milestone

What's so funny???

Happy 10th birthday to the puppy blog!

And, of course, that means it's also happy 10th birthday to the Monta puppies who were the inspiration for starting the blog in the first place.  There were 9 of them - still the biggest litter of Finnish Lapphunds born in the UK to date - and we had several weeks of very hard, noisy work ahead of us.

All of Monta puppies - the Devon Nine!

Their mum, my beloved Neka, popped them out unbelievably quickly... except for the last two, who arrived after I had gone for a much-needed shower after being up all night with the mama and babies.  With so many of them - almost twice as many as my first litter the year before - we had to dash out and buy two of everything.  There was another indoor pen, another outdoor pen, several more vet beds for the whelping box, and more food.  Lots more food.

Then there were the towels.  Many of our good, human-grade towels went to the Monta puppies because as I recall, it rained every single day of the 7 or 8 weeks they were with us.  No sooner would we put them into the outdoor pen to quickly clean the indoor pen when the sky would open up again and drench all nine of them.  To say that we were quickly exhausted doesn't even begin to cover it.

Viivi & Inko - soaking wet AGAIN

We had our ups and we had our downs with the Devon Nine, and, boy, did I learn a lot.

So, happy birthday to my blog that has given me so much pleasure for 10 years and an irreplaceable record of 11 of the 12 litters born here.  And wishing the very happiest of birthdays to the Monta puppies who grew into 9 of the noisiest, most beautiful and sweetest natured Finnish Lapphund dogs you could ever hope to meet.  Special then and special now.

Here are some of my favorite photos of each one of them at various ages.  In some cases, they are some of my only photos.  If anyone has some great updated pics to share with me, please feel free and I'll happily update this page.

Infindigo Monta Jaana - Sybi

Sybi 7 weeks - photo by Joanna Bradshaw

Sybi with a "few" toys - age 9

Infindigo Monta Tarmo - Tarmo

Tarmo 6 weeks

Tarmo 5 years

Infindigo Monta Maija - Maija 

Baby Maija with Lenny

Maija 10 Years

Infindigo Monta Viivi - Viivi

Viivi 12 weeks with big bro Jaska

Viivi age 9

Infindigo Monta Tarkka - Tarkka

Tarkka 8 weeks - photo Joanne Bradshaw

Tarkka 9 years - photo Joanne Bradshaw

Infindigo Monta Aurinko - Inko  

Sand baby 9 weeks

Inko 9 years

We have lost some of the Monta puppies - taken far too early.  So we are remembering them today at the rainbow bridge.  Gone from us but never forgotten.

Infindigo Monta Jaska - Jaska

Jaska 7 weeks

Jaska 1 year

Infindigo Monta Sulo - Kaija

Kaija 7 weeks

Kaija 2010

Infindigo Monta Rauhan - Rauhan

Rauhan 7 weeks - photo Joanne Bradshaw

Rauhan handsome showdog

happy birthday

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L-R: Taika, Taito, Karhu, Koda, Diesel, Torvi, Keksi

Ten years ago today – a very special day, as it was the day that Neka gave birth to our very first litter of puppies.  Stoic as she was, and inexperienced as I was, I didn’t see the signs that they were on their way and so I left her snoozing on the sofa when I made the 20-minute round trip to pick up Jay from the park & ride on his way home from work.  When we got back she had gutted the sofa cushions, leaving chunks of foam all over the floor.  Ah, that would be the "nesting" that I had read about, then.

Pretty soon I noticed she was grunting, and a quick phone call to a more experienced friend confirmed that this was certainly contractions, so we retired to the whelping box in the back room. 

I cannot now remember how long I had to wait for the first puppy to arrive, nor how long it all took for the 7 to arrive.  I do have notes filed away of the event, but sadly there was no blog in those days, so when an old computer died without a backup a few years ago I lost most of my photos of this litter (back up your computers, people!).   

But I have a few.

I was hoping to have a reunion for this milestone birthday, but with one of the gang in Scotland awaiting the imminent arrival of a new human baby brother or sister, and a family member of another out of the country at the moment, it was never going to happen.

These dogs are a great bunch of characters – good-natured, friendly & easy-going, occasionally lazy & stubborn, blessed with excellent health & good looks.  Very happy 10^th birthday to the oldies, and many happy returns, in birth order, as always:

Koda

6 weeks & 9 years (Photo: Helen Golden)

Taika

6 weeks & 9 years (Photo: Kate Wilson)

Karhu

10 weeks & 10 years (Photos: Wendy & Scott Gilmour)

Diesel

6 weeks and 10 years (Photo: Melinda Groves)

Taito

6 weeks & 10 years (Photo: Mark Treasure)

Keksi

6 weeks & 10 years (Photo: Daniel Spencer)

Torvi

 

9 weeks & 9 years with Steve (Photo: Steve Giles)

I would be remiss if I didn’t mention all the special families who have loved and cared for these fabulous dogs for the past 9 years and 10 months:  the Goldens, Wilsons, Gilmours, Groveses, McCarthys, Spencer-McGinleys and Gileses – with special mention of Steve Giles who loved Torvi so much and who sadly died earlier this year.  Thank you everyone for 10 great years.