8 March 2020

Fitting that I should write this update having just watched the Crufts Best In Show result.

I was reminded recently that I still have a blog that is just for Finlay rather than the Facebook blog that is about both Finlay and Cooper. I need to update this blog as it seems I haven't since last August. A lot has happened in Finlay's life in the last 7 months.

Finlay has been slow to mature. He is such a bubbly character and has been since day one, but this has also meant that he hasn't shown his best, until the last few months. As well as physically maturing he has started to calm down enough that he can still be that goofy Finlay we know and love, but also bring out some of the breed characteristics of our beloved Tibetan Spaniel. Well, except maybe the 'aloof' part.....

Finlay gained a Reserve Dog Challenge Certificate in 2018 and it was a complete surprise and an absolute honour. But since then  although he has had very good success in Open shows, Championship show honours have been thin on the ground. Then came last week at the South West Tibetan Spaniel Club Champ show where he won his Mid-Limit class, again totally unexpected......... and then came Crufts 2020.

Finlay took part at Crufts 2019 and gained a 4th place in his class, which was amazing. We had never considered ever showing a dog at Crufts before, so this was a dream come true. But then in 2020 Finlay came along and won his Limit Dog class. A red rosette at Crufts, astounding. But then he went and won the Reserve Dog Challenge Certificate (like at Richmond), but this time at Crufts. CRUFTS!! The day was a blur and even driving back home in the car it really hadn't sunk in. Next day I watched back lots of the video I had recorded on the day and it seemed a bit like a dream, but it was real alright.

Then Deb and Finlay took part in the Breeders Competition and the team came 4th out of 36 teams. After a full year of qualification in 2019 and then to put a team up against the cream of the best dog breeders at Crufts and to come 4th for the 2nd year in a row is such an achievement for Aileen McDonald. Such an honour for such a novice pairing to be 'allowed' to take part.

At home Finlay (and Cooper) are pet dogs. When you get up in the morning there they are. They happily go out for walks in all weathers, they are there on the sofa, playing with toys and spreading them all over the house. They are both very naughty at times. They are forever deep within our hearts. Only for a few hours a month are they show Tibetan Spaniels. Those same dogs that look so composed around a show ring (whether Crufts or not) are equally at home covered in mud or rolling in fox poo. I'm not sure this is very well understood by non-dog showing people. Yes these are carefully bred pedigree dogs, but these 'posh' dogs are really nothing of the sort, just ordinary happy dogs who have been so well trained and socialised that they are happy attending dog shows without being stressed by the whole experience. They take it in their stride, more so than the humans I suspect.

I don't know where Finlay's show career will go from here (or Cooper's), but if this last week turned out to be the pinnacle (and I do hope it's not) then it would have been pretty damn good. Deb and I are still bursting with pride at being able to get as far as we have with Finlay, many of you have given us support along the way, we couldn't have done it without you.

I take literally hundred of photos at dog shows, but I've rarely caught such a good one of Finlay.

Finlay in his Limit class at Crufts

Deb, Finlay and Aileen our breeder. When we picked up that fluffy pup in August 2017, we couldn't possibly have known what a star he would turn out to be.

Proud breeder moment

....and I certainly never envisaged ever taking a photo like this, winning anything at Crufts let alone a RDCC.

Finlay and Deb with Linda Morton our judge

10 March 2019

Where to begin! 

Everyone has heard of Crufts, surely?! Either you are not into dogs but you've heard of Crufts, or you are into dogs and dog showing and maybe dream about one day showing your dog at Crufts. This became a reality for us in April 2018 when we won our class at the WELKS Championship dog show and someone said "that's it, you've qualified Finlay for Crufts now", it really hadn't occurred to us until that point. We booked our hotel room almost straight away, there was no chance we were going to miss our first opportunity to show our dog at Crufts. 

Thousands of dogs and their owners head to Crufts each year, and realistically your chances of winning Best In Show are minuscule. You'll know from your results during the year whether you've got a chance of winning your class, and probably you already know the top winning dogs from the year are likely to be your competition if you get any further than winning your class, so unless you are one of those top winning dogs, then it is down to how it goes on the day. Then even if you do win Best of Breed, you're into the group and you've got another 20-30 dogs to beat....all of whom are going to be very special dogs. So we went along dizzy with excitement at just being there with Finlay, a chance for him to show off to the world and have a fun day. Finlay treated it just like any other show, a place to meet people and dogs and say hello. Even though Deb and Finlay have only been showing for a year, they found themselves in the spotlight, so to speak. Through Finlay we have met so many lovely people, and no matter what you think of dog showing, if you like dogs you are in a building with thousands of other dogs and dog loving people, it is a win-win really.

It is hard to imagine that only one year before we came to Crufts to take part on the Discover Dogs stand. As for the actual dog showing, I'm not sure how much Deb took in because she was quite nervous, but on the day they both did incredibly well.

Deb had decided to put Finlay into the Post Graduate class and there were 9 dogs present from an entry of 10. Right from the start a placing was going to be tough. Finlay did his usual performance and proved to be the happiest Tibetan Spaniel, wagging his way through the whole affair. Our judge Liz Scoates decided that Finlay was worthy of a third place in our class, which was amazing. To get a placing at Crufts at the first time of asking, an achievement we couldn't have imagined. It makes me wonder, I've said many times that we didn't intend to show Finlay, but fell into it and got hooked. How many other 'pet' Tibetan Spaniels are out there that could do well at shows? An entry for Crufts of 160-odd dogs is fantastic, but how many more would it be if we could persuade more people into the showing life which really isn't so bad after all. All of this took place on the last Sunday of Crufts, but Finlay was there on Friday as well, for a different competition.....

The Breeders Competition. I've seen this on the TV before in previous years, it never occurred to me that Deb and Finlay would ever be taking part. But Aileen asked Deb and Finlay during 2018 to be part of the Balgay team and she also asked them to take part in the final, amazing! 40 teams of 3 or 4 dogs reach the Crufts final and all (potentially) 160 dogs are in the ring at the same time. When I say ring, I mean the Best In Show main arena, it is quite a spectacle. The team along with Deb and Finlay made their way around the ring looking like they had done it 100 times before, Finlay wasn't in the least bit intimidated by the big ring (none of the dogs were). I know Aileen really wanted to get shortlisted like they did last year, and they did. But to then get Group 4 was just brilliant. It was a fantastic day, it was a long day, and it was a very special day. I really love my chosen breed, and every opportunity to get the Tibetan Spaniel noticed a little bit more is a good thing in my book.

The photo's begin with what you'd expect, the lovely rosettes!

Breeders Competition rosettes

Third at Crufts, can't be bad

I leave you with the 'effervescent' Finlay (thank you Maureen for coining this phrase), not actually taken at Crufts but taken at the South West Tibetan Spaniel Club show the week before Crufts. All the time Finlay is doing this at a dog show, we know all is well. He is always so eager to please.

The wagger

19 March 2018

Finlay is now 9 months old.

We were very privileged recently to go to Crufts at the NEC Birmingham. Privileged because we were invited by Finlay's breeder, Aileen McDonald, to come and help out on the Tibetan Spaniel Discover Dogs stand. 

We had an early start on Saturday 11 March 2018 to travel up to Birmingham. Luckily Finlay is fine travelling in the car and slept all the way there and all the way back - except for a break to 'stretch his legs'. As I have detailed on this blog before, Finlay is not really a shy dog and takes everything in his stride, that said we were a bit nervous as to how Finlay would take Crufts. It is always busy there but particularly at the weekend. But guess what, Finlay loved every minute of it. We arrived at Crufts just before 10am and left at nearly 6pm and I don't think his tail stopped wagging the whole time.

We were constantly stopped by people wondering what breed of dog he was, making a fuss of him and that was before we even got to the Discover Dogs stand. Finlay wagged, smiled and kissed everyone who he met. Perhaps not quite meeting the "aloof" part of his breed standard just yet. But very much meeting the excitable loving puppy part.....

We met Taggart and Paris who are Finlay's litter brother and sister, we met Spencer his dad and we met Parker who is his Uncle. It has to be said, the two that struck up an immediate friendship were Finlay and Parker, they got on like a house on fire and they look SO similar even we got confused which was which. We also met the "Grannies from the West", and predictably Finlay loved them too, one of them got many-many kisses and he even went for a quick walk with Granny too. Finlay also of course met Aileen, and he did seem to go extra 'gaga', so I think he remembered her with extra kisses and wags....

He met so many people on the stand, they stroked him and fussed him and he just stood there and wagged and smiled. A couple of girls in particular went home begging their mums, not for a Tibetan Spaniel, but for a "Finlay". The following day he really should have been totally worn out, but he wasn't, he was still raring to go.

It was a really special day and a day to remember. None of it would make sense if we were dragging a dog along to something he didn't like doing -- but he absolutely loves it. Maybe during the next few months we will be able to qualify Finlay and next year he will attend Crufts again, but this time to take part. We will see.

I didn't take many pictures on the day as we were too busy herding Finlay around the halls of the NEC. But I really love this picture of Finlay kissing his Uncle......Parker is a gorgeous boy too!

Finlay on the left, Uncle Parker on the right

The two boys again, how similar are they!

Finlay on the right, Parker on the left

This was about as close to his brother as Finlay got, bottom to bottom!

Taggart on the left, Finlay in the middle, Parker on the right