He is without doubt the most lovely natured dog, he loves to meet people and other dogs. So many times out on walks Finlay works his magic, he will fix upon a stranger walking towards him with his cheeky smile, then as the person approaches he will stop and wag and get a goofy grin on his face. At this point only the most hard-hearted human can walk past without comment. Once they have stopped then they cannot resist saying hello to Finlay and another friend is made. Time after time.
At dog shows it is much the same, Finlay still loves going to the shows and now gets very excited as we enter the car park. He has a widening group of friends he meets now and every judge is a potential new best friend. The judge will certainly get a wag, but if they get close enough they will most certainly also get a kiss. Not all judges seem so keen on the kiss, but secretly I think they are fine with it.
In terms of meeting other dogs, Finlay does exhibit some nervousness on occasion. He was attacked when he was quite young, bitten underneath by a dog he had rolled over to trying to give the correct doggy body language but this dog bit him on the underside. This seems to have had a lasting effect, so sometimes he can't quite allow himself to say hello without a nervous growl. We sometimes meet a Tibetan Mastiff who Finlay has always been fine with, but the owner recently also got a big black Newfoundland called Sherlock. Finlay was initially a bit freaked out by Sherlock, but we met him on the beach and they were both off the lead, and after a bit of nervous running away (even Finlay isn't that daft to growl at a dog 10 times his size!) they soon ended up chasing each other madly around the beach, showing that given time his confidence builds. It is up to us to try and help him build that confidence, he is getting better.
I can take absolutely no credit for this next part of the story. Finlay achieved his Bronze Good Citizen Dog award, which we are so pleased about. This success was entirely down to Deb and Finlay and in the first couple of weeks at the training club, it seemed an impossible task. Now, my wife is not one to shy away from a challenge and she doesn't like to be beaten by something. A little know fact about Deb is that when she was very young she used to do obedience with her dog at the time, a Pomeranian called Shandy. I'm not sure which you would view as more challenging, obedience training a Pom or a Tibbie!! Deb persevered with Finlay and week by week he got better, one of his downfalls was his down stay, how can you get a hyper-alert waggy dog who so desperately wants to play with all the other dogs to stay still.....well they managed it in the end. This week, he even managed a 2 minute down-stay, which is at Silver award level. Deb hasn't decided whether to go for Silver yet.....It goes without saying that having a more obedient dog is a good thing to have, both when out and about and when in the show ring. That said, Finlay is a Tibetan Spaniel and that doesn't come without a bit of selected deafness from time to time. His recall is pretty reliable now, but that doesn't mean we can let him off-lead just anywhere!!
Finlay has also spent his first week in kennels whilst we went away on holiday. We weren't entirely sure how he would cope, we tried him for 2 trial stays and he was fine and in the event his weeks stay was also fine. The people that run the kennel loved looking after him and he got to socialise with the other small dogs (they separate out small and large dogs before they let them out into the secure paddock) and when he came out of the kennels, he was happy to see us but was quite happy to wander off with the kennel staff to sniff the surrounding area before coming to us to go home. That was nice to see, he didn't come running out of the kennel desperate to leave. He is not a clingy dog, so this was not unexpected and makes him an easy dog to live with....
On the show scene, Finlay finally got his very first Best Of Breed at the Southampton Open dog show. It was a lovely show right by Southampton water and it is only a 20 minute drive up the road, so couldn't not go there really. It clashed with the SEEATSS Champ show which was unfortunate, but it was a lovely day.
Here is Finlay with his Bronze Good Citizen Dog certificate, he couldn't quite bring himself to look at it, he seemed to have taken offence with it in fact. But he earned it, bless him.
We have had a lot of hot weather lately and whilst this isn't the best looking area of our house, the patio is always in the shade because our garden is nearly north-facing. So Finlay likes to 'sploot' out here on the cold stone. Doesn't look that comfortable, but he loves it.
Here is Finlay at the Southampton Open show, where he won Best of Breed, his very first.
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