happy birthday

-->

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.

happy birthday to the veterans

Well, well, well.  A few months ago I had the shock of realising that my puppy dog Neka had somehow reached the age of 10 years while I had my back turned.  Even greater than that, though, is to find that today her (and my) first litter of puppies turn 7 years old and become officially veterans. 

It really doesn't feel like 7 years since I first read The Book of Bitch cover to cover (3 times) in preparation for what was to come.  Nor does it seem like 7 years since I sat up 3 nights in a row with an increasingly-restless Neka as we both steeled ourselves for the big new adventure.  And it doesn't seem like 7 years since Neka shredded the sofa cushion, leaving the foam in chunks all over the floor, so that she had a nice comfy nest to give birth in.  (Don't worry - I did move her upstairs to her brand new and shiny whelping box.  I was just a bit tardy in doing so, apparently.)  These days I am much more in tune to the grunting of a bitch whose contractions have started.

So a very happy birthday to my gorgeous firstborns and the very first Infindigo veterans, in birth order, as always, at 7 weeks and 7 years (or as close to 7 years as I have).  I was a bit slow to request new pics of the new veterans, so if I get some more up-to-date photos, I'll update the blog post too.

Infindigo Kultainen (Koda)

Koda 7 Weeks

Koda 7 Years

Infindigo Taika (Taika)

Taika 7 Weeks

Baby Taika with baby Jamie

Taika 7 Years - Beach Dog

Happy rolling dog

Infindigo Pikkukarhu (Karhu)

Karhu 7 Weeks

Karhu 7 Years - Another Beach Dog

Another happy rolling dog - I can see a pattern developing here

Infindigo Seppo (Diesel)

Diesel 7 Weeks

Diesel 3 Years - Yet another beach dog

Infindigo Taito (Taito)

Taito 7 Weeks

Taito 7 Years - Photo (c) Mark Treasure

Infindigo Keksi (Keksi)

Keksi 7 Weeks

Keksi (left) 7 Years with her son Kuura (right)

Infindigo Tuuri (Torvi)

Torvi 7 Weeks

Torvi 6.5 Years

happy 6th birthday

... to Neka's first litter, the 7 gorgeous puppies she had by Elbereth Kimmi.  In one way, it's hard to believe it has already been 6 years since my first litter of Finnish Lapphund puppies was born.  In another way, so much has happened with me & the dogs since then that 6 years doesn't seem like very long at all.

At any rate, these dogs are now fully-fledged adults, fully-developed in body and coat and in the prime of their lives.  They are all beautiful to look at, healthy and all with the most wonderful gentle and sweet characters.  To date, Taika has become a mum, Keksi has become a mum - twice, Taito is hopefully soon to become a dad, and Karhu is an increasingly famous model using his stage name "Mr K" on Thankfifi and elsewhere.  Torvi, Koda and Diesel are beloved pets with no additional jobs other than being adored. 

Happy birthday, firstborns!  I'm so very proud of you all.

And here's how unbelievably cute they were at 6 - 7 weeks. 

 L-R: Keksi, Taika, Torvi, Karhu, Koda (with no head), Diesel (at the back)

L-R: Karhu, Taito, Keksi (on top of) Torvi, Diesel, Taika

And as I didn't manage to capture either Koda or Diesel very well in either of these pics, here is one of just those two at 4 weeks.

 Koda (left) & Diesel (right)

5th birthday

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

 

Wow, 5 years already since Neka and I had our first litter of puppies.  On the 13th of June we wished very happy birthdays to Kultainen (aka Koda), Taika, Pikkukarhu (aka Karhu, aka Mr K), Seppo (aka Diesel), Taito, Keksi and Tuuri (aka Torvi).  Although, I have to say that although the owners of those fabulous first Infindigo dogs are saying "five, already!?" to tell you the truth, I'm saying "only five!?"  Because a lot has happened to me and and my dogs in those 5 years - that was even before the birth of the blog.  Eons ago, surely!  There have been 4 more litters since then, for example.  27 more puppies.

But, back in the day, here's how cute that first litter were.  In these photos they are 5-6 weeks old.

Kultainen
Finnish word meaning "Golden"
Owned by the Golden family
Pet name "Koda"

Taika
Finnish word meaning "Magic" or "Spell"
Owned by the Wilson family where she now lives with her own daughter, Minna

Pikkukarhu
2 Finnish words stuck together, meaning "Little" & "Bear"
Owned by Scott & Wendy Gilmour where he now features as "Mr K" in Wendy's very successful fashion & lifestyle blog, Thankfifi
Pet name also "Karhu"

Seppo
Blacksmith from the Finnish Kalevala
Owned by the Groves family
Pet name "Diesel"

Taito
Finnish name meaning "skill" or "expertise"
Owned by the McCarthy family

Keksi
Finnish word meaning "biscuit"
Owned by Daniel Spencer & Jim McGinley
She now lives with her adopted brother Ismo and her own son, Kuura

Tuuri
Finnish word meaning "luck"
Owned by the Giles family
Pet name Torvi, finnish word meaning "nose"













And if you'd like to see how cute they are at 5 years, you can visit their individual pages by clicking on their names here. 

Stay tuned - as soon as I get my photos sorted I'll post some from our birthday walk / mini-reunion.

happy birthday...

...to Neka's first litter of puppies who are 3 years old today.

Here's how they looked at about 4 weeks.












L-R: Torvi, Taito, Karhu, Keksi, Taika, Diesel & Koda at the back

And here's how they looked on their first day with supermum Neka.















L-R: Brown one, brown one, another brown one, Diesel, brown one, Taito, brown one

more mud

On the first Sunday of the year I host my Devon Lappy walk for the SFLS. Last year we had 8 dogs (including one honorary Lapphund in the shape of Akita Anniebear) and a bunch of people and we met at Bigbury on a clear, cold, windy day and got lots of great photos.

This year the timing of the tide wasn't very helpful and we were in constant and imminent danger of being under way too much snow and ice to attempt the winding back roads to get there. So we did the ever-popular walk at Saltram House in Plymouth instead. It was busy over the holidays. I mean, it was - whoa! - BUSY. Plenty of dogs, too many people, lots of bicycles and kids on scooters. Not really my flavour. Thankfully it had somewhat improved in the new year when we went, and we had a nice walk followed by tea in the cafe.

In spite of the biting wind, and all the ice and snow we had before and after this day, it perhaps goes without saying that the dogs still managed to find rather a lot of mud.

















L-R: Alan, Liz & Helen with Koda; Jo & George with Tarkka; Jay with Neka & Maija

What were those dogs looking at, you ask? No idea. But there was plenty of action in the vicinity to choose from and it was quite handy for getting the dogs to sit still long enough for the camera moment.

The first Sunday of the year is a tough time to gather folk & their dogs as everyone always has lots of commitments around that time. So I think I'll try to pull something together later in the year when it's a little more convenient. Suggestions for location would be more than welcome. I love Bigbury, but I'm not sure how dog-friendly it is in high season. And Saltram is just too hectic. I'll have to do a bit of research & get back to you on that one.