5 weeks old

Two days ago the puppies started to get really fluffy. It was all of a sudden - went to bed at night and they were same as always, got up the next morning and it was like someone had stuck them in the fridge overnight - fluffy, puffy puppy coats. Like when Keskiyo has been out running in the cold wind or snow and he increases by about a third again his usual width in coat.

Super fluffy means super cute photo subjects this morning, and I usually get this week's pics outside for better quality colour. No such luck this time around, and not even because it's raining. It has, in fact, stopped raining briefly but my puppy wrangler has gone away for a week and so we had to get the camera out quick before he left at the crack of dawn.

And as it has rarely stopped raining for the past 7 days, the puppies have only spent about 10 minutes outside - they had lunch al fresco yesterday and came back in quick after I had cleaned the indoor pen and before they got too soaked by the persistent drizzle.

Long-standing followers of this blog will know that there is another exciting event that usually takes place at the 5-week mark: the puppies' names are revealed. Again, that is not happening this time because we still just don't know who is going where.

I know, I know, you don't have to tell me.

I know for sure where 3 of them are going but it's still either/or for the remaining 4. To be very clear: all of these puppies are most definitely spoken for and have homes, but this time we're determined to make final decisions about who goes where when they are 6 weeks old. Hopefully by then I'll know who is the absolute naughtiest one to send to ... oh, I had better not say!

Just kidding! Actually, all these puppies are relatively quiet and well behaved so far. One puppy in particular (who shall go unidentified) was getting rather too large for his/her paws for a couple of days. And no wonder - absolutely everyone who came to visit the puppies immediately went for this one, picked him/her up and commenced cuddles. It makes sense, they recognised this puppy after all. However, so much attention can make little Lapphunds a bit demanding and so it must be carefully rationed. It took two days of ignoring this puppy completely when he/she kicked up a fuss for attention before normal good behaviour resumed.

And let that be a lesson to Lapphund puppy owners! These pups do tend to generate a lot of attention from people. A lot. And so the canny owner is careful to discourage demanding behaviour. After all, Lapphunds already grow up secure in the knowledge that they are something pretty special.







Junior





























Budgie

































Kicker
































Honey

































Marilyn



































Kuusi
































Vee