29 June 2018

Another dog show blog this one.....this time at the Windsor Championship dog show.

It was to be a very hot day, so Deb had prepared well, getting lots of water for Finlay including a frozen bottle of water that would thaw throughout the day and provide some nice cool water for Fin. In fact he did very well, the show was under tents and although some were warmer than others, a through-breeze generally made the temperatures bearable and he showed no signs of overheating. The Tibbie double coat was keeping him cool.

We had entered 3 classes plus the breeders competition, but more on the latter later. His results were (breed judge Miss Adele Summers):
- 1st in Tibetan Spaniel Junior Dog
- 1st in Tibetan Spaniel Special Beginners dog/bitch
- Unplaced in the Dog CC
- Unplaced in the Utility Special Beginners Group (Judge David Roberts)
- The Balgay breeders team came 1st, along with Deb and Finlay (judge Liz Cartledge)

As I've mentioned in previous blogs we thought we might have a crack at Junior Warrant for Finlay so had begun totting up the points, but unfortunately you have to have a certain amount of dogs to be in a class to be able to count the points....and that was not to be this time. So we turned up, we had fun, we won the class....but no points today. Even in the heat of the day, Finlay was wagging from start to finish, every person and dog he saw and every judge got a wag and a smile (as would be evident if you watch the video below).

The breeders competition was something else though, not something we've ever been a part of and probably never expected to be. But Aileen McDonald asked us to be a part of the team this weekend, so we thought "why not". It was an honour to be asked and after all, Debbie and Finlay have only been showing since January this year, so novices by anyone's standard. It was certainly great fun, and half an hour beforehand the team had a practice run to sort out who was doing what under the watchful eye of Sergeant Major Bevis. She ensured that the team was strutting in the right direction at the right time....also making sure Willow and Finlay were kept apart as right now, Finlay is very much in love/lust. The trial run worked perfectly so when it was their turn the team did some synchronised showing and clearly the judge was impressed. They really were almost perfect, couldn't have asked for any better. The team was:

Willow & Pauline
Heidi & Michaella
Rio & Pam
Finlay & Debbie

It was somehow less formal and everyone was having fun. I wish I had filmed it, but the bulldog team put on quite a show, it was wonderfully all over the place as the dogs galloped up the ring. That moment when the judge pointed to the Tibbie team as the winners was very special, a great moment for the breed and there was quite a big audience there too.

That evening even Finlay was pretty whacked, a good barometer of how the day went. But first thing Saturday morning he had recharged and was raring to go.

Did I get any photo's from the day, you bet I did!

This is probably the best stand I've photo'd - what a star. He isn't pinned to Deb's legs as he often is and he is looking up. Very impressive.

I'm standing mum!

The video below was made by Google, but represents a great idea of the day. Lots of the day captured....

The breeders competition performance

Team Balgay, the winners photo

Team Balgay

24 June 2018

Time for another Finlay blog, this time one that isn't about dog showing.

We took Finlay for his first ever holiday away, in a cottage on a farm in North Devon. Dogs are part of the family so for us that means they get to come on holiday with us and although we do have aspirations to have a holiday away without him at some point, that won't be for a while yet. We set off in the car for what turned out to be a very long journey down to the West Country, due to many traffic jams....but Finlay travels well in the car so he slept until we broke part way for a leg stretch.

We got to the cottage late afternoon and Finlay began exploring, all seemed to be going well. The cottage was on a working farm where they had Alpacas, Goats, Sheep, Geese and Chickens....all of these things were of GREAT interest to Finlay. He was very good though and although his chase instinct was kicking in, he didn't go too mad or bark at the livestock. He did however take a great interest in the output of some of the livestock, more on that later. The owners of the farm (and their parents) often walked by the gate to the cottage and Finlay would always greet them with wags, I think they might have fallen a bit in love with him....and indeed him with them. Plus they even recognised him as a Tibetan Spaniel, which is unusual.

At home Finlay sleeps downstairs and we sleep upstairs, it works well. So the cottage was to be the same setup, so we thought nothing of it as we went upstairs having settled him down for the night. We'd brought all his familiar things, beds, toys and towels. But then "woof"......."woof"......"woof"!!!!! He was insistent, so we ignored him for a while, but an hour and a half later we gave up and went down. He didn't want to go in the garden, but did seem to want our company. So my wife dutifully slept on the couch! Next night much the same, so my turn on the couch. At this point dear reader, you are probably either thinking "they're mad" or "poor Finlay".....well we were erring on the side of "poor Finlay". It is unlike him as he is so confident normally, but we couldn't help fear that we were being conned.

To cut a long story short, neither of us had a brilliant sleep for the whole week, but by the end of the week, Finlay had begun to settle. We did sleep downstairs with him, but only for a few hours then came upstairs. Earlier in the week he wasn't even using the bed we took with us, it was like he was really unsettled. We forget that he is only a year old and although he is perfectly settled at home, the cottage couldn't have been much more different. Strange sounds and smells and it must have put him off his stride. During the day though, that was a different matter, he was on his top game. We walked miles.

A quick digression about walking dogs on cliff paths. Some dog walkers are just plain bonkers, because they didn't have their dog on a lead. I don't care how obedient your dog is, you just do NOT walk your dog on a cliff path off lead, it just isn't worth the risk. We are on our 3rd Tibbie and although I'm sure there are other similar dog breeds, we've found Tibbies to be completely unaware of risk and danger. Walking right up to a cliff edge did not bother Finlay and the steepest of paths are just a challenge. So he was on his lead, with a very tight hold on that lead too!!

Most evenings we found ourselves in a local dog friendly pub, which suited Finlay down to the ground because there was a constant stream of adoring fans walking by. For those of you that have met Finlay, you know what this means!! Lots of wagging, cute staring and then in for the 'kill'. He had so much fuss, in fact I think he felt the whole week was all about Finlay.

There was one big Finlay naughty moment, one that you will be very familiar with if you own a dog. Fox poo! We were at a National Trust property walking around the grounds, when Finlay found the freshest, runniest most rank smelling pile of fox poo ever seen and he went in head first and rolled for England. What a mess. He did a fine job for his first ever fox poo roll and boy did he stink. We had some kitchen roll in the car boot, and some shampoo back at the cottage, but we stopped in Tesco on the way home for some extra supplies. He got cleaned up but still whiffed a bit for the rest of the holiday. All of our dogs have done it and it is never convenient, but this was about as inconvenient as you can get. What a darling, but you can't be angry at him, it is a natural thing for them to do. Wait what I am saying, he's a git!

So apart from the disturbed nights we had a great week and so did the boy. One of our favourite places was a cafe called "Storm In A Teacup" in Watermouth Harbour. If you ever find yourself in that area of North Devon near Ilfracombe/Combe Martin do go there. Finlay set up shop at one of the tables, and dog biscuits and fuss were never far away.

All in all, Finlay proved to be the 'go anywhere dog' we always wanted....apart from night-times. But we'll have to work on that. I can also thoroughly recommend Widmouth Farm Cottages, they are dog friendly and even have a dog exercise field and poo bins and their own private beach, their website is http://www.widmouthfarmcottages.com/

A postscript to the non-sleeping issue, first night back home, he slept like a log.....not a peep out of him. We had expected woofing.....but no woofing!

Some photos as usual

Here Finlay is looking at some cattle through a fence, as it happens it is a pretty good show stand too!

I've got my eye on somethin'

Now I did mention the output of a certain farm animal, the sheep. Finlay absolutely loved eating sheep poo, helpfully here is me filming him doing it with my wife shouting at me to stop him....typical husband! 

Finally here is King Canute, filmed at the private beach owned by the farm. It turns out Finlay is quite the water dog. He has been to the beach before, but never has the water been so animated and Fin loved it. This is only a small segment of his antics, he spent ages jumping in and out of the waves.

3 June 2018

Been a bit quiet on the blog lately, mainly because we've been too busy showing Finlay! 3 shows in just over a week, it seems like we have been bitten by the bug, at the moment anyway.

Shows in question are:
- Bath Championship Show (judge Mrs J Paradise)
- Reading Open Show (Newbury) (judge Mr Nick Beveridge)
- Southern Counties Show (Newbury) (judge Mr Simon Parsons)

Finlay didn't come away empty handed (or should that be empty paw-ed) and he is now getting used to this dog showing game. Without a doubt we can see a change in him now. He is walking around the ring without constantly lunging or dragging, he even moves on a fairly loose lead, which is a massive improvement. At the Southern Counties show today, on the table he stood very well for the judge, he wagged and smiled of course but stood reasonably still whilst being looked over.

Bath
- 1st in his Tibetan Spaniel Puppy dog class & best Tibetan Spaniel Puppy Dog
- 1st in Tibetan Spaniel Special Beginners
- Beaten to 2nd in best overall Tibetan Spaniel Puppy

Reading
A really great turnout of Tibbies for the Reading Open show with Nick Beveridge judging
- Unplaced in Tibetan Spaniel Puppy
- Unplaced in a Special Beginners Stakes class

Southern Counties
- 1st in his Tibetan Spaniel Puppy Dog class & best Tibetan Spaniel puppy Dog
- Beaten to 2nd in best overall Tibetan Spaniel Puppy
- Unplaced in a massive AV Junior Stakes class of 21 dogs, but did make the final cut of 10 dogs, so very pleased with that

Junior Warrant Points.....not sure how well we are going to do here and indeed just how hard we want to try to get Finlay his JW. He currently has 11 points out of the 25 he needs, so not quite halfway yet. We would need to enter a lot more shows to get him there, and even then you have to have the requisite number of dogs competing in his classes in order for him to earn the points. For instance at Bath he came first in Tibetan Spaniel Special Beginners, but with only 2 in the class he misses out on the points. So to a certain extent it is out of your hands, unless you carpet-bomb class entries for every available class. Being new to the game we have to decide what we want to do. That said, a few months ago, we didn't dream of even being in this position, the position of wondering whether we could do it. How far we've come in a short time.

Showing....Finlay is still enjoying it. He gets to meet so many dogs and people, he loves it.  OK so he is probably supposed to be aloof if you read the breed standard to the letter, but his incredibly happy and good-natured temperament is just fantastic and I wouldn't have him any other way. I believe he is a real ambassador for the breed in that respect.

A couple of week gap in dog showing, so a bit of a relax and take stock.

Some photos and videos to finish:

Bath, his winning trophies:

Southern Counties, this was Finlay in his Junior Stakes class. This really shows how far he has come as a show dog, his time on the table shows he much better at not mugging the judge and his movement is really coming along

Then at Reading, just to show that good movement and presentation don't always get you anywhere, here he is again, on a much different surface. I realise that it's not the whole story, but he looked one of the best at this point:

The boy does a beautiful "stand"now:

Is this what you wanted Mum?

...and finally. We have been meaning to get Finlay a nice raw beefy bone for ages and we finally got around to it. Typically Finlay bounces and plays around with anything new, this whole episode went on for about 10 minutes and in the end he devoured the bone marrow over about 2 hours. Hilarious! (we thought we'd put it on a piece of plastic, but Finlay had other ideas)