grown-up puppy update

It's amazing how the puppies' personalities develop after they leave the nest and go off into the world. When they're 4 and 6 weeks old, you can take a guess at who will be quiet and laidback and who will be a little more, um, challenging and, er, enthusiastic. But you never really know how it will go once they get their paws under the table in their new home and are no longer under the influence of their siblings and mum.

Three examples of this phenomena from last year's litter:


Koda who was a quiet little mouse in the litter but developed into a very confident and ever-so-slightly boisterous teenager. All Liz's hard work and training paid off, though, and at the age of one-and-a-half, he is now a model citizen.






Keksi was the big girl of the last litter and ruled the whelping box with a paw of steel. No one got anything over on her and I warned Daniel that she was going to be a handful and that he would have to be firm with her. Well, she turned out to be a little angel with delightful manners and caused no trouble at all. It helped, no doubt, that Ismo was happy to have a new little sister move in and start to boss him around. These days she looks like butter wouldn't melt in her mouth.

Finally, Karhu, about whom I gave the same dire warning to Wendy & Scott. He, too, was one of the more dominant puppies of that litter and had a habit of stamping his rather large paws until he got his own way. But once he had the undivided attention of his new family (not to mention some great training & lots of walks) he, too, is a sweet, mannerly gent. These days he troubles only the plantlife in his park.

On the other hand, Taika, Taito and Tuuri (re-named Torvi by his family) were all gentle sweetie-pies right from the beginning and they kept those lovely characters even through their teenage stages. Here they are at around 12 months old.

Taika



















Torvi














Taito















As for Seppo (re-named 'Diesel' by his family), although I did take photos of him when I visited a few months ago, I now cannot find them anywhere. So frustrating but becoming increasingly normal in these chaotic days of mine. Guess I'll just have to go back and visit again!