30 September 2018

Here's a thing, September is whizzing past and Finlay is heading towards being 16 months old! For those of you still tuning in we today gained another Junior Warrant point, putting us on 19 points - tantalisingly close to the magic 25 points.

Preparing for shows - we can hardly claim to be experts having only recently started showing, but we have something that works for us. Finlay would get regular brushes whether he was being shown or not, Deb enjoys grooming our dogs and does Finlay 2 or 3 times a week.....not a massively long brush, just enough to keep him tidy and check him out for any ticks or any other issues that you'd spot when grooming your dog. Obviously, Finlay is going to get a brush before he goes to a show. However, he will often get one of Deb's patented cleaning routines, which we call the Underwash™.

What exactly is an 'underwash'?! Well, as you Tibbie owners know, Tibbies may well get dirty when out walking but they don't stay dirty for long - not unless they've been somewhere extremely filthy anyway. The standard muck you'd pick up on a walk through the woods or wet footpath just drops out as the dog dries out. So actually Finlay doesn't get THAT dirty from show to show. But underneath does look better after a quick wash and blow dry and brush out - again nothing that strenuous, 20 mins max, but it makes a difference.

Food time - Finlay is still on raw food, and currently loving it. He does get fussy every now and then, and nothing will be guaranteed to go down when he is in one of those moods. He's a funny dog really, because like now when he is feeding well you think you've cracked it, but suddenly he looks at his most favourite food in the whole world and turns his nose up at it, the little devil. So we go a couple of weeks where you struggle, maybe change flavours or brand of raw food and he's off again. But raw does seem to suit him, at least for now.

Mood - he is a happy dog, there's no doubt about it. He has many girlfriends and even a few boy friends who he absolutely adores. He seems to bring out the best in dogs. That is not to say he isn't beyond a grumble at some dogs, he is a young male dog so to be expected.....but something to keep an eye on to make sure it doesn't develop. Most of the time he just wants to play, today at a Tibbie breed show in Ampthill he once again made more friends. He is a joy to own, he is a mischief too which I think is the puppy still within him but also there is a certain Tibbie mischief along with it, I'm a sucker for it.

In the car - from the moment we got him he has been a good traveller, until recently. The last couple of long drives he has been less happy and looking a bit car sick. He hasn't drooled or actually been sick, but nonetheless he hasn't looked happy for some reason. So today we tried some Zylkene and a spot-on calming solution and the drive up was much better and he slept most of the way of a 2-hour drive. Going home is normally fine because he is tired after a dog show. A success I think, but we'll see how we go, maybe it is just a phase.

The ball - oh boy, is this dog ball obsessed.....balls with squeakers anyway. We had to buy him a new one because he destroyed one of his others. He will play with it for ages as well as actually fetch it, we haven't had a Tibbie fetch a ball before. He even whines for his ball when it has been put away from the day before.

A few photo's to finish. This one was taken on the Hamble river, on the ferry from Warsash to Hamble villages. Finlay loved looking at the water and yachts going past and of course loved the fuss from the assistant ferryman.

Messin' about on the river

Finlay does love the ladies, this is Angie, one of Theresa and Hailey's Tibbies. Finlay really fell in love this day and it seems he made an impression. Not often a boy will sneak in a kiss on a first date!!

Love ya babe!

9 September 2018

Today Finlay was exactly 15 months old, and what a day it was at Richmond Championship Dog Show at Loseley Park, just outside Guildford.

To think we only started dog showing in earnest, and dog showing with Finlay in January 2018. The first couple of shows at Taunton and Chichester this year were a world apart from where we are now, Finlay was an unruly puppy and such a handful, almost a little monster (a cute adorable monster, but still).

Deb then knuckled down training Finlay and set out to achieve......what exactly? She obviously wanted him to behave a bit better and to have a bit of fun showing him. We both felt it would be nice if maybe Finlay went on to win the odd class. So as the year flew past, it turns out we are now into show number 22. We didn't set out to win lots of classes, qualify Finlay for Crufts or for him to win a RDCC (Reserve Dog Challenge Certificate). But that is exactly what has happened. When you work so hard towards improving your performance, it seems a surprise to suddenly achieve something so momentous. It really shouldn't be a surprise, because it has been hard work, but crucially it has been fun and we've made loads of new friends.

One of the things I'd never considered before dog showing was the commitment you need. You get up early (or travel and stay overnight), you travel long distances and for all that you may not get placings. We've been fairly lucky with the weather so far, but it's been cold, raining, boiling hot, windy....sometimes all on the same day! But something drives you to want to do it nonetheless, so it seems we have caught the dog showing bug, whatever that is. The other thing that occurs to me is just how difficult it can be to come second....let me explain that for my non-dog showing friends.

At a Championship show the dogs and bitches are judged separately. There are typically around 8 classes in both dog and bitch - the winners of each dog class (and bitch class) will then line up in a "Challenge" (all 'unbeaten' dogs). The Challenge Certificate is then awarded to the best dog and bitch on the day, as decided by the judge. In each class there could be only 1 dog/bitch, or there could be many, a dozen or more....although in our limited experience, not that many in the dog classes. So you have to win your class, if you entered more than one class you have to have won them all. If there were 30 dogs entered, then you are aiming to be the best of 30 on the day. What Finlay won today was the 'Reserve' (Dog) Challenge Certificate (or RDCC), so in simplistic terms, second place in the dogs. So saying "we came second" really only tells a fraction of the story, because in reality we beat all the other dogs bar the CC winner. It isn't something that happens very often for any dog exhibitor, so we'll treasure this moment for a very long time.....

Finally, in order to become 'Best of Breed' on the day, the Dog CC winner and Bitch CC winner go head to head to decide the overall BOB winner. Doing that any more than once is quite some achievement, because it means multiple judges over a period of time will have judged a dog/bitch to be closest match to the breed standard of those competing on the day. That is no mean feat.

Here is a rundown of what Deb and Finlay actually did today - thanks to breed judge Evelyn Moore Hurley and Special Beginners Utility Group judge Sandra Marshall:
- Tibetan Spaniel Junior Dog - 1st
- Tibetan Spaniel Special Beginner Dog - 1st
- Tibetan Spaniel RDCC
- Best Tibetan Spaniel Special Beginner (he beat the Bitch Special Beginner)
- Special Beginners Utility Group - Group 4/Reserve
- Utility/Gundog Special Beginners Stakes class (20+ entries) - unplaced

It did turn out to be quite an emotional day, yes so I'm a bloke, but I don't mind admitting it really hit me seeing Deb and Finlay win the RDCC. Deb looked so shocked seeing the judge walk towards her. As for Finlay, he lapped up the applause.....he loves applause whether it is for him or not.

Another thing I've been proud of are our Special Beginner achievements. It is an opportunity to get the Tibetan Spaniels in front of more judges and more people sat around a ring noticing the breed. We've only recently started showing Tibbies, but we've been in love with Tibbies since the late 1990's, having owned two before. We're constantly bumping into people whilst out walking asking what breed Finlay is (same when we owned Louie and Nemo before) and saying how lovely they are. So getting the breed noticed and appreciated is something that we are both passionate about. Who wouldn't want to love a Tibbie!!

Today was a very special day!

Aileen bred us an incredibly cute, happy, handsome, healthy, adorable, feisty Tibetan Spaniel....and that was not by accident either. Only careful breeding can achieve that, I'm so pleased that we met her at Crufts in 2017 and took the plunge to travel almost the entire length of the UK to go and see Finlay. It was well worth the trip.

This is what all the fuss is about, the RDCC. This is the certificate you get on the day, apparently we will receive something further in the post directly from the Kennel Club. Never believed we'd actually get one of these....at this point, can't ever believe we'll get another!

Finlay's very first Reserve Challenge Certificate

Here is Finlay getting looked over by our judge from today, Evelyn Moore Hurley. The wag is ever present of course....

This was the Dog CC, as the judge was having her final deliberations over who to choose

Finally, this is the video Google made of the day