How many?
Those fateful words were uttered late in 2017, when we decided we'd try a few dog shows to see how we got on with it and crucially how Finlay would enjoy it. So far in 2018 we've now done 16 dog shows! Not at all the plan, but we have had a lot of fun and learned loads in the process. I've no idea how long we will keep up with this level of showing, we've certainly got several more shows already entered and an upcoming 'diary' of potential shows.
Learning
My wife soon learned that Finlay was not going to be an easy dog to show. He was around 7 months old when she first showed him and despite going to half a dozen ringcraft sessions, he was somewhat 'wild'. Therefore the thing you learn quite quickly is that you need an obedient dog, regardless of the dog showing. No matter whether your dog is a splendid example of the breed or not, the dog needs to show the judge what it is made of, and leaping and skipping his way around the ring, ain't going to cut it! So working with Finlay over the next few months was not only a good foundation for dog showing, but generally in a dogs life, you want the dog to do what you say. In truth he was quite good at doing what we said OUTSIDE of the show ring, but not so good in the ring. Practice, practice, practice!
Finlay turned out to be a very wilful dog, who liked to get his own way. The cheeky puppy in him allowed him to get away with murder, which is fine up to a point. You never want that cheeky puppy to go away, but equally you need some level of control. The most recent show we went to at Dorset County Canine Society was where a lot of that training suddenly came together. Finlay knew what he was doing, when to turn, to not wag too much at the judge.
The jargon
I think you dog showing people forget just how much there is to learn in the dog showing world and all the seemingly weird things that happen. But we're grateful for all the advice we've received (you know who you are) and the guidance on which ring to be in, what winning this class means.
"Are you going to enter into Puppy, or Junior or Limit"?. What?
The first time we won a Special Beginners class, "now you're not going home early, you need to stay for the group" - the what?
"Now you've won best Tibbie puppy, you've got to stay for the puppy group" - the what?
"That dog gets to come into the ring because the dog that won the CC was the only one that has beaten it" - what?
"Are you counting the points for your Junior Warrant" - the Junior what?
That is just a sample of all the things we've learned in 2018.
The future
We've got a gorgeous, cheeky, full of character, loving Tibbie - we'll always have that no matter whether we show him or not. I think you will all be nodding your head at this point. So we'll show Finlay, he'll have good days and bad days, WE will have good days and bad days, but there is the social side as well. Swapping Tibbie stories, weather stories, terrible traffic on the way home stories, is all part of the day. We've got the bug right now, that's for sure.
Here are some videos of Finlay's journey. The video below was taken at Taunton Open show in early January 2018. This was Finlay when he was really not happy on the table, with some stranger wanting to look at his teeth. It is funny looking back on it now, it probably wasn't that funny for Deb at the time :-)
Next up is another Taunton video, this time of Finlay 'walking' around the ring. Whoa up there my boy, where are you off to. Thankfully he does a bit better than this now. Someone said to us recently just how much work we'd done with Finlay to bring him into line, you don't tend to notice on a show by show basis.....but it is part of the reason why I take so many pictures and videos, it gives you good evidence of what is now and what was then.
To compare, let's look at a video from last Sunday's show at Dorset County. A dog who, although still wags at the judge, is able to stay settled on the table and walk around the ring doing exactly as he is told. No mean feat, because as anyone who shows dogs knows these equestrian centres (well, anywhere really) always have really interesting smells on the floor which are far more interesting than bumbling around a show ring.
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