play

Once the puppies start to hear they start to make noise. In addition to the little grunts they make when they're wrestling over a prized spot on the milk bar, they start to bark, squeak, squeal, howl (amusingly) and - funniest of all - growl. They test their volume, too, and they frequently give each other and themselves a bit of a start with an unexpectedly shrill screech.

And once they start to see, the whole big world opens up to them and all the really cute stuff starts. When I say "whole big world", I mean the portion of the big world contained within the walls of their whelping box. At this stage, anyway.

They gaze up at you as you peer into the box, they wag at you (I know!), they gaze up at their mum (and chew her ears, and take swipes at her nose) and of course, they can see each other. This is when the playing starts. It usually kicks off with a bit of mutual face-chewing.







































At this age they do a lot of sleeping, so after about 5 minutes or so of playing, they all look for somewhere comfy to have a snooze.




"I bag the corner!"
Kicker doesn't look impressed.

And, on a different note, he looks so much like Inko did at the same age! Same little comma eyebrows.

















"You lie on him & I'll lie on you."











In the meantime, other puppies just sleep through it all.





"Who woke me?"

eyes poll result & food

I guess you think you're clever getting it right that "someone else" would be the puppy who opened their eyes first. So, well done for getting it right!

However, I'm guessing that you all thought it was going to be Honey. I thought it was going to be Marilyn because she was the one who was making blinking motions even with her eyes closed. That's why I included her in the group listed on the poll. In the end we were all fooled, though, because it was Kicker. He was followed later that day by Kuusi and Vee and by the next day everyone had pretty much caught up.

While I've got 5 minutes, I'm also going to do a quick weight update, and try to load a little video. I'm struggling with the new camera, I don't mind telling ya. I took a few videos, but again they were high-def and taking about 4 days to upload. This one is lower quality and shorter, but pretty cute, in spite of the fact that it's slightly out of focus. Must try harder!

Nope, it would not upload. Urggghhh.

In the video I tried to post you would have had a hint of how much they have developed. Now that they can see and hear, they are making more noise and starting to play. And they are getting pretty mobile - and pretty clever too - they make straight for the newspaper to have a wee. However, as soon as at least one paw hits paper, away they go, so it's usually their front paws that make it to the paper while the back end wees onto the vet bed. It's the thought that counts, though, right? Especially at this time of year.

The next instalment will be a report on the first attempt at real food! That's always a hoot. Truly not to be missed. Since I was unable to provide the promised videos lately, here are a couple of quick photos to whet your appetite (and theirs).





The very 1st plate of puppy porridge is a surprisingly big hit with everyone











Marilyn & Vee keep going when everyone else has given up











It's hard work learning to eat real food - Junior & Honey falling asleep licking it off each other's faces

vandalism

Today the weather turned unexpectedly warmer than it has been since the puppies were born. Keksi wasted no time in rucking up the vet bed to leave the puppies stranded on the newspaper underneath.





One is hidden under the lump of vet bed.







Then she set about trashing the newspaper stack, ripping and digging it up, leaving destruction all around her. Satisfied with her handiwork, she stretched out next to the box where she could keep an eye on her babies from the relative coolness of the floor.













Seems I remember Taika doing a similar thing. And I'm pretty sure Neka did more than her fair share of paper ripping too. Something about the cervix contracting back to normal size & a bit of discomfort that goes with that. Fair enough.

Tomorrow the traditional one-week-old weight poll goes live just for a bit of fun. And if you're very lucky I'll get a video of the first little wagging tails as Keksi's milk comes down.

the 'persikka' litter

I like to give my puppies middle names to identify them as a litter and in the past I've chosen Finnish words that mean something to the litter in question. The 1st litter had no middle name because I just didn't think of it at the time. The 2nd litter were the 'Monta' puppies (Finnish for 'many') as there were 9 of them and it was the biggest litter ever born in the UK. The 3rd litter were the 'Tuisku' puppies (Finnish for 'snowstorm') because of the terrible and unaccustomed snowstorms Kate and I faced to get Taika to France and back for the mating.

This litter very nearly became the 'sateenkaari' litter (Finnish for 'rainbow') and if we had got one brown puppy, then rainbow it would have been. However, 2 different colours and an additional pattern do not a rainbow make, so I'm reverting to my original idea. Welcome to the 'Persikka' puppies (Finnish for 'peach'). These puppies are so named because if the amount of fruit that their sire ate from the garden tree during his dates with Keksi is anything to go by, then these puppies actually are half-peach!


Elias Jr - Puppy 1

Sex: male
Colour: domino
Time of birth: 20.44
Weight at birth: 383 g

Named because he is the tiny image of his sire, Lapinlumon Kuuraturkki even down to the white blaze on his forehead.



Budgie - Puppy 2

Sex: female
Colour: black, tan & white
Time of birth: 21.56 pm
Weight at birth: 400 g

Named for the almighty squawk she emitted before she had even fully emerged from her mother.




Kicker - Puppy 3

Sex: male
Colour: black, tan & white
Time of birth: 22.08
Weight at birth: 371 g

In every litter there seems to be one puppy who is born kicking. In this litter it was this boy.




Honey - Puppy 4

Sex: female
Colour: cream & white
Time of birth: 23.15
Weight at birth: 387 g

The two cream girls were originally going to be called Marilyn and Jayne after two famously glamorous blondes, but one puppy was distinctly platinum blonde and the other a warmer shade.




Marilyn - Puppy 5

Sex: female
Colour: cream & white
Time of birth: 23.43
Weight at birth: 338 g

The petite platinum blonde.









Kuusi - Puppy 6

Sex: male
Colour: black, tan & white
Time of birth: 00.52
Weight at birth: 365 g

'Kuusi' is Finnish for the number 6 and a nice name into the bargain.






Vee - Puppy 7

Sex: male
Colour: black, tan & white
Time of birth: 1.30
Weight at birth: 364 g

Named for the large white 'V' on his chest.

sur-priise!

Last night was full of surprises. In the end we managed to get ourselves ready for the arrival of the puppies ... because we suddenly realised the puppies were arriving. Oh, quick, yep, hot water bottle - check! - sterilise stuff - check! - clean, dry towels - check! - tins of chicken soup - check! And so the puppies came a day before I was expecting them.




During her 22 hours of stage 1 panting, digging & ripping up paper - very happy in her den








And the fact that the puppies came Monday night into Tuesday instead of Tuesday night into Wednesday was just the first, not very surprising, surprise.

You know I said we were expecting 5 puppies? Yes, well, we got a couple more than that. No, not nine - behave! Seven, like Keksi's own litter.

As with all things in her life (except eating), she took her time with the birth. There was about an hour between most puppies, as I recall without referring to my notes, and the whole event from the start of contractions to last pup started 7:30 pm and finished 2 am. A very far cry from her mother who squirted them out every 15-20 minutes for her 2 litters - we barely got one dry before the next one arrived. I can't decide if I prefer the leisurely pace or not - it's a little worrying when it takes so long, even though The Book (as opposed to the "Good Book") says it's perfectly normal.

Apart from the rests between births, there wasn't a moment of concern through the whole thing. What a relief, let me tell you. With each birth thus far I've had a middling-to-major problem to contend with, whether it's a puppy who doesn't breathe spontaneously or who can't suckle or the caesarian, of course.

Keksi is a model mum (again, phew) and like her mother before her, she did everything for every puppy. I didn't have to break a bag and I didn't even see a placenta. Every puppy breathed easily and it was all just great. I guess I was due for a bit of good luck, long may it continue.

When the first puppy arrived I had a moment of flashback to when Keksi's litter was born. Imagine my surprise that time when I mated black tricolour Neka to black tricolour Kimmi and the first puppies who arrived were distinctly brown. At that time I had known about the brown relation on Neka's side of the pedigree, but had no idea about the brown one that was on Kimmi's side. So it was a shock.

Remember what I said about Elias and his colour pattern, domino? Remember how I said it is recessive and must be carried by both parents to produce the colour in offspring (much the same as brown, in fact)? Well, to my knowledge there was certainly no domino in Keksi's line and yet... and yet... you've guessed already, haven't you? The very first puppy born was a silvery domino boy, absolutely just like his dad. Gobsmacked.

Then out trundled the requisite black tricolours that I expected. But no brown ones, not even one. That was a surprise, since Elias has brown and brown domino siblings. And I distinctly remember passing on to Keksi the orders for one or two brown ones. But she had other ideas.

Not one but two - two! - cream girls. It's lucky we got photos of them last night when they were born, though, because today they are both green. True fact.

But that's a story for another day.

For now: 4 dogs, 3 bitches; 3 black tri dogs, 1 black tri bitch, 1 domino dog, 2 cream bitches (one of which might also be domino, but I need to get a look at her in daylight and back to her natural colour... if I ever get the green off.)

Amazing that Keksi produced no brown puppies at all but has given us the very first domino in the UK. And what does the KC insist we register his colour as? Grizzle. Isn't that horrible? And ridiculous. Everywhere else in the world the pattern is called domino, but here we have to call it grizzle. Nice. Not.

Individual pics & stats later.




Mum & babies doing great