Although he is growing up and in some ways he is showing signs of maturity, he is SO very puppy at times - and I wouldn't change that for the world. When you get a puppy, the time whizzes by, and they are such happy times but before you know where you are that puppy has grown up. My advice, take it all in and savour every moment of it, and in my case take 1,000s of photos and videos to look back on. You'll be glad you did.
Rough and tumble
When you are out and about with your dog, not every other dog you meet is going to be friendly, every experienced dog owner knows that. With the 2nd of our Tibbies, he was attacked by a black lurcher-type dog when he was only about 14 weeks old and despite everything we tried he was always likely to be grumpy with larger black dogs. The experience stayed with him, not helped by Tibbies being able to bear grudges for a lifetime! So we were anxious to avoid something like this happening again, but Finlay did find himself being attacked by a Tibetan Terrier (TT).
My wife met this dog whilst out walking Finlay, the owner wasn't bothered but his dog was on a lead as was Finlay. Fin went up to this dog cautiously, rolled over on to his back.....so clearly sensed that the dog was dominant, so he did the right thing. A quick growl from the TT and he was attacking Finlay, he made contact and broke the skin on his ribcage. Finlay legged it and was very upset. "Is he an entire male" asked the owner, he is, "oh he can be a bit funny with entire male dogs". Well thanks very much. Following this, Finlay has been a bit cautious with other dogs and lost his confidence a bit. Nothing to worry about I think, he got a good telling off by a Tibbie recently, but he took it in his stride. He knows the difference between being put in his place (even very firmly) and plain aggression. It turns out that this TT is known in the area for being very unpredictable, shame we didn't know it sooner.....
It just goes to show that you always need to be on your guard. All we need to do now is avoid reinforcing any of Finlays anxieties, so far so good, but it isn't an easy task.
Feeding
Despite having times when he would eat and eat and eat, he can be a fussy little devil. He has been on a raw diet for around 5 months now and it really seems to suit him. He is putting on muscle and his coat is in great condition. We are on Natural Instinct complete raw food, which includes veg as well as the meat. He can be on a particular flavour, which seems like it is his favourite ever, then bam.....he stops eating it. Change flavour and he is off again. We have this cycle continually. The important thing is, he is doing well on it.
(sorry about the next bit, but dog owners will understand) The nice thing for us about feeding raw, is what comes out of the other end. There is a) much less of it, b) it is much firmer than kibble-poo and finally c) it smells much less.
He also enjoys raw beef bones, it keeps him occupied for ages licking out the marrow-bone. He doesn't have them very often, but they are a right treat for him. Spoiled dog, possibly!!
Rosettes
After all of the 17 dog shows we've been to this year, Finlay and Deb have amassed a rather impressive collection of Rosettes and prize cards. I put all the rosettes in a holder specially designed for the purpose and seem to have filled it completely up already. This is with just one dog in just 8 months, I hate to think how many some of our dog-showing friends have got laying around!!
As always a couple of photo's and video to finish. Fin does love a little paddle, not too deep but enough to wet his paws. He doesn't go full on swimming, yet.
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| Messin' around in the river.... |
This next one is yet another one of him waving, I already have several of this behaviour. He loves to wave, and in this case it was waving for a belly and chest rub. Well seriously, who could ignore this, I know I can't.....
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