Emmi visit

Last week Emmi came to stay.  Some day when (if...) she's a big, grownup girl, she will be coming back to have some puppies here with us, we hope, and so in the meantime we want her to feel as much at home in our house as she does at her own.  Like Keksi does and Taika does.  And Minna.  And one or two others who have come to stay for one reason or another.

This was a convenient week for Jane & Mark, so we have had the temporary pleasure of adding a new colour to our pack of black dogs. 

There was much playing.  Much.  With Tuuli, with Maija, with Neka, with 2 or all 3 of them at a time.  There was no playing with Keskiyo, though - he reserves all his playtime for Tuuli alone.  Emmi is a sweetie pie and loves nothing more than being at the bottom of a heap of Lappies.  At the moment it's hard to believe that she will ever be mature enough to be a mum.  But if Neka could grow up, then Emmi will too... eventually. 

There have also been many dog walks.  Having 5 dogs is just wonderful er, too many for an easy life, really.  It's fun, but it's also a bit complicated without the facilities to simply open the back door and let them run.  Not to mention a dog room in which the 5 can return to and dry off before setting upon the rest of the house.  But we're well used to mud here, so a little more dirt and grime is really neither here nor there.  Or, rather it is all here and there. 

Mainly Emmi did her walking with Tuuli.  It's easier to concentrate on the 2 younger members of the household alone without the distraction of any others.  On the nicer days, there was playing in the field.

 Pause in the game

 Run!

Run faster!

And on the not-so-nice days there were long road walks for the pair.  Road walking is not as much fun for anyone as racing and leaping around completely out of control in the long grass.  However, it is extremely useful and good exercise - especially around here where there are hills galore to charge up and down.  Or drag up and charge down (the dogs dragging me, not me dragging the dogs, you understand).  This kind of activity is excellent for the showdog who needs firm, tight muscles as well as for the dog who needs to be fit enough to squeeze out a half dozen or so puppies in the near future.  It's also rather good for the human who might just very occasionally struggle with those hills when out running. Ahem.

So there were a couple of 6-7 km road walks involving the many and varied hills around us.

It was also a good opportunity for reinforcing some lead walking manners and some road manners.  Like passing other dogs without freaking out barking and leaping around in excitement.  And like sitting nicely for treats while other dogs pass by.  And like sitting and waiting at curbs before crossing roads.

Very good & patient girls

Even on road walks there is still time to pause for a cute photo opportunity.  Tuuli is accustomed to sitting on this tree-stump-seat by herself, so she did rather hog the space and Emmi had to try and squeeze in.

Oi, move over

That's better

Then it's back home for a nice snooze to recharge the batteries.

Before you know it, it's playtime again.  And it frequently involves someone being on the chair.

It's a shame that it's so notoriously difficult to photograph playing dogs.  There is so much movement, and the movement is often so fast, that you can struggle with angles, lighting and focus even with a good camera.  Using just a phone camera, the results are not great, but I'm still pleased to have captured the moments.  3- and 4-way games of tug are particularly tricky with a phone camera, but I had to share the last pic anyway as it was SUCH a good game.

And then the time came for Emmi to return home.  She was delighted to see Jane & Mark and most especially Miika (have I mentioned the fact that Lappies can be quite insulting at times?)  I was lucky to get this photo, slightly out-of-focus as it is, considering most of the pictures I took turned out more or less like the bottom one.

In the meantime, Tuuli waited patiently, gazing out the window, for her friend to come back.