playing video

I captured a super-cute video yesterday of Tuuli playing her new favorite puppy game followed by some granny games in the pen.  It started with Tuuli grabbing one of the puppies' toys and scampering around the outside of the pen to get the puppies' attention.  Then she hopped in and out of the pen, encouraging the puppies to chase her.  I swear she is teaching them to jump out.  Luckily they are still just a tad too small for that yet.  Then Neka hopped into the pen and started rolling around on her back until all the puppies jumped on her.  I'm telling you it was the cutest video ever.  Ever.

And why do I have to describe it instead of showing it to you?  Well, when I transferred it from camera to computer the file became corrupted.  And did I check that it had transferred successfully before deleting it from the camera?  No, I did not.  And, finally, did I learn a valuable lesson?  Yes, yes indeed I did.

So instead of the absolute cutest video ever, you shall have to make due to with this one of a little game in the outdoor pen.  Also quite cute, actually. 

learning ... to play

One of the funniest stages in the puppies' development is the period of 2-4 weeks old as they learn all their new noises.  It cracks me up every time a two-and-a-half-week-old puppy growls.  And I enjoy the howling too; ar-ar-ar-ar-ar-ar-ooooooooo nose in the air, wolf-style.

I don't enjoy the tempermental screeching that the puppies often do at this age.  They get over-tired, their mouths are hurting as they are growing their first tiny teeth, they might have a touch of colic, and they are, well, babies.  But luckily we are coming out of that phase now.

The other new skill they are working on at this time is playing.  It starts pretty much as soon as their eyes open and they see each other, and they get better and better at it.

First, they play with each other.

Mealtime is always a good time for a game, so says Sox

Get ready ... get set ...

... and ... play bitey-face!

And again

Meanwhile, the girls are wrestling

By 3 weeks they start to show interest in toys too and begin to learn that most crucial of skills for a puppy: amusing themselves. 

Tuulen with hedgehog

Tuulen with giraffe

Fiia with giraffe (and looking pretty pleased with herself)

Fiia with hedgehog

Mini saving the elephant for later (after her nap)

And then there comes the playing together with toys.

Games with mum*

Around the 4-week mark, Tuuli starts to play with the puppies too.  And when they move downstairs and granny Neka gets involved, then she plays with them too.  The only complication is getting Tuuli to share the toys with the puppies, because as far as she is concerned, all the toys in the house belong to her.  Once we manage to convince her to let the babies have the puppy toys in peace, then the next challenge is getting her to leave the puppy bones alone.  Oh, and that applies to granny too.  Everyone is partial to puppy bones.

Like mother, like daughter - "I'll just save these 'til later."

* I don't know what's up with this photo - it looks perfectly fine outside of the blog.  Oh well, you're getting it looking weirdly like a negative because I don't have time to fool with it and it's too cute to omit.

Emmi visit

Last week Emmi came to stay.  Some day when (if...) she's a big, grownup girl, she will be coming back to have some puppies here with us, we hope, and so in the meantime we want her to feel as much at home in our house as she does at her own.  Like Keksi does and Taika does.  And Minna.  And one or two others who have come to stay for one reason or another.

This was a convenient week for Jane & Mark, so we have had the temporary pleasure of adding a new colour to our pack of black dogs. 

There was much playing.  Much.  With Tuuli, with Maija, with Neka, with 2 or all 3 of them at a time.  There was no playing with Keskiyo, though - he reserves all his playtime for Tuuli alone.  Emmi is a sweetie pie and loves nothing more than being at the bottom of a heap of Lappies.  At the moment it's hard to believe that she will ever be mature enough to be a mum.  But if Neka could grow up, then Emmi will too... eventually. 

There have also been many dog walks.  Having 5 dogs is just wonderful er, too many for an easy life, really.  It's fun, but it's also a bit complicated without the facilities to simply open the back door and let them run.  Not to mention a dog room in which the 5 can return to and dry off before setting upon the rest of the house.  But we're well used to mud here, so a little more dirt and grime is really neither here nor there.  Or, rather it is all here and there. 

Mainly Emmi did her walking with Tuuli.  It's easier to concentrate on the 2 younger members of the household alone without the distraction of any others.  On the nicer days, there was playing in the field.

 Pause in the game

 Run!

Run faster!

And on the not-so-nice days there were long road walks for the pair.  Road walking is not as much fun for anyone as racing and leaping around completely out of control in the long grass.  However, it is extremely useful and good exercise - especially around here where there are hills galore to charge up and down.  Or drag up and charge down (the dogs dragging me, not me dragging the dogs, you understand).  This kind of activity is excellent for the showdog who needs firm, tight muscles as well as for the dog who needs to be fit enough to squeeze out a half dozen or so puppies in the near future.  It's also rather good for the human who might just very occasionally struggle with those hills when out running. Ahem.

So there were a couple of 6-7 km road walks involving the many and varied hills around us.

It was also a good opportunity for reinforcing some lead walking manners and some road manners.  Like passing other dogs without freaking out barking and leaping around in excitement.  And like sitting nicely for treats while other dogs pass by.  And like sitting and waiting at curbs before crossing roads.

Very good & patient girls

Even on road walks there is still time to pause for a cute photo opportunity.  Tuuli is accustomed to sitting on this tree-stump-seat by herself, so she did rather hog the space and Emmi had to try and squeeze in.

Oi, move over

That's better

Then it's back home for a nice snooze to recharge the batteries.

Before you know it, it's playtime again.  And it frequently involves someone being on the chair.

It's a shame that it's so notoriously difficult to photograph playing dogs.  There is so much movement, and the movement is often so fast, that you can struggle with angles, lighting and focus even with a good camera.  Using just a phone camera, the results are not great, but I'm still pleased to have captured the moments.  3- and 4-way games of tug are particularly tricky with a phone camera, but I had to share the last pic anyway as it was SUCH a good game.

And then the time came for Emmi to return home.  She was delighted to see Jane & Mark and most especially Miika (have I mentioned the fact that Lappies can be quite insulting at times?)  I was lucky to get this photo, slightly out-of-focus as it is, considering most of the pictures I took turned out more or less like the bottom one.

In the meantime, Tuuli waited patiently, gazing out the window, for her friend to come back. 

rain or shine

Regardless of the weather, your dog needs exercise.  If you are lucky enough to have a Finnish Lapphund, then you will find yourself walking in all sorts of disgusting weather.  Lappies were bred to work and so they have a lot of energy.  That energy needs to be channelled everyday and I have found that the worse the weather, the better the Lapphunds like it.  Heavy rain?  They scoff at all sorts of rain, sleet and even hail.  Wind blowing trees horizontal?  They love that!  In fact, there is little so likely to bring the puppy out in my dogs than a gale force wind blowing through their coats and up their tails.

Apart, perhaps, from snow.  Lots of dogs love the snow, and Lapphunds - appropriately - seem to have a love of snow bred into their genes.  There were lots of happy Lappies around the UK over the weekend when there was a large amount of snow dumped over a 24-hour period.  Here in Devon we had a tiny sprinkle but then the rain moved in.

Neka enjoying a rare Devon snowfall last winter

Photo: Wendy H Gilmour

Karhu coming over all puppy-ish in the snow with his stick













And if the weather is just too disgusting for much of a walk, then your dog will need entertainment and exercise more than ever.  Here, from Dogster are some ways to keep your dog happy and occupied when you can't go outside.  Or even if you can, because these games are great fun for you and your dog.