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!

25 April 2018

Finlay is now getting on for 11 months old, or nearly 46 weeks! That first birthday is racing towards us at a pace.

Finlay is still the happiest dog in our local area, it seems impossible for any dog we meet not to be friends with him, although not all appreciate his smiley waggy approaches. I've had a couple of owners, both Cocker Spaniels coincidentally, whose dogs meet Finlay and have a good play - but apparently these dogs rarely play with other dogs and normally choose to ignore them. But somehow Finlay brings out the best in the them, which is nice.

The Mutt House - http://www.mutthouse.co.uk/
We love being with Fin of course, but we also want to be able to go on holiday without him one day. So we have started out on his Mutt House journey. We have heard lots of good stories about this place which is local to us. They board dogs in their own house and they have quite a rigorous recruitment procedure, which we started yesterday. We went to meet the owner a couple of weeks ago and he felt Finlay would fit in nicely, he has a lot of regular dogs that stay with him.

In particular he wanted Finlay to meet Bella, who is a very regular visitor. Bella is a German Shepherd and very good with other dogs - we know that Finlay is pretty full on at the moment so we needed a fairly tolerant dog that wasn't going to get fed up with Finlays advances. The owner keeps a detailed record of which dogs have stayed with which other dogs and which were fine and which needed caution. So we need to go back a few more times to get Finlay to meet various of the other dogs to see how it goes. 

How did it go? Apparently very well, Finlay wore himself out charging around with Bella and they were fine with one another. My wife was a bit upset when she went to pick Finlay up because he didn't come bounding out to meet her - he stayed inside with his new best mate, Bella. That is Finlay all over though, he seems very comfortable with other people, not too attached to us. We were at my dads care home a few weeks ago and one of the care staff took Fin off to visit a few of the residents without us....of he went with her, did the visit and came back when he was ready. Little devil.

Fluff - his puppy fluff is moulting, big time! He is at that stage where his adult coat is now growing through and the puppy fluff is coming out in clumps - we were expecting this at some point and that point is now. He has got a fine coat though for such a young dog, very striking.

Puppy - he is still very puppy at times, you never want to lose that puppy really do you? But equally you know he will grow up one day but let's hope that isn't too soon. He can still be so naughty and cheeky and charming. He has surges of energy that appear, normally at inappropriate times, and he just needs some input. Normally chasing a toy, chewing a toy or doing a puppy zoomy around the house or garden.

Here is Finlay in an unusually relaxed state, he is getting an expert at realising that a camera is being pointed at him, but I managed to sneak this one in.

ZZZzzzzzzz

The video below demonstrates Finlay's ability to make you laugh. Normally he ignores mops, vacuum's etc. but on this occasion he decided that the mop was public enemy number 1. It looks like we're teasing him, but he instigated this and had great fun ending in a zoomy which I didn't film.

When your Tibbie wants some attention, this is his "you can't ignore me" face

Ahem, excuse me, puppy here!

8 April 2018

I've heard a saying several times regarding dog showing:

"whether you win or lose, you always take the best dog home"

This might sound a bit cliched but I think today it was absolutely spot on. It was the Tibetan Spaniel Association open show at Ryton on Dunsmore near Coventry. A lovely venue and a great show, really enjoyable and met lots of enthusiastic Tibbie owners who love the breed. How could you not have a great day out surrounded by 130+ Tibbies!!

Finlay was entered in 2 classes, 'Special Junior Dog or Bitch' and puppy, both under different judges. We wanted to enter him into the Special Junior class because it ran first and before our puppy class. Finlay always turns up at a show so excited, so very very excited. So this would give him a chance to burn off that energy and stand half a chance a being good for the puppy class. 

I think he did very well in the first class under judge Patrick Dewaele. There was an entry of 12 and he made it through the first cut to the final 6. The judge was keen to inspect dogs' side teeth, and previously Finlay has been tricky with showing teeth in his younger months, but he was very good in this regard. He did however seem keen to hug and kiss the judge, which whilst endearing is not really the done thing. His walking can also be a frustrating mix of slow swagger and near running....but again, he probably (over the 2 classes he was entered in) performed the best he has so far. So in the first class, having made it through to the final cut of 6, there were only 5 placings. And unfortunately Finlay came 6th.

Then it was time for the puppy class, as I said it was a different judge, Guy Hazlehurst. Finlay performed really well, although again there was too much judge adoration, and as I said before probably went as well as he has in any show so far. However, for whatever reason in a class of 6 dogs he came 6th - with only 5 placings....meaning that over 2 classes this is our first time at a show where we didn't come home with a rosette. Never mind, I take you back to the initial opening statement - we get to take Finlay home, clearly the best dog! Which brings me onto another comment.

Regardless of his performance in the show ring, it is performance out of the ring that constantly means he charms everyone he meets. Every person or dog he meets gets a wag and a smile, without exception. From the time he arrived until the time he left he unfailingly filled my heart with pride as people found it impossible to walk by and be immune to his charm, I think he has a few new friends after today. He had a lovely play with Mr Darcy and would have done so also with Willow given the chance.

I've said this before, but as long as Finlay is happy to go to these kind of shows, then we will stick with it as well - Finlay couldn't imagine a nicer day out than meeting a hundred-plus of his own kind plus their adoring owners. Finlay also got to meet his breeder Aileen again and reserved a special hug and big kisses for her, even though she apparently doesn't do kisses. Finlay didn't get that memo!!

As an aside, this was also Finlay's 2nd night away in a hotel. We travelled up the day before and stayed in a Travelodge near the venue. Finlay did have a bit of a woof during the night but only because our neighbours were being a bit noisy. Although it took him a little while to settle he proved to be a "go anywhere dog" which is exactly what we need.

Definitely a fun weekend, a massive Tibbie fix and Finlay's time to hug some people. Just no rosettes this time......

As usual here are some photos and videos....

Here is Finlay doing the Special Junior class, this is one of his better runs from any show so far. Gets better every time. It was unfortunate the judge squeaked a toy at Finlay part way through, the idea of course was to get Finlay's attention....but for Fin, this meant play-time. 

Despite his improvements, this is his brother Taggart showing him how it should be done. Of course he is being expertly handled!

Standing on the table is very good when he is on his own with my wife, but as soon as the judge turns up it is kiss and cuddle time. To be honest it is so cute I don't really want him to stop doing it even though it possibly doesn't do him any favours. Perhaps one day a judge will award him a first for just being the waggiest best kisser at the show?

I'm standing mum!

Goofy looks, I can do those!

Finlay couldn't resist a play with a new mate, Pauline Bevis' Mr Darcy....who kept Finlay in check ever so gently with his left paw.

Me and my new mate

25 March 2018

Finlay is now 9.5 months old.

Where are we with Finlay now? I think he is at the unruly teenager stage, he is still very much a puppy but at the same time he does show signs of growing up. So one day he will almost convince you that the rampaging puppy stage is passed, but then he's off again being a little devil.....both frustrating and gorgeous in equal measure!

Scuffing, he's now doing it. You know that thing that dogs do after they've been to the toilet, they scuff their back legs to scatter the scent? Well Finlay has learned that trick, he does it with such verve and vigour at the moment that he almost jumps up and down as he does it. It is a new thing and he is making the most of it. A definite growing up sign.

Loving people and dogs. He is showing no sign of being any less friendly, he LOVES everyone he meets and every dog he meets. It doesn't matter to him if the dog tells him off a bit for being a bit full on and in a dogs face, he just takes it in his stride and carries on. He has never had a harsh word to say to another dog, just smiles and wags. Long may that continue. Everyone he meets get that "look" where he smiles and wags and he is quite put out when he meets a non-dog loving person who just walks by without saying hello. Aloof he certainly is not. He goes to my dad's care home most weeks to visit, my dad loves to see him and he loves it there. He gets to broaden the Finlay fan club membership and get spoilt.

Sensitive to noise. He still reacts to odd sounds, particularly on the TV. We recorded all the recent Crufts progs on the telly, but haven't been able to watch most of them because Finlay either hears the woofs or just sees dogs on the screen and tries to jump through the television screen, which isn't really desired behaviour! I put some music on fairly loud the other day and that wasn't well received either, perhaps this will improve with time.

Noisy....he does still enjoy the sound of his own woof. He will go out into the garden and sometimes he will woof in reply to another dog woofing or sometimes it seems like he will go out into the garden and woof just to see if he gets a response. This is rather annoying when it is 11pm and you really don't want your dog waking the neighbourhood. He can be very difficult to shut up too. He is a verbal boy.....

Outdoors....perhaps because of his genetic makeup, being both Tibetan and bred in Scotland, he loves being outdoors. The first thing he will do when coming in from a walk is go to the back door and ask to go out. He very much enjoys being outdoors. The last few days where the weather has been better, we have been out tidying the garden a bit and Finlay is there too enjoying mooching around his patch. I say mooching, this also involves being very annoying and destroying virtually every cane we own, tugging off chunks of bush such as our Hebe, ripping up mouthfuls of grass. Our previous Tibbies used to only eat grass when they were a bit unwell, grass eating often was soon followed by being sick. However Finlay seems to enjoy eating grass....and I hope I'm not speaking too soon by saying he has almost NEVER been sick, ever.

Food....we are still feeding him raw. It seems to agree with him, he is picky though and will still have days when he doesn't want to eat much. But experience says that dogs, as long as they are healthy, won't starve themselves, so if they don't eat that much for a couple of days then they will catch up at some point. The previous couple of weeks, food has been inhaled. We are still a bit fastidious about cleaning up after feeding raw chicken/turkey/beef, but the nice thing is what comes out the other end.....I.e. not very much volume compared to feeding kibble and it is pretty innocuous stuff, not smelly at all!!

Fur....he is starting to get his adult coat and losing some of his puppy fluff. He has a way to go yet, but he really does have an amazing coat on him, it makes him look twice as big as he really is. Brushing him yesterday, Deb was getting a lot of fluff out, so it looks like the transition is starting.

Lap dog. We've had two previous Tibbies and neither was what you would call a lap dog. they had their moments when if they felt like it they would sit on your lap, but you couldn't 'expect' it. Finlay is similar except up until recently he really hadn't come up much for a cuddle. He has done a few times lately, and seems to quite enjoy it, but he is equally at home hiding behind the sofa or laying on his own in his own space. I find this quite endearing, whilst it is lovely to get some time cuddling your Tibbie, I like that they are their own dog and like their own space. In fact if he is settled somewhere and I go and join him on the floor, he is just as likely to huff and walk off :-)  (but if you own a Tibbie, you already know the "huff").

Here's a recent picture of Finlay, he had been running around Titchfield Abbey like a mad dog enjoying himself, hence the blades of grass on his chin and chest. Look into those eyes, I guarantee they will melt your heart!

I've been charging around a grassy field, I'm a bit puffed

I saw a debate on the Tibetan Spaniel Association Facebook page recently, this is apparently a "Sploot", where the back legs are splayed out behind the Tibbie. Finlay does it a lot. This was after returning from a long walk, but refusing to come back into the house, this also happens often!

A "Sploot"

Our previous Tibbies used to get mad at the side gate, they could hear something but not see it. So we made them a window and they were happy. Finlay also loves his window, he watches the world go by quite happily. There are thick metal bars over the window to deter naughty Tibbie teeth!

Checking the view from my window

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

1 March 2018

Oh the news, all we've been seeing for the last week is weather updates and the "Beast from the East", you get a bit fed up with it. Having said that......

If you have a puppy who has never seen the snow, you have to at least record it for posterity, don't you? Well I did, so there. In the South of England we don't get that much snow and even when we do, it is very very rarely proper snow and never as much as many other parts of the UK. In fact by comparison to the current picture our level of snow is paltry and nothing to get that excited about, maybe I'll say different tomorrow, we'll see.

With access to mobile phones with such good cameras for stills and video, plus a compact digital camera which can do the same makes you realise how lucky you are. When we got Louie our first Tibbie and Nemo our second, we didn't have a digital camera. So their early years weren't so extensively filmed as our current boy. I've gone well over the top with taking pictures of this Tibbie, but it is a shame I couldn't have captured our previous boys in as much detail, sigh......

So how did Finlay react to the snow. Those of you reading this that have Tibetan Spaniels already know the answer don't you!! He went out first thing this morning and we had only the very lightest of dustings of snow, so he snuffled around and had a puppy zoomie. To be honest it doesn't take much to set him off on a zoomie anyway, so this wasn't that unexpected. Then finally during the afternoon we started to have some snow that actually looked pretty impressive and started to cover the lawn, so Finlay went out in the garden again.

The video below represents several videos stitched together, if you have been following Finlay's story, you won't be surprised to know that the joker strikes again. He absolutely loves the cold anyway, even in the snow-free mornings we've had the last week where the temperatures have been zero or lower, he just wanders around the garden and lays down for a bit watching the world go by. Seemingly oblivious to the cold. He went out in the deeper laying snow this afternoon and started to snuffle around, almost shovelling his nose through the snow. He then went on to have a wail of a time charging around the garden. He is so funny, you cannot help but be entertained by him, he just loves life so much.

The video is a bit long, but as I said, you have to capture the first snow interaction! Watching this video back made me realise just how much of his adult coat is starting to appear, he is looking mighty impressive. Hopefully the judge will think so too on Sunday when we go to the SW Tibetan Spaniel show, assuming the weather lets us.

Finlay relaxing in the snow

Might as well chew this stick whilst I'm here