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

Crufts 2015

A couple of weekends ago I loaded 3 dogs into the car and made the annual pilgrimage to the Birmingham NEC for the mad day that is Crufts.

I got there just in time to get stuck in the dire traffic queuing to get in which meant that I got into the venue just in time to get the dogs brushed before judging started.  More or less. 

First up for the Infindigo gang were Ukko with me and Kuura with Jane in Postgraduate dog followed by Rauhan who placed 2nd in Limit Dog.  Luckily Mark Treasure was there with his ever-ready camera because without him I would have had no photos at all.

Ukko was such a good boy, considering he doesn't exactly go to shows regularly

Gorgeous Kuura

Rauhan standing like a little star

Next up was Talvi, VHC in Junior Bitch and then Kiittaa who placed 3rd in Postgraduate Bitch and Emmi Reserve in Limit Bitch.

Ian & Talvi

Kiittaa & Lexi looked rather shocked about something

Jane with Emmi the little pro

Finally there was Neka.  It was 2 weeks before her 11th birthday, her 10th and final Crufts.  As usual, she had an absolute blast.  Not only that, but she also qualified for her 11th Crufts by placing 3rd in Veteran Bitch.  So proud of my old girl.

My sweet Neka, the old pro

Look how happy she is!

happy birthday ...

... to the Monta puppies, aka the Devon Nine, who are 6 years old today!

I almost posted this a whole month early.  It wasn't that I forgot when their birthday is, it's just that I misplaced my grip on which month we were in.  Ahem.

First, here are their parents:

L: Neka age 10 yrs   -    R: Keskiyo age 8 yrs

This was Neka's second litter of puppies, an amazing bunch of NINE who remain, to this day, the largest litter ever born in the UK.  Neka did an absolutely stellar job of raising them, and all these years later I can still remember how exhausted I was with all the feeding, house training and socialising by the time they were 7 weeks old.  Oh, and did I mention that it rained just about every day those puppies lived here?  There was rather too much of the lugging them back and forth from the garden pen.

If you would like to check out what life was like with 9 puppies, go back to the first days of this blog which you can access via the archives list to the right.

In the meantime, here are the 6-year-olds and their 6-week-old selves - well most of them, anyway. 

Infindigo Monta Jaana
(Sybil)

Snoozing in the sun - Good morning bottom! - at 6 weeks

Infindigo Monta Tarmo
(Tarmo)

Chilling on the cool tiles - Cute head tilt - at 6 weeks

Infindigo Monta Maija
(Maija)

Funny upside down dog - good sitting girl - at 6 weeks

Infindigo Monta Rauhan
(Rauhan)

Posing at a show (photo (c) Mark Treasure)  -  pretty face  -  at 6 weeks

Infindigo Monta Sulo
(Kaija)

Looking a lot like dad  -  looking a lot like mum  -  at 6 weeks

Infindigo Monta Viivi
(Viivi)

Pretty posing girl - looking like her dad - at 6 weeks

Infindigo Monta Tarkka
(Tarkka)

Handsome Tarkka (photos (c) Joanne Ross)  -  at 6 weeks

Infindigo Monta Aurinko
(Inko)

Showing off her fluffy tail - showing off her fluffy feet! - at 6 weeks

happy 5th birthday

... to the Monta litter, Sybil, Tarmo, Jaska, Maija, Rauhan, Kaija, Viivi, Tarkka, and Inko.  They were named "Monta" (Finnish for "many") because they were (and still remain) the largest litter of Lapphunds ever born in the UK.  I had quite an eventful time raising these puppies, and this blog was started in their honour.

I cannot believe not only that this blog is now 5 years old, but that my own little Maija, who until quite recently was the baby of the family, is 5 whole years old.  I'm pretty sure we shouldn't still be calling her puppy-Maija, which is her nickname.

Here are some before and afters of this enormous brood, in birth order.

 SYBIL (Infindigo Monta Jaana) - at 5 weeks & at 3 years

 TARMO (Infindigo Monta Tarmo) - at 5 weeks & at 5 years

 JASKA (Infindigo Monta Jaska) - at 5 weeks & at 1 year

 RAUHAN (Infindigo Monta Rauhan) - at 5 weeks & at 5 years

 MAIJA (Infindigo Monta Maija) - at 5 weeks & at  5 years

KAIJA (Infindigo Monta Sulo) - at 5 weeks & at 5 years

VIIVI (Infindigo Monta Viivi) - at 5 weeks & at 5 years

 

 INKO (Infindigo Monta Aurinko) - at 5 weeks & at 5 years

TARKKA (Infindigo Monta Tarkka) - at 5 weeks & at 5 years