cool it, baby

Thank you to Stacey & Shane who sent me this adorable photo of Tarmo sleeping in his favorite position. I particularly like the little tongue sticking out. Can you believe how bright his face is getting? If you look at the earlier photos of him you will see there is just no predicting the adult Lapphund's colour based on puppy colour. This seems particularly true of sables and wolf sables who change colour almost daily as they grow up.
















If you own a Lappy, then this on-the-back, belly exposed, legs akimbo, is probably a familiar snoozing pose. Here is Viivi doing likewise followed by Maija then Neka showing off her belly about a week before having 9 puppies. Although it's not quite a cute-sleeping-on-back shot, I like it as part of this group if only for the big grin on her face.













































I have a theory that Lapphunds often lie like this because they get hot in the house and that's a quick way to cool down as they lose body heat through their bellies. Keskiyo does it too, usually at night stretched out against the back door in the coolest spot in the house. He makes an excellent draft excluder.

And puppies start to sleep this way at a remarkably young age. Last summer's litter seemed to sleep on their backs most of the time. It was earlier in the summer and we had much hotter weather, so the cooling theory works. Check these babies out - a selection of puppies at 2 & 3 weeks old.



Diesel














Taito
















Keksi















Karhu











Karhu had another idea for cooling down when he got too hot. In the second litter, the one to perform this trick was Jaska. I truly cannot believe I don't have a photo of Jaska with his head in the bowl because it was always there! In fact, both these puppies were always wet due to their obsession with the water bowl. I'll bet they both love to paddle in the water now too.


Inko, on the other hand, try as she might, was always just too little to reach high enough to fully immerse herself. My, how times change! It's difficult to believe, but she's actually bigger than Tarmo these days. I wonder what Paula & Adam are feeding her? {Sarky suggestion deleted - far be it from me to suggest that "little" Inko is anything other than utterly angelic.}