. The judge took a while to deliberate and Finlay lost out to a gorgeous Minor Puppy only just 6 months old, a worthy winner.

Best Tibetan Spaniel Special Beginner. The best dog and bitch Special Beginner get to go up against each other to win the best overall Special Beginner. By this point my mind is a bit boggled, Finlay keeps on having to go back in to be judged. Incredibly there he was again, getting through again and the winner of a lovely rosette for his efforts. But more news, this meant that this was not the end of our day! Going home early we were not.....

Utility Group Special Beginner - this element of competition is still pretty new having been introduced by the kennel club in 2018. Each breed that runs a Special Beginners class has the option to send the winner through to a group final. So we found ourselves in the main arena with a bit of a wait because the Special Beginners is judged after the main group and Utility was the last to be judged after the Pastoral Group, judge was Mr Keith Nathan. The group was pretty large with 13 entries and they were pre-judged whilst the main group was on. Then at the end, all the entries get their time in the best in show ring and then the final four get announced. Oh my goodness, Finlay got Group 4! It was the icing on the cake of a very long day. Even more icing on the cake, we win £10 prize money for this win....our first ever prize money :-)

We left finally at 6.30pm pretty tired, even Finlay laid down on the walk back to the car as if to say "really"! But we made it, he slept all the way home, not a peep.

We came away from WELKS with Crufts qualification, two firsts in class, best Tibetan Spaniel Puppy Dog, best Special Beginner in Breed and Utility Group 4 Special Beginners. Lots of people congratulated us on our efforts and it all seemed a bit of a blur. We wanted to have fun with Finlay and there is no doubt that he loves what he is doing, that is priority number one. winning is a bonus, I'd be lying if I said it wasn't nice to have a judge say how lovely your dog is and place him above others. But it is still an expected thing.

There's a dog-showing community too, everyone getting together and talking about dogs, showing dogs and helping us. Loads of advice about how to get the best out of Finlay. He has been a bit of a handful since we started showing him, but we have had lots of helpful advice and practical skills show us how to get him into shape, suddenly it is all starting to work. We've really valued the advice, and tried to put it into practice. Many of the people we've spoken to have been doing dog showing for many years, so it proves that there is no substitute for experience. 

So thanks for helping us get this far! Now also it seems we've got to start keeping a record of points for Junior Warrant, it's getting complicated!!

Next time out, different judge, different venue, different day for Finlay and different day for his humans. All variables that make the competition all the more exciting. If all else fails, we'll have a good laugh with some new friends and Finlay will wag his tail and woo some more hearts. What's not to like!

Here is the 'medal' haul

Lovely rosettes!

We did get some lovely comments from other people at the show just how well Finlay was standing, and he did some of his best ever stands today. Picture isn't the best, but you get the picture. Bless him.....

I'm standing mum!

Now some videos of the day, at least up until the point my phone died!

Finlay winning the puppy dog class

Finlay in the dog CC parts 1 and 2

Finlay winning best puppy dog

Finlay in the best Tibetan Spaniel puppy

Finlay winning best Tibetan Spaniel Special Beginners

The Utility Group Special Beginners final run around

Finally at the end of a very long day, Finlay retiring to bed, with his squeaky pheasant!

Leave me alone to sleep now!

25 April 2018

Finlay is now getting on for 11 months old, or nearly 46 weeks! That first birthday is racing towards us at a pace.

Finlay is still the happiest dog in our local area, it seems impossible for any dog we meet not to be friends with him, although not all appreciate his smiley waggy approaches. I've had a couple of owners, both Cocker Spaniels coincidentally, whose dogs meet Finlay and have a good play - but apparently these dogs rarely play with other dogs and normally choose to ignore them. But somehow Finlay brings out the best in the them, which is nice.

The Mutt House - http://www.mutthouse.co.uk/
We love being with Fin of course, but we also want to be able to go on holiday without him one day. So we have started out on his Mutt House journey. We have heard lots of good stories about this place which is local to us. They board dogs in their own house and they have quite a rigorous recruitment procedure, which we started yesterday. We went to meet the owner a couple of weeks ago and he felt Finlay would fit in nicely, he has a lot of regular dogs that stay with him.

In particular he wanted Finlay to meet Bella, who is a very regular visitor. Bella is a German Shepherd and very good with other dogs - we know that Finlay is pretty full on at the moment so we needed a fairly tolerant dog that wasn't going to get fed up with Finlays advances. The owner keeps a detailed record of which dogs have stayed with which other dogs and which were fine and which needed caution. So we need to go back a few more times to get Finlay to meet various of the other dogs to see how it goes. 

How did it go? Apparently very well, Finlay wore himself out charging around with Bella and they were fine with one another. My wife was a bit upset when she went to pick Finlay up because he didn't come bounding out to meet her - he stayed inside with his new best mate, Bella. That is Finlay all over though, he seems very comfortable with other people, not too attached to us. We were at my dads care home a few weeks ago and one of the care staff took Fin off to visit a few of the residents without us....of he went with her, did the visit and came back when he was ready. Little devil.

Fluff - his puppy fluff is moulting, big time! He is at that stage where his adult coat is now growing through and the puppy fluff is coming out in clumps - we were expecting this at some point and that point is now. He has got a fine coat though for such a young dog, very striking.

Puppy - he is still very puppy at times, you never want to lose that puppy really do you? But equally you know he will grow up one day but let's hope that isn't too soon. He can still be so naughty and cheeky and charming. He has surges of energy that appear, normally at inappropriate times, and he just needs some input. Normally chasing a toy, chewing a toy or doing a puppy zoomy around the house or garden.

Here is Finlay in an unusually relaxed state, he is getting an expert at realising that a camera is being pointed at him, but I managed to sneak this one in.

ZZZzzzzzzz

The video below demonstrates Finlay's ability to make you laugh. Normally he ignores mops, vacuum's etc. but on this occasion he decided that the mop was public enemy number 1. It looks like we're teasing him, but he instigated this and had great fun ending in a zoomy which I didn't film.

When your Tibbie wants some attention, this is his "you can't ignore me" face

Ahem, excuse me, puppy here!

8 April 2018

I've heard a saying several times regarding dog showing:

"whether you win or lose, you always take the best dog home"

This might sound a bit cliched but I think today it was absolutely spot on. It was the Tibetan Spaniel Association open show at Ryton on Dunsmore near Coventry. A lovely venue and a great show, really enjoyable and met lots of enthusiastic Tibbie owners who love the breed. How could you not have a great day out surrounded by 130+ Tibbies!!

Finlay was entered in 2 classes, 'Special Junior Dog or Bitch' and puppy, both under different judges. We wanted to enter him into the Special Junior class because it ran first and before our puppy class. Finlay always turns up at a show so excited, so very very excited. So this would give him a chance to burn off that energy and stand half a chance a being good for the puppy class. 

I think he did very well in the first class under judge Patrick Dewaele. There was an entry of 12 and he made it through the first cut to the final 6. The judge was keen to inspect dogs' side teeth, and previously Finlay has been tricky with showing teeth in his younger months, but he was very good in this regard. He did however seem keen to hug and kiss the judge, which whilst endearing is not really the done thing. His walking can also be a frustrating mix of slow swagger and near running....but again, he probably (over the 2 classes he was entered in) performed the best he has so far. So in the first class, having made it through to the final cut of 6, there were only 5 placings. And unfortunately Finlay came 6th.

Then it was time for the puppy class, as I said it was a different judge, Guy Hazlehurst. Finlay performed really well, although again there was too much judge adoration, and as I said before probably went as well as he has in any show so far. However, for whatever reason in a class of 6 dogs he came 6th - with only 5 placings....meaning that over 2 classes this is our first time at a show where we didn't come home with a rosette. Never mind, I take you back to the initial opening statement - we get to take Finlay home, clearly the best dog! Which brings me onto another comment.

Regardless of his performance in the show ring, it is performance out of the ring that constantly means he charms everyone he meets. Every person or dog he meets gets a wag and a smile, without exception. From the time he arrived until the time he left he unfailingly filled my heart with pride as people found it impossible to walk by and be immune to his charm, I think he has a few new friends after today. He had a lovely play with Mr Darcy and would have done so also with Willow given the chance.

I've said this before, but as long as Finlay is happy to go to these kind of shows, then we will stick with it as well - Finlay couldn't imagine a nicer day out than meeting a hundred-plus of his own kind plus their adoring owners. Finlay also got to meet his breeder Aileen again and reserved a special hug and big kisses for her, even though she apparently doesn't do kisses. Finlay didn't get that memo!!

As an aside, this was also Finlay's 2nd night away in a hotel. We travelled up the day before and stayed in a Travelodge near the venue. Finlay did have a bit of a woof during the night but only because our neighbours were being a bit noisy. Although it took him a little while to settle he proved to be a "go anywhere dog" which is exactly what we need.

Definitely a fun weekend, a massive Tibbie fix and Finlay's time to hug some people. Just no rosettes this time......

As usual here are some photos and videos....

Here is Finlay doing the Special Junior class, this is one of his better runs from any show so far. Gets better every time. It was unfortunate the judge squeaked a toy at Finlay part way through, the idea of course was to get Finlay's attention....but for Fin, this meant play-time. 

Despite his improvements, this is his brother Taggart showing him how it should be done. Of course he is being expertly handled!

Standing on the table is very good when he is on his own with my wife, but as soon as the judge turns up it is kiss and cuddle time. To be honest it is so cute I don't really want him to stop doing it even though it possibly doesn't do him any favours. Perhaps one day a judge will award him a first for just being the waggiest best kisser at the show?

I'm standing mum!

Goofy looks, I can do those!

Finlay couldn't resist a play with a new mate, Pauline Bevis' Mr Darcy....who kept Finlay in check ever so gently with his left paw.

Me and my new mate