15 July 2018

Well hello there, time for another dog blog.

When we started dog showing we said "we'll do a few shows and see how it goes", we hadn't intended to do that many. Since the start of 2018, we've done 16, which was hardly the plan. Not only that we've got several more planned in the diary already, yes we have a show diary now, oh my gawd!!

The movement....
Just to be clear, I don't really know that much about showing dogs just yet. I had an interesting conversation at the weekend about what types of dogs I liked and who did I think would win a class, and it made me think, what do I like about Tibbies. To help explain that, here is a critique of Finlay from the Bath Championship show by judge Jane Paradise:

"Quite a handful here and more training will reap rewards. Well shaped skull, wide jaw and ex bite. Carrying  a quality coat and shawl. Plume balances with head to give a correct silhouette. Nicely sprung  ribs with a level topline. He comes into his own on the move, where he showed the others how to move straight with precision"

We have now had consistent feedback from various judges that Finlay's movement is really good, and that is one of the things I like to see in Tibbie's and in Finlay. When we are out for a walk with Finlay, outside of showing, he has this movement where he just glides along without effort. He flows, he moves very fast but without effort....he is so agile. When he recreates this movement in the ring, then that is when he shines. Yes he wags and has that cheeky glint in his eye and that is massively endearing. So movement, that is what I think I like. As for the "quite a handful" comment, well he certainly is that, but he is still young and Deb is still learning how to overcome his exuberance.....

The shows....
This weekend, we planned to do two dog shows, one in Yeovil on Saturday and one in Ardingly Showground on the Sunday (Kingston canine society). We didn't think we'd make it for a moment, but we did....and I'm glad we did because both days were successful in their own way.

At Yeovil under judge Alan Carter, unfortunately he was the only entry in his Junior class, came 3rd in the AV Utility Special Yearling under judge Pauline Lock and finally was Reserve in the AV Special Beginners Stakes under judge Colin Woodward.

At Kingston show under judge Marion McArdle he was Reserve in his Special Yearling class, unplaced in the AV Junior Stakes and was a marvellous 1st in the AV Utility Special Beginners class under judge Judith Catlow. He then went through to the final group for best Special Beginner in show and managed a creditable VHC under judge Pamela Mottershaw.

It is hard to forget that both Deb and Finlay have been showing only 6 months, so every show is a new learning experience, so getting anywhere is still unexpected. But the Special Beginner successes we have had are very heartwarming as they are getting fairly regular. And as someone pointed out recently, we can't be 'Beginners' forever, so we need to make the most of it!!

The heat....
To the uninitiated, it may seem mad to take dogs to shows in the heat we've had recently. Certainly in a car without air conditioning, it would be. But Finlay has been totally cool in the car and sleeps everywhere we go. The dog owners go out of their way to keep their dogs cool, from cool coats, gazebo's (both dog sized and huge garden sized), golf umbrellas, towels soaked with cold water to lay on, gallons of water, shade, shade and more shade. The end result is that there is nothing to worry about, dogs are well catered for and in the case of our Tibbie, I think he was cooler than we were. That said, this heat is a bit extreme, and it would be more comfortable at 20 degrees rather than 30+.

Some pictures from the shows:

Another fine standing picture of Finlay, he really is getting this now. He can stand back from Debbie without being on her feet and even the lead is slack now. What a cutie!

This video is from Finlays AV Utility Special Beginners class. Up against a Tibetan Terrier, Poodle and a Frenchie, Finlay strutted his stuff and charmed the judge. This was a classic Finlay/judge interaction, he absolutely won her over. And of course there was that movement again..... :-)

29 June 2018

Another dog show blog this one.....this time at the Windsor Championship dog show.

It was to be a very hot day, so Deb had prepared well, getting lots of water for Finlay including a frozen bottle of water that would thaw throughout the day and provide some nice cool water for Fin. In fact he did very well, the show was under tents and although some were warmer than others, a through-breeze generally made the temperatures bearable and he showed no signs of overheating. The Tibbie double coat was keeping him cool.

We had entered 3 classes plus the breeders competition, but more on the latter later. His results were (breed judge Miss Adele Summers):
- 1st in Tibetan Spaniel Junior Dog
- 1st in Tibetan Spaniel Special Beginners dog/bitch
- Unplaced in the Dog CC
- Unplaced in the Utility Special Beginners Group (Judge David Roberts)
- The Balgay breeders team came 1st, along with Deb and Finlay (judge Liz Cartledge)

As I've mentioned in previous blogs we thought we might have a crack at Junior Warrant for Finlay so had begun totting up the points, but unfortunately you have to have a certain amount of dogs to be in a class to be able to count the points....and that was not to be this time. So we turned up, we had fun, we won the class....but no points today. Even in the heat of the day, Finlay was wagging from start to finish, every person and dog he saw and every judge got a wag and a smile (as would be evident if you watch the video below).

The breeders competition was something else though, not something we've ever been a part of and probably never expected to be. But Aileen McDonald asked us to be a part of the team this weekend, so we thought "why not". It was an honour to be asked and after all, Debbie and Finlay have only been showing since January this year, so novices by anyone's standard. It was certainly great fun, and half an hour beforehand the team had a practice run to sort out who was doing what under the watchful eye of Sergeant Major Bevis. She ensured that the team was strutting in the right direction at the right time....also making sure Willow and Finlay were kept apart as right now, Finlay is very much in love/lust. The trial run worked perfectly so when it was their turn the team did some synchronised showing and clearly the judge was impressed. They really were almost perfect, couldn't have asked for any better. The team was:

Willow & Pauline
Heidi & Michaella
Rio & Pam
Finlay & Debbie

It was somehow less formal and everyone was having fun. I wish I had filmed it, but the bulldog team put on quite a show, it was wonderfully all over the place as the dogs galloped up the ring. That moment when the judge pointed to the Tibbie team as the winners was very special, a great moment for the breed and there was quite a big audience there too.

That evening even Finlay was pretty whacked, a good barometer of how the day went. But first thing Saturday morning he had recharged and was raring to go.

Did I get any photo's from the day, you bet I did!

This is probably the best stand I've photo'd - what a star. He isn't pinned to Deb's legs as he often is and he is looking up. Very impressive.

I'm standing mum!

The video below was made by Google, but represents a great idea of the day. Lots of the day captured....

The breeders competition performance

Team Balgay, the winners photo

Team Balgay

24 June 2018

Time for another Finlay blog, this time one that isn't about dog showing.

We took Finlay for his first ever holiday away, in a cottage on a farm in North Devon. Dogs are part of the family so for us that means they get to come on holiday with us and although we do have aspirations to have a holiday away without him at some point, that won't be for a while yet. We set off in the car for what turned out to be a very long journey down to the West Country, due to many traffic jams....but Finlay travels well in the car so he slept until we broke part way for a leg stretch.

We got to the cottage late afternoon and Finlay began exploring, all seemed to be going well. The cottage was on a working farm where they had Alpacas, Goats, Sheep, Geese and Chickens....all of these things were of GREAT interest to Finlay. He was very good though and although his chase instinct was kicking in, he didn't go too mad or bark at the livestock. He did however take a great interest in the output of some of the livestock, more on that later. The owners of the farm (and their parents) often walked by the gate to the cottage and Finlay would always greet them with wags, I think they might have fallen a bit in love with him....and indeed him with them. Plus they even recognised him as a Tibetan Spaniel, which is unusual.

At home Finlay sleeps downstairs and we sleep upstairs, it works well. So the cottage was to be the same setup, so we thought nothing of it as we went upstairs having settled him down for the night. We'd brought all his familiar things, beds, toys and towels. But then "woof"......."woof"......"woof"!!!!! He was insistent, so we ignored him for a while, but an hour and a half later we gave up and went down. He didn't want to go in the garden, but did seem to want our company. So my wife dutifully slept on the couch! Next night much the same, so my turn on the couch. At this point dear reader, you are probably either thinking "they're mad" or "poor Finlay".....well we were erring on the side of "poor Finlay". It is unlike him as he is so confident normally, but we couldn't help fear that we were being conned.

To cut a long story short, neither of us had a brilliant sleep for the whole week, but by the end of the week, Finlay had begun to settle. We did sleep downstairs with him, but only for a few hours then came upstairs. Earlier in the week he wasn't even using the bed we took with us, it was like he was really unsettled. We forget that he is only a year old and although he is perfectly settled at home, the cottage couldn't have been much more different. Strange sounds and smells and it must have put him off his stride. During the day though, that was a different matter, he was on his top game. We walked miles.

A quick digression about walking dogs on cliff paths. Some dog walkers are just plain bonkers, because they didn't have their dog on a lead. I don't care how obedient your dog is, you just do NOT walk your dog on a cliff path off lead, it just isn't worth the risk. We are on our 3rd Tibbie and although I'm sure there are other similar dog breeds, we've found Tibbies to be completely unaware of risk and danger. Walking right up to a cliff edge did not bother Finlay and the steepest of paths are just a challenge. So he was on his lead, with a very tight hold on that lead too!!

Most evenings we found ourselves in a local dog friendly pub, which suited Finlay down to the ground because there was a constant stream of adoring fans walking by. For those of you that have met Finlay, you know what this means!! Lots of wagging, cute staring and then in for the 'kill'. He had so much fuss, in fact I think he felt the whole week was all about Finlay.

There was one big Finlay naughty moment, one that you will be very familiar with if you own a dog. Fox poo! We were at a National Trust property walking around the grounds, when Finlay found the freshest, runniest most rank smelling pile of fox poo ever seen and he went in head first and rolled for England. What a mess. He did a fine job for his first ever fox poo roll and boy did he stink. We had some kitchen roll in the car boot, and some shampoo back at the cottage, but we stopped in Tesco on the way home for some extra supplies. He got cleaned up but still whiffed a bit for the rest of the holiday. All of our dogs have done it and it is never convenient, but this was about as inconvenient as you can get. What a darling, but you can't be angry at him, it is a natural thing for them to do. Wait what I am saying, he's a git!

So apart from the disturbed nights we had a great week and so did the boy. One of our favourite places was a cafe called "Storm In A Teacup" in Watermouth Harbour. If you ever find yourself in that area of North Devon near Ilfracombe/Combe Martin do go there. Finlay set up shop at one of the tables, and dog biscuits and fuss were never far away.

All in all, Finlay proved to be the 'go anywhere dog' we always wanted....apart from night-times. But we'll have to work on that. I can also thoroughly recommend Widmouth Farm Cottages, they are dog friendly and even have a dog exercise field and poo bins and their own private beach, their website is http://www.widmouthfarmcottages.com/

A postscript to the non-sleeping issue, first night back home, he slept like a log.....not a peep out of him. We had expected woofing.....but no woofing!

Some photos as usual

Here Finlay is looking at some cattle through a fence, as it happens it is a pretty good show stand too!

I've got my eye on somethin'

Now I did mention the output of a certain farm animal, the sheep. Finlay absolutely loved eating sheep poo, helpfully here is me filming him doing it with my wife shouting at me to stop him....typical husband! 

Finally here is King Canute, filmed at the private beach owned by the farm. It turns out Finlay is quite the water dog. He has been to the beach before, but never has the water been so animated and Fin loved it. This is only a small segment of his antics, he spent ages jumping in and out of the waves.

3 June 2018

Been a bit quiet on the blog lately, mainly because we've been too busy showing Finlay! 3 shows in just over a week, it seems like we have been bitten by the bug, at the moment anyway.

Shows in question are:
- Bath Championship Show (judge Mrs J Paradise)
- Reading Open Show (Newbury) (judge Mr Nick Beveridge)
- Southern Counties Show (Newbury) (judge Mr Simon Parsons)

Finlay didn't come away empty handed (or should that be empty paw-ed) and he is now getting used to this dog showing game. Without a doubt we can see a change in him now. He is walking around the ring without constantly lunging or dragging, he even moves on a fairly loose lead, which is a massive improvement. At the Southern Counties show today, on the table he stood very well for the judge, he wagged and smiled of course but stood reasonably still whilst being looked over.

Bath
- 1st in his Tibetan Spaniel Puppy dog class & best Tibetan Spaniel Puppy Dog
- 1st in Tibetan Spaniel Special Beginners
- Beaten to 2nd in best overall Tibetan Spaniel Puppy

Reading
A really great turnout of Tibbies for the Reading Open show with Nick Beveridge judging
- Unplaced in Tibetan Spaniel Puppy
- Unplaced in a Special Beginners Stakes class

Southern Counties
- 1st in his Tibetan Spaniel Puppy Dog class & best Tibetan Spaniel puppy Dog
- Beaten to 2nd in best overall Tibetan Spaniel Puppy
- Unplaced in a massive AV Junior Stakes class of 21 dogs, but did make the final cut of 10 dogs, so very pleased with that

Junior Warrant Points.....not sure how well we are going to do here and indeed just how hard we want to try to get Finlay his JW. He currently has 11 points out of the 25 he needs, so not quite halfway yet. We would need to enter a lot more shows to get him there, and even then you have to have the requisite number of dogs competing in his classes in order for him to earn the points. For instance at Bath he came first in Tibetan Spaniel Special Beginners, but with only 2 in the class he misses out on the points. So to a certain extent it is out of your hands, unless you carpet-bomb class entries for every available class. Being new to the game we have to decide what we want to do. That said, a few months ago, we didn't dream of even being in this position, the position of wondering whether we could do it. How far we've come in a short time.

Showing....Finlay is still enjoying it. He gets to meet so many dogs and people, he loves it.  OK so he is probably supposed to be aloof if you read the breed standard to the letter, but his incredibly happy and good-natured temperament is just fantastic and I wouldn't have him any other way. I believe he is a real ambassador for the breed in that respect.

A couple of week gap in dog showing, so a bit of a relax and take stock.

Some photos and videos to finish:

Bath, his winning trophies:

Southern Counties, this was Finlay in his Junior Stakes class. This really shows how far he has come as a show dog, his time on the table shows he much better at not mugging the judge and his movement is really coming along

Then at Reading, just to show that good movement and presentation don't always get you anywhere, here he is again, on a much different surface. I realise that it's not the whole story, but he looked one of the best at this point:

The boy does a beautiful "stand"now:

Is this what you wanted Mum?

...and finally. We have been meaning to get Finlay a nice raw beefy bone for ages and we finally got around to it. Typically Finlay bounces and plays around with anything new, this whole episode went on for about 10 minutes and in the end he devoured the bone marrow over about 2 hours. Hilarious! (we thought we'd put it on a piece of plastic, but Finlay had other ideas)

20 May 2018

Another day, another dog show.....

Finlay is growing up fast, but not so fast he can't still find moments to entertain us in many different ways. He is such a character, but then this is something many dog owners will say about their furry friend. I really hope that what we've seen so far is what we get for life, a friendly happy dog who just gets on with every human and every dog he meets. We now have about 3 different dogs in particular where the owners have said "our dog doesn't really play with other dogs, but he/she loves playing with Finlay". He just seems to bring out the best in other dogs, and long may that remain.

He is moulting big time! All puppies will lose their puppy fluff coat and it just happens that this is happening at the same time as a spring moult, which means dog fur EVERYWHERE! My wife is grooming Finlay regularly (which would happen anyway) and getting brush-loads of fur out. The good thing is a) this stops quite so much ending up indoors and b) you can now start to see more of a shape to Finlay than just a ball of fluff. But no complaints, you buy a breed like a Tibetan Spaniel, then dog fur on your food, in your coffee, in the car.....it's all part of the bargain.

Dog showing, we're still at it. I've been reading some dog critiques and have read Finlay's first critique. It really helps drive home some of the advice we've had and why that advice was given. Sure we are always going to make sure Fin looks his best when he turns up, clean and well groomed.....but I've seen it specifically mentioned in critiques that it was nice to see smartly turned out dogs. Going to Ringcraft and rigorously going through the drills of getting Fin to walk properly, stand on the table, show his teeth - all this is of course very good for everyday dog obedience but also good for showing him at his best. I've realised now that in order for a judge to work out if he has certain physical attributes then it helps if he is striding out in his walks, standing squarely....again all feedback I've seen in critiques.

We love working with dogs and of course who doesn't love a well behaved dog when out and about. Despite having owned Tibbies before, Finlay was quite an eye opener to train. He was VERY headstrong, and it took a bit longer than we expected to hit that ideal point where Finlay was being cute/obstinate and where we took charge. To know that you can be in charge and he will still love you at the end of the day, it is a valuable lesson. If he can get away with being naughty he still will!

Then the story continues to the Christchurch and New Forest canine society open show, which took place today in glorious sunshine. A brilliant introduction for Finlay's first outdoor show on grass, thanks to our breed judge Hailey (thanks also for the lovely mug) and Carol Farrow the AV Utility judge. Finlay managed to get some more rosettes:
- 1st in a class of 4 Tibetan Spaniel puppies
- Best Tibetan Spaniel Puppy
- 1st in AV Utility Puppy
- Unplaced in the AV Utility Group

Very pleased with that result. Tonight I need to seriously sit down with Finlay's Junior Warrant form, the kennel club rules and what he has done so far to work out whether it is going to be possible to get Fin a "JW" after his name. Questions will be asked (probably) at the next show we go to, so I need to get my facts straight!

Watching the videos back of the show, it really does show how far Deb and Finlay have come, which reflects in some of the comments we've had. Someone gave us some advice today on how to avoid Finlay standing so close to Deb's feet, which we were happy to take on board. That person was afraid the advice may upset us, but trust me, there is much more we DON'T know about dog showing that we do know. Giving positive advice is going to be positively received.

The final line up with Judge Hailey McKnight

The boy did a very good effort here, apart from showing his teeth. We've done this with him so many times and he is SO much better. But on the day, he still tossed his head about the little devil. His walk around the ring was pretty much spot on.

Finlay doing his thing

I'm doing my best show-stand!

Willow (Pauline Bevis' lovely bitch) doing it better :-)

Willow showing how a show-stand should be done

The medal haul

I've popped this video on the end. This is Finlay providing the amusement factor. He decided that the broom was going to get it, and rather than stop him of course I decided to film it!!

5 May 2018

Finlay is now 11 months old.

A mini update for another Finlay dog show, this time the rescheduled South West Tibetan Spaniel Club show at Steventon in Oxfordshire.

It was a gorgeous hot sunny day for the 1 hour drive to the venue which was located on a village green in a very pretty village. The judge for the day was Jeff Luscott.

We had only entered Finlay into one class for this show and because it was originally scheduled in March he was in Minor Puppy, even though he was not now young enough to be a Minor Puppy. You stick in the class you were originally entered - so he was the biggest fluffiest Minor Puppy you've ever seen. Our class was fairly early in the day and in a class of 4 he got 2nd, which we were very happy with. The winner of that class went on to be best puppy, so we only got beaten by the best! Plus even 2nd in a breed championship show would have been good enough to qualify him for Crufts....if he hadn't already qualified the week before.

As a result of only being in one class, this show was a little different. We could relax a little and have a good natter to a few of the other Tibbie owners and start to put some names and faces together. We also watched a fair bit of the judging which made a change.

A lovely day out, checked out over 100 Tibbies, a very pleasant day in my book.

Here's Finlay doing his thing

Plus here's one of him relaxing on his Tibetan Spaniel Association blanket

Don't disturb me now, I'm snoozin'

27 April 2018

WELKS championship dog show, Malvern, Friday 27th April 2018.

What. A. Day!

To cut a long story short, Finlay and my wife, Deb, had the most brilliant day despite horrible cold weather. Finlay has now qualified for Crufts at pretty much his first attempt, we're so proud of him. But now for the long version of the story.....

This proved to be a very long day, having arrived just gone 9am and didn't leave until 6.30pm, not at all what we were expecting. Right now our expectations are that Finlay will have fun, he will wag and smile at every person and dog that he meets and anything else (in terms of dog showing success) is a bonus. Maybe we have to revise our expectations after this!

Firstly thanks to the Tibetan Spaniel judge for the day Sally Lafferty. In all Finlay was judged a total of 7 times during the day and he did the best he has ever done. So in order of appearance:

Puppy dog - he was in a class of 3 dogs, one of which was his brother Taggart. I was over in another hall because Fin was supposed to take part in a puppy stakes class, but it clashed with the Tibbie puppy class so I gave up and ran back to Hall 5. I'm so glad I did. I didn't see Finlay strut his stuff and arrived just as the judge was going over the last dog. After one last walk around she walked up to Deb, I really couldn't believe it, it must have been around that point when I got something in my eye! 

Special Beginner dog - we had also entered Finlay into Special Beginner, because both us as exhibitors and of course Finlay are new to this game, and in a class of 4 Finlay came first again. Two of the dogs in the class, Finlay and Rio, were bred by Aileen McDonald (Balgay) and it was ever so close, it looked like Rio was just going to edge it. But again the judge walked up to Deb and Finlay.

Dog Challenge Certificate - incredibly because at this point Finlay was unbeaten, it meant he got through to the 'dog final'. Surely it was too much to hope he'd get any further, well indeed it was. But to be in this situation was a bit unreal. The CC went to a lovely dog though.

Best Tibetan Spaniel Puppy Dog - here we go again. In line for another shot at winning and he did, he beat the Dog Minor Puppy for best Puppy Dog.

Best Tibetan Spaniel Puppy. A straight two-way fight between the winner of the Bitch Minor Puppy and Finlay. The judge took a while to deliberate and Finlay lost out to a gorgeous Minor Puppy only just 6 months old, a worthy winner.

Best Tibetan Spaniel Special Beginner. The best dog and bitch Special Beginner get to go up against each other to win the best overall Special Beginner. By this point my mind is a bit boggled, Finlay keeps on having to go back in to be judged. Incredibly there he was again, getting through again and the winner of a lovely rosette for his efforts. But more news, this meant that this was not the end of our day! Going home early we were not.....

Utility Group Special Beginner - this element of competition is still pretty new having been introduced by the kennel club in 2018. Each breed that runs a Special Beginners class has the option to send the winner through to a group final. So we found ourselves in the main arena with a bit of a wait because the Special Beginners is judged after the main group and Utility was the last to be judged after the Pastoral Group, judge was Mr Keith Nathan. The group was pretty large with 13 entries and they were pre-judged whilst the main group was on. Then at the end, all the entries get their time in the best in show ring and then the final four get announced. Oh my goodness, Finlay got Group 4! It was the icing on the cake of a very long day. Even more icing on the cake, we win £10 prize money for this win....our first ever prize money :-)

We left finally at 6.30pm pretty tired, even Finlay laid down on the walk back to the car as if to say "really"! But we made it, he slept all the way home, not a peep.

We came away from WELKS with Crufts qualification, two firsts in class, best Tibetan Spaniel Puppy Dog, best Special Beginner in Breed and Utility Group 4 Special Beginners. Lots of people congratulated us on our efforts and it all seemed a bit of a blur. We wanted to have fun with Finlay and there is no doubt that he loves what he is doing, that is priority number one. winning is a bonus, I'd be lying if I said it wasn't nice to have a judge say how lovely your dog is and place him above others. But it is still an expected thing.

There's a dog-showing community too, everyone getting together and talking about dogs, showing dogs and helping us. Loads of advice about how to get the best out of Finlay. He has been a bit of a handful since we started showing him, but we have had lots of helpful advice and practical skills show us how to get him into shape, suddenly it is all starting to work. We've really valued the advice, and tried to put it into practice. Many of the people we've spoken to have been doing dog showing for many years, so it proves that there is no substitute for experience. 

So thanks for helping us get this far! Now also it seems we've got to start keeping a record of points for Junior Warrant, it's getting complicated!!

Next time out, different judge, different venue, different day for Finlay and different day for his humans. All variables that make the competition all the more exciting. If all else fails, we'll have a good laugh with some new friends and Finlay will wag his tail and woo some more hearts. What's not to like!

Here is the 'medal' haul

Lovely rosettes!

We did get some lovely comments from other people at the show just how well Finlay was standing, and he did some of his best ever stands today. Picture isn't the best, but you get the picture. Bless him.....

I'm standing mum!

Now some videos of the day, at least up until the point my phone died!

Finlay winning the puppy dog class

Finlay in the dog CC parts 1 and 2

Finlay winning best puppy dog

Finlay in the best Tibetan Spaniel puppy

Finlay winning best Tibetan Spaniel Special Beginners

The Utility Group Special Beginners final run around

Finally at the end of a very long day, Finlay retiring to bed, with his squeaky pheasant!

Leave me alone to sleep now!