chew chew

Puppies chew.  And bite.  But mainly chew.  This is a difficult stage for people to survive with their new puppies - especially the young human members of the family.  They don't know how to avoid getting bitten, and those tiny teeth are like razors.  But bite and chew the little dogs must - they are learning about how to (and how not to) use their mouths, they are strengthening their jaws (a necessary activity for a dog), and they are growing new teeth, so they need something hard to chew on to relieve the pressure and pain.

Razor teeth?  These puppies?

Or these?














YES!


I always advise people to have lots of different kinds of toys.  First of all, have a few soft stuffed toys lying around - when an over-enthusiastic puppy clamps teeth on a young (or older) hand, a soft toy stuffed into the puppy's mouth accomplishes two different useful things: stops the child getting bitten while at the same time it teaches the puppy what he is allowed to chew on without hurting him the way it would if a hard toy was jammed in there.

Then there are the actual chew toys - harder items for serious chewing.  Have lots of different ones and swap them daily so that the puppy doesn't get bored with them.  There are literally hundreds - possibly thousands - of different products on the market for this purpose.  Some of them provide food as well as a good chew, like tripe sticks, bull's pizzle or stuffed Kongs.  They don't last long.  Others are food-like and although longer lasting, will also disappear relatively rapidly without actually providing much in the way of food, like rawhide, pig's ears or hooves (hollow ones with no stuffing)*.  Then there are the tough chews that have no food value.  The benefit is that they last longer, the drawback is that the dog is less enamoured of non-food items.  Some examples are Nylabones or hard rubber or plastic toys like empty Kongs.

One long-lasting non-food item that is more satisfying than the rest are antlers, which most dogs seem to be very keen on in spite of the fact that they have no food value.  While they were here, all the puppies enjoyed the antlers and would steal them from each other as a great prize.  Then Tuuli would jump in and take them away altogether.  Very popular, antlers.  As with all things, I hear that there are good quality antlers and poor quality ones that splinter when chewed.  Buy Stagbar antlers direct from Pure Dog for top quality.  I've never had a problem with them.  Lappies need size large or bigger.  Yes, they pretty expensive as far as dog chews go, but believe me they will last and last.  I still have the stub of one that is more than a year old. 

The best thing to give your dog to chew, in my opinion, is a fresh raw bone from the butcher.  They last a long time, always hold some fascination for the dog, and provide hours of entertainment and exercise.  Yes, that's right, I said exercise.  Enthusiastic chewing is very good exercise for your dog.

Notes:

*  I don't give my dogs rawhide because they are greedy, they love it, they don't take their time with it, and they are in danger of choking on it.  Rawhide softens when chewed rather than breaking off in little bits that are easily swallowed.  Therefore it poses a real choking hazard.  If you have a dog who will take his time, then you might be ok with rawhide. 

*  Supervise your dog carefully with all new chews.  Hooves in particular can be brittle and splinter into dangerous shards.  Once it has been chewed a bit, then it is likely to be safe.

And what is all this chewing in aid of?  In addition to jaw strengthening and exercise, there is the little matter of growing teeth.  Tuuli is losing hers faster than she is growing new ones at the moment.

Gummy puppy with tiny adult teeth at the front, one puppy canine in the top and very little else.

These are the only ones we managed to find.  The rest were swallowed or went up in the hoover.  Or Maija's coat.










One thing I have recommended to people for their teething puppies is frozen carrots.  The bigger the carrot the better.  Very soothing and satisfying for the puppy without much in the way of food value, as it just comes out the other end.  As it thaws, just stick it back in the freezer.

This didn't work with greedy Tuuli, however, who somehow managed to devour a frozen carrot as big as she was.  End of that idea. Maija as a young puppy, on the other hand, enjoyed many hours with frozen carrots.

So what is not a good chew?  The big-name, big-marketed so-called chew toys produced by the McDonalds of dog food.  These are NOT chew toys.  They are treats with a lot of calorific and fat value (without being actually nutritious food, that is).  They are Big Macs.  Or worse - they are McRibs!  They are treats.  Not daily chews and not toys.  Special occasion stuff only.  Included in this list is all the stuff sold not only in pet shops but also in supermarkets.  Dentastix, Jumbones, Bakers Dental sticks, Bonio-type hard biscuits, strangely coloured things (as well as no food value, these will have the added "benefit" of pumping your dog full of hyperactivity-inducing additives, preservatives and chemicals.  Yum yum.) 

Bones are best.  Antlers & bones.  And a few other things for added interest.

don't feed the dog

Of course I don't mean actually don't feed a dog.

There are some things that dogs should only ever have as occasional treats and there are some things that dogs should never have.  The sort of thing that falls into my category of "occasional treats" includes most human food and the Pedigree Jumbone / Dentastix / tripe sticks, etc, sort of canine consumables.  By "occasional"  I mean no more than once a week.  Yes, I'm strict, I know.  And when they do get a Dentastix or Jumbone (both of which they love), they only get half of one each.  And that's plenty.

As a result of this my dogs are not fat.  In fact, they are lean and healthy, even if they do hate me.  Perhaps hate is a strong word.  Perhaps they just resent living here instead of somewhere with a softer touch for an owner where they might get leftover roast lunch on Sundays, bull's pizzle every morning and a ham sandwich now & again.  No such luck in this house!

Usko, age 3.5 months, enjoying a very safe chew - a nylon bone with an edible fake marrow inside that dogs love to eat. 














Amongst my list of things that dogs should never have are:

Chocolate - you know that human chocolate is toxic to dogs, right?  Dark chocolate or baking chocolate is the worst.  Don't let them have it and don't leave it where they can get it.  There is a doggie version of chocolate that is safe, but my poor maligned dogs don't even get that.  Not because it's poisonous, because it's not, but just because of the horrid ingredients.  I'd rather give them a juicy raw bone.

Citrus fruit - Lemons, limes, orange, grapefruit and their juice are all very bad for dogs as their stomach cannot deal with the citric acid.

Grapes & raisins - Both highly poisonous for dogs and, worst case scenario, can cause kidney damage.

Alcohol - Don't think it's funny or cute to let your dog drink beer.  Hops can cause seizures and any kind of alcohol can even kill a dog.

Seeds & pits from various fruits - like apricots, cherries, apples, peaches.

Nuts - dogs can choke on nuts; macadamia and walnuts can both cause awful illness.

Photo:  Joanne Ross

Tarkka enjoying every Lapphund's favorite treat - a snowball!

teething & other life-changing events

Well, perhaps life-changing is a bit dramatic.

But the Tuisku puppies will be 5 months old in a couple of days, well into the chore of growing those adult teeth. It can be a trying time, the teething period, for puppy & owner alike. There's all that chewing, for starters. The puppies need lots - I'll say it again - lots of things to chew on. Different textures, different sizes, different tastes. New and exciting different things each day. Or at least new since, oh, 4 or 5 days ago. And hopefully none of those delectable chewables include the table legs. Or the tv remote control. Or your favorite shoes. Or the corner of the fire hearth, book case, or any other handy nose-height corner. Or, in Neka's case, the camera lens cap.

In addition to all the chewing, there's likely to be a bit of grumpiness. Yes, ok, the humans are allowed to be grumpy from time to time too. Especially if someone has just chewed the corner off their brand new and expensive leather handbag. But actually, I was talking about the puppies. They're in pain, it's frustrating, and so a bit of irritability is to be expected. Not to mention floppy ears, upset stomachs and a very short attention span.

But if you're lucky you find 1 or 2 of their little baby teeth on the floor (or in your arm, in the case of some puppies, right Keskiyo?). And then when your little puppy has grown into a big galloot you can look at these tiny teeth to ooh and ahh and try to remember just how tiny they used to be. When Usko visited a couple of weeks ago he left a canine tooth behind.

These are Maija's.












The major life-changing event for these puppies at the moment, though, would be the onset of puberty. Ah, hormones! And what goes with all those hormones? Apart from the obvious. Obviously. Well, more mood swings, a bit of independence and teenager-ness. Pushing to see what they can get away with, that sort of stuff.

But for now let's concentrate on the cute photos, shall we?

First, the "twins" Kallio & Kesa. Can you tell who's who?



































Ok, make that triplets. Here is Jaana with big sis Ellie in the new car bought especially for them. (Yes, you have to make a big commitment to become a 2-or-more-Lapphund family. The car is usually the first change.)














And, finally, here is Usko camouflaged in the wheat.
















If I could just find some time I'd take a drive up Bath way to acquire some photos of Minna. Well, any excuse for a puppy visit...

visit

Liz & Ian dropped by with Usko for a visit yesterday as they were passing. There was much joyful greeting between puppy, auntie & granny. So sweet to see Neka and Usko remembering each other. I'm not quite so sure about whether or not Maija specifically remembered him as she tends to treat all newcomers with the same degree of elation.

They had a wonderful time playing and it was typically difficult to get any photos - I got mainly blurry noses too close to the camera, random bottoms/tails and, of course, the classic empty floorspace shot. However, the girls did eventually tire him out.

















Settling down for a chew on a bone generously relinquished by granny Neka.

up to no good

Some folk are blessed with baby Lapphunds who are utter and complete angels right from day one. They sleep all night right from the beginning, don't wake you too early in the morning, are instantly housetrained, never chew anything but their own toys and certainly don't dig, bark excessively or be overly attention-seeking.

Lies!

No such thing as a puppy who doesn't do at least some of those things. It's puppy nature, it's normal, it's expected, I would even go so far as to say it's necessary. For example, they have to exercise their jaws and learn how to use their teeth. After all, a dog uses its mouth for most of the things that humans use their hands for, so they have to be good at it. If they chew the legs off your Chippendale table, that's your own fault. Yep, that's right. You weren't properly supervising and/or you haven't yet properly trained them to know what is acceptable to chew and what is not.*

It logically follows, then, that we are all blessed with baby Lapphunds who are little angels. Even the barking, nipping, digging, jumping and chewing ones. Normal little angels, every one.

So, do these perfect little angels ever do anything just plain naughty? Of course they do! And you can see on their faces that they just know they're not actually supposed to be doing that, but they're doing it anyway and enjoying it all the more for it's illegality.



Rauhan has found himself an unusual den under the kitchen cabinets. How he fits in there is anyone's guess!








Naughty even at 5 weeks. Keskiyö telling Rauhan he's pretty sure dogs are not allowed on the sofa - even tiny ones.







Taito thinks it's very funny to be on the bed in the hotel.










Kallio showing off how he can fit through the bars of the stair gate installed to prevent him getting upstairs. Hmmm.














Tarkka can't comprehend why Josh gets cross about sharing his trampoline.









"What do you mean, it's not a dog seat?"









"Who did you say is not allowed on the sofa?"

* Oh yes, I'm being tough today!

piano

Oh yes, how could I forget Maija the piano-eating wonder! Ok, to be fair she didn't eat the entire piano, but she did take a chunk out of it. Those of you to whom I have preached not leaving your young Lapphund unsupervised and keeping them crated when alone could not be blamed for having a little snigger. After all, if she had been safely tucked up in her crate then she never could have eaten a portion of the piano, could she? Could she?

Apparently, she could. That's right. Believe it or not, Maija got her little muzzle out through the bars of the crate (past the bone, past the kong) to grind her new grown-up teeth against the piano an inch away from her crate.

There are now 2 inches between piano & crate. And a sheet of wood.

puppy shopping 3

Toys & Chews

If there's one thing I know about Finnish Lapphunds it's this: they sure do love to chew. Having said that, chewing is a necessity for all dogs, especially young ones and, to be honest, some Lappies are more interested in chewing than others.

Little did I know how lightly we were getting off with Neka in this respect. As a puppy she destroyed very few things. And those that she did get were irresistible and we take full responsibility for leaving them within reach - plastic lens cover from camera, remote control, the occasional shoe here and there.

Then Keskiyo moved in and, boy, did we get a shock to the system. He destroyed everything in sight and then some. Nothing was safe, including the exposed corners of any wood. Woe betide us if we left anything within a paw's reach of the bars of the crate in the car. Four years later I'm still wearing my very expensive waterproof jacket but since it was less than 2 weeks old it has had a few unnecessary holes and a half-missing zip (so, not so waterproof any longer, actually). You guessed it - left in the back of the car and dragged through the bars of the crate.

Then Maija came along. And, sheesh, we thought Keskiyo was bad! She was the worst of all. Socks galore, pens & pencils, several leads, the edge of the vet bed, her blanket, anything at all left on the coffee table within reach. Many, many things destroyed.

However, one interesting thing about all this was that if the chew toys were yummy enough and interesting enough, then the dogs would always prefer them over the pencils and remote control, etc. Socks, maybe not so much. They will always be appealing, I guess.

So, the moral of the story is this: when you get your puppy you'll need lots of different chew toys and bones. Our adult dogs' absolute favorite thing that they will forego all other treats for is a fresh bone from the butcher.

For puppies and their growing teeth and jaws, Nylabone puppy bones are terrific. At the rate they grow, though, FL puppies very soon graduate out of those little soft ones. By 10 or 12 weeks Neka was going through the softest of these in 1 minute flat. She still loves these little puppy bones, though, and when Maija had them we had to make sure Neka didn't steal them from her. For the bigger and older dogs, this type is also good with the fake marrow inside.

There's literally hundreds, possibly thousands, of different types of dog chews on the market. Most of the very best ones also have food value, so if your puppy is a destroyer and swallows everything instead of just chewing & savouring, then you need to keep that in mind and balance it with their meals. Ours all love pigs' ears (I draw the line at buying trotters and, worst of all, pig noses!) paddywhack, tripe sticks (of course they love that - the most disgusting smelly thing ever produced). Call me squeamish if you like, but in addition to pig noses, I also cannot bring myself to give our dogs pizzle. I'm sure Jay agrees.

In addition to these things, and others like them, there's all the less-natural things like Dentastix, Jumbones, etc. Ours also love all these. Regardless of what it says on the packaging, though, these are not treats to be given everyday! Our dogs only ever get half a Dentastix at a time and only once in a while. Jumbones are great because you can also buy them in slices, which is a much more sensible size of treat for a dog.

For lengthy chewing, I stick with bones (fresh, nylon, smoked, stuffed) and occasionally the other items.

Rawhide is another very popular dog chew product. We only ever give the shredded, re-formed variety because of the dangers associated with other types. Rawhide pieces get soft when chewed and it's surprisingly easy for dogs to choke on it, so we avoid it.
As for toys, no one needs advice on this, really, as pet shops are stuffed to the rafters with toys of every imaginable type and you'll soon discover which are your puppy's favorites. Be prepared for them to be destroyed as well - that's all part of the fun for puppies. There are a few must-haves, though:

• Tennis balls
• Stuffed animal for snuggling at bedtime (at least as big as the puppy - so pretty big)
• Activity ball (just put their meal kibble inside)
• Kong
• Tug ropes

For some fabulous advice on how to survive your puppy's chewing phases, go have a look at Gwen Bailey's excellent article.

chew dig destroy

Neka and Keskiyo both love to dig when they get a chance, and Maija is the best digger in the bunch (if you want to put a positive spin on it...) Every puppy loves to dig and sand is the best digging medium around. Inko has her own sandbox and here is Tarkka head-first in his modest hole.

'I know Australia is around here somewhere.'

Having been banned from the garden for similar behaviour, Maija has now taken to digging the sofa cushions instead. No, of course the dogs are not allowed on the sofa (anymore). Nonetheless, everytime we turn our back, she's up there ripping out chunks of foam and running off in glee with her prize. To be fair, she didn't start the sofa-digging, that distinction is reserved for Keskiyo who, also as a puppy, scratched the first tiny hole through the leather of the cushion. Then it really took a dive when I left the very pregnant Neka for 20 minutes to pick Jay up from work. When we got back, she was having contractions and had settled in her emergency nest in the cushion surrounded by ripped up foam. But we've been living with it until Maija discovered her new favorite game.

Luckily, there was an excellent sofa in the sales last weekend.

And I'm considering covering the cushions in fine sand paper. Not very cozy for curling up watching DVDs, it's true. But think of the time I'll save in trimming claws.

There is something certainly just as good as, if not better than, digging - chewing shoes. And socks. But preferably shoes. Maija has been roared at enough times now to drop shoes on command. Finally. Perhaps some day she'll lose her fascination with them altogether. But, unless I'm very much mistaken, here is a puppy not only chewing a shoe, but being photographed doing it rather than told off. What a lucky puppy!

You can see he knows he's lucky - look at the smile on his face. What a cutie.

But, who is he?

If I hadn't known, I wouldn't have known (if you follow my meaning...) There he is looking for all the world like his mum and half-brother Taito. And of all the puppies, he's the one I was quite sure would look exactly like his dad, especially when I saw this lovely photo of him & Sukka with the Katy & Hattie on the xmas card I got from Emma. (Apologies to the girls for chopping their heads off, but I don't like to publish photos of people without their permission & I haven't asked for permission to use this one.)


That's right, this is Rauhan, of all puppies! He still has the tan legs like is dad, but he's definitely got his mum's bright white face and little grin. Comparing the two photos, would you guess it was the same puppy? I don't think I would.