firsts

You might think that by the time one reaches a 6th litter of one breed of dog, that most of the 'firsts' would have come and gone.  But it seems there are still one or two things that pop up to surprise me with each litter, and this one is no exception.

As I've discussed earlier on this blog, these are not the first water babies I've had, but they are certainly the most dedicated.  I think it's the first time I've seen any puppies carrying the (empty!) outside water bowl around (Talvi, Tito).  And it is certainly the first time any puppy has climbed into the full bowl.  It has happened on a few occasions; Kai with head and both front paws in the bowl (many times), Tito trying to get all four paws into the bowl at once (most amusing), any of them digging away in the water.  But I've captured puppy-in-bowl on film only once, and then, not wonderfully.  But you get an idea.

Don't think for a second that this was a fleeting moment luckily captured on camera.  Oh no.  Kaito was standing there up to his knees in water long enough for me to (a) notice (b) get up off the sofa (c) grab my phone (d) set it to camera mode and (e) finally get the photo.

It's the first time that I've come downstairs to a completely clean pen first thing in the morning and all the puppies yelled and did their wees and poos outside.  

It's also certainly not the first time I've managed to get puppy poo under my nails.  I don't know what it is this time - extra tired, extra poorly coordinated, extra hurried - but this time I seem to have a particular knack for sticking my nails through the poo bags or paper towels.  At any rate, these days I frequently have puppy poo under my nails.  And I struggle even with the sensation of hand cream under my nails, so poo doesn't go down well at all.  My poor hands are like sandpaper from all the washing.  It's an excellent excuse for a manicure.   Rest assured I won't tell the manicurist where my nails have been.

And in case you were worrying I was going to subject you to photographic evidence of the trials and tribulations of my nails, fear not.   We shall move swiftly on to something more savoury. 

It is the first time I have had a dam who so enjoyed her puppies and spent so much time playing with them.  Although Neka has always played with her grandkids, she never ever played with her own puppies.  And I'm not sure either of her daughters played with their puppies either.  But every day Tuuli spends some time in the pen just enjoying her puppies, and I have to say it's completely adorable. And it can only be good experiences and lessons for the babies. 

What is definitely a first for me, though, is witnessing Tuuli weaning the puppies.  Obviously I've been weaning them gradually since they were two-and-a-half weeks old, but it's absolutely fascinating to watch Tuuli with them at 6 and 7 weeks old.  She will jump in and let them suck from her just for a minute or two and then she growls a little to get them off.  She also jumps in after her breakfast and regurgitates (that's vomiting to you and me) some of her meal for them.  It sounds disgusting, perhaps, but it's absolutely natural and exactly the way a wild dog - or indeed a wolf - would feed growing babies.  None of my gang have ever done that before. 

And, for your enjoyment, a few random shots of puppies playing.

Kai carrying stuff

Kaito carrying stuff

Kai and Talvi being good

Fiia being good

Tito funny face

water water everywhere

A few days ago I posted a photo of the entire litter all crammed into one corner of the pen, all trying to sleep next to the water bowl.  In each litter there is always (at least) one puppy who insists on sleeping with his head dipping into the water bowl.  In Taito's litter it was Karhu, in Maija's litter it was Jaska, in the subsequent litters it was Minna, Kiittaa and, in the case of the Persikka puppies, ALL of them.  Water babies, every one. 

In this litter it is, again, every one of them, although some are perhaps slightly more enamoured than others.  I blame Tuuli who loves water like a spaniel.  The Pippuri puppies are all obsessed with the water bowl which means the pen (and surrounding floor) is constantly soaked.  They sleep around the bowl, they jostle each other trying to get the best position next to the bowl, they stand with front feet in the bowl (Mini, Fiia, Sox), they dig in the water bowl (Tito, Tuulen).  What a mess!  I am trying to discourage them from this because the last thing their new families will want is water everywhere all the time, but I think it is a habit that will only recede with time and maturity.  Hopefully.  Just ask Keskiyo, who still likes the occasional dig in the water bowl. 

And it could be worse.  Neka's father Pascha used to pick up his (full) water bowl, carry it carefully into the living room and then drop it.  These puppies didn't stand a chance, really, did they.

And so to the photographic evidence.

3 puppies, 1 bowl

4 puppies, 1 bowl

Somehow Sox manages to tip it over!

Very pleased with himself & his wet head

New idea: bowl-inside-a-bowl.  Very exciting, apparently.

As you can imagine, I prefer the puppies to spend plenty of time in the garden where, mysteriously, they ignore the water bowl!  Some action shots from the outdoor pen.

They love playing in and around boxes

Try to get a group shot but there's always one in the box

5 weeks weights

Well, she did it.  Fooled most people, that is.  Granted, Mini still isn't, well, mini, but Sox has very quickly taken over the job of biggest puppy.  And he's rather a lot bigger when you see them.  In fact, I'm guessing that the people who guessed Sox are those who saw the puppies in person recently.  (Jay, you haven't been cheating, have you?)

Here's the news.

And here are some cute, sadly not-very-sharp photos of the gang scampering around in the frosty grass that I just couldn't resist a couple of days ago.  But first, and in haste because I have much to do before the arrival of puppy visitors today, evidence of just how incorrigible these water babies are.  New owners, consider yourselves warned.

mmmffnnngggh

In case you're wondering, that's about as much sense as I can muster verbally at the moment.  I did, however, get a good hour of sleep, thanks to Jay.  Thanks, Jay!

Today's mum-and-babies portrait.  If you're thinking Taika is looking tired, don't fret, she gets very heavy-lidded and dozy when the puppies are nursing.  She's actually quite bright-eyed now and you'd almost never know she had just had surgery.  Also, by necessity for the well-being of the newborns, the puppy room is hot, hot, hot and Finnish Lapphunds don't really do hot.



And so today the gang went off in their hot water bottle warmed box to have their hind dew claws removed.  In our first litter, only about half of the puppies had hind dew claws, of which one was Taika.  In the second litter, all nine had them.  In this litter, not only do all the puppies have them, one poor little mite - Grey Wolf - had double rear dewclaws!  What's in store for the next litter, all with doubles?

Double dewclaws are actually required by the breed standard in some breeds and they're not completely unheard of in Lapphunds - Neka's dad Pacsha had them, for example.  Grey Wolf says, "thanks a bunch, great-grandpa."  I did manage to get a quick photo of them but the paws are pretty small and the photo is pretty poor.  You can just about see the tiny white dot of the second one pointing towards the back of the leg.

Oh, I hate the dewclaw removal event.  It's horrible to take those gorgeous, fat little wigglers and inflict pain on them.  I'm a complete and utter coward and I hide in the waiting room with my fingers in my ears lest I hear a squawk while the vet and nurse assistant get on with it.

However, having seen what can happen to these claws on adult dogs if they're not removed as puppies, I do still think it's worth it.  I even wrote a little article about it for the SFLS newsletter.  Since then I have had another conversation with my vet about it and he had some interesting observations.  He has noticed that since tail docking was banned, many breeders who would in the past have had tails and dewclaws removed now no longer bother with the claws.  And he has seen a quite noticeable rise in the number of dew claw injuries. 

So, off they came and now I'll add bathing the wounds in warm, salty water to my list of daily chores.

Today's photos:  a selection illustrating some of the reasons puppies suddenly start to scream blue murder and you have to run to extricate them from some dire situation or other.

Dino leading Butterfly into the temptation that is the corner-under-the-guard-rail tiny spot to get wedged in.  You can see I've stuffed the very corner with newspaper in the hope of keeping them from getting too badly stuck.  The rails are designed to give the puppies an escape route when their dam accidentally squashes them against the sides, but with each litter I'm thinking more and more that they do more harm than good.  The puppies just can't seem to resist wrapping themselves around the rails.

 Usually at this age the puppies are too small to get wedged in, they just crawl underneath and are fine.  But that was before the Brown-tosaurus arrived.

I'm guessing this is Butterfly again getting herself the aforementioned well and truly stuck by using Dino for a leg up.  He fills up that space completely and in a couple of days I'll either have to get rid of the rails or grease the brown pup so we can get him out.

In every litter there seems to be one puppy who can't leave the water bowl alone.  I guess they like the cool metal, but there is always a puppy who likes to sleep with head in bowl.  Here is Dino practicing already.  Frankly, he's so big and strong I'm afraid he'll fall in and drown.  I never dreamed any of them would be able to reach the rim of the bowl at this age. 






Tomorrow a weight update, the Neka Superhero story and everything you ever wanted to know about puppy poo.  I bet you can't wait, can you?