lappy walk pics

After bearing a little criticism from Jay last night for not posting photos yesterday, I thought I'd better get on with it now. I did say to check back 'later'. Well, this is 'later'. Just more 'later'.

And so, a few shots from the SFLS Lappy walk last Sunday. It was so great to see so many of Neka's kids and even one of the grandkids. There was a very sweet joyful reunion between Usko & his beloved granny which I would have loved to capture on video. Did I? Of course not.

As expected, the weather wasn't exactly wonderful, but we didn't have more than a short, very light drizzle either, so no one was complaining. Predictably, my less-terrible camera was at work, so I had only the more-terrible one to take photos.

I know that I have many excuses for my dreadful photos, and that particular one is my excuse for today. Sheesh, how do animal photographers do it? (Well, for one thing they have much more expensive cameras with much quicker shutter speeds. Even in digital.)
















Front L-R: Katie with Sukka, Emma with Rauhan, other Emma with Taito, Matilda & Isabelle sharing a very svelte looking Taika, Emily with Kaija, Daniel with Keksi, Jim with Ismo.
Back L-R: Jay with Maija & Neka, Ian with Ben, Liz & other Ian with tiny Usko












Dogs L-R: Ben (with no head, oops), Taika, Taito, Maija, Neka, Ismo, Keksi, Kaija (lying in front), Usko (in Ian's arms at the back), Sukka & Rauhan.

It's difficult see anything from these group shots, of course, so I did try to take a few of individuals as well. Some are, ahem, better than others and most were taken in the car park - not the best of backdrops.




Kaija with Keksi in the background










Keksi














Rauhan
















Rauhan's big sis Sukka











Maija & Taika











At the pub later, Taito illustrates that famous gentle Lappy temperment as Usko takes advantage of his much bigger uncle. I wonder which way the size difference will go when they next meet...






A lovely day, as you can imagine, and I really ought to give a big shout out to the wonderful pub that Emma & Andrew discovered where we had lunch. If only I could remember where it is and/or what it's called...

As for the dogs, as you may well have guessed from the photos, they're all on strict diets in anticipation of the upcoming shows.

herding cats

Well, not actually cats, but herding baby herding dogs is as difficult as herding cats. Maybe more so. A friend visited briefly on Monday to give me a lift to collect my new car and while he was here he gave me a great idea. He managed to line up all 5 sleepy puppies in a neat little row for a photo. Of course, by the time I ran to get the camera they had scattered to the 5 corners of the pen again. So yesterday I put the challenge to Jay and he's always up for a laugh. Which is just as well.

In the end we got a cute shot good enough to submit to the SFLS newsletter. If you want to see it, you'll have to join the club, which you can do here. Anyway, it was similar to this one.










L-R: Minna, Kallio, Jaana, Kesä, Usko


But the outtakes tell the real story and you don't need me to explain. Here is a mere selection.





At this point we enlisted the assistance of our friend & neighbour Kelly, who is also always good for a laugh as well as a quick puppy cuddle. We figured 4 hands are better than 2. Well, maybe.












































It was all much more fun than it looks from these photos. At least it was from where I was sitting with camera.

here come the puppies

Last weekend we met up with a bunch of hardy souls at Dolebury Warren near Bristol for a walk organised by the SFLS. We had 17 Lapphunds and 1 Anniebear in attendance with their various people.







It was a great walk, up a steep hill, through a lovely wood and over some fields then back. The only downside was that there were sheep in the fields so we couldn't risk letting the dogs off lead. The last thing we needed was the local livestock terrorised by a bunch of friendly herders trying out their amateur skills.

The best part of the walk (for me, anyway) was the mini puppy reunion.
















L-R (puppies): Inko, Tarkka (giving Paula a sneaky lick), Kaija (Sulo), Maija, Rauhan

The walk was a little over 2 hours, so much too far for tiny puppies so they had spells of walking & being carried. Some of us had very tired arms by the end. And some puppies were completely shattered.
This cutie is Rauhan, grabbing a quick snooze in the back of the car after his adventure.

Below, Rauhan with his equally knackered big sister Sukka.








As always, it's difficult to photograph a moving target, hence there are no individual photos of Tarkka or Kaija (Sulo) on this occasion. However, I did manage to get this slightly out-of-focus snap of Inko sporting her extra tan markings courtesy of the Somerset mud.



















As for the puppies who were not at the walk, I've been the delighted recipient of new photos of most of them as they grow up.

First of all, Jaana with Baz. Looks like she's finally growing into her ears. What a little cutie. I must say she looks like a complete angel but I hear she has a rather unflattering new nickname. Surely it must only be Harry the cat who calls her the Nutter?

This is Jaska with pretty big sis Kia. Something tells me she won't be his "big" sister for much longer. Luckily he's a sweet-natured, laidback boy. Which will come in handy when he grows into an enormous teenage Lapphund now in about 5 minutes or so.













Viivi having a brief and, I hear, rare sleepy looking moment surrounded by toys.















Finally, here is Tarmo starting to grow into his paws. The first photo looking so much like his mum with his crooked sit and fantastic head tilt.



















Here is Tarmo a little younger looking positively scrumptious in a photo that was submitted for the 2009 SFLS calendar. For your chance to vote for the 12 photos to be featured in the calendar, and the opportunity to get your hands on one of them when they're produced, go here. Even if you don't want a calendar, or to participate in the vote, there are some beautiful Lappies to be seen in the 100+ pics that were submitted from all over, including Finland.

grown-up puppy update

It's amazing how the puppies' personalities develop after they leave the nest and go off into the world. When they're 4 and 6 weeks old, you can take a guess at who will be quiet and laidback and who will be a little more, um, challenging and, er, enthusiastic. But you never really know how it will go once they get their paws under the table in their new home and are no longer under the influence of their siblings and mum.

Three examples of this phenomena from last year's litter:


Koda who was a quiet little mouse in the litter but developed into a very confident and ever-so-slightly boisterous teenager. All Liz's hard work and training paid off, though, and at the age of one-and-a-half, he is now a model citizen.






Keksi was the big girl of the last litter and ruled the whelping box with a paw of steel. No one got anything over on her and I warned Daniel that she was going to be a handful and that he would have to be firm with her. Well, she turned out to be a little angel with delightful manners and caused no trouble at all. It helped, no doubt, that Ismo was happy to have a new little sister move in and start to boss him around. These days she looks like butter wouldn't melt in her mouth.

Finally, Karhu, about whom I gave the same dire warning to Wendy & Scott. He, too, was one of the more dominant puppies of that litter and had a habit of stamping his rather large paws until he got his own way. But once he had the undivided attention of his new family (not to mention some great training & lots of walks) he, too, is a sweet, mannerly gent. These days he troubles only the plantlife in his park.

On the other hand, Taika, Taito and Tuuri (re-named Torvi by his family) were all gentle sweetie-pies right from the beginning and they kept those lovely characters even through their teenage stages. Here they are at around 12 months old.

Taika



















Torvi














Taito















As for Seppo (re-named 'Diesel' by his family), although I did take photos of him when I visited a few months ago, I now cannot find them anywhere. So frustrating but becoming increasingly normal in these chaotic days of mine. Guess I'll just have to go back and visit again!

road trip

The pups went for their eye tests yesterday and they are all fine. The test involves the nurse coming to the car to put drops in everyone's eyes to dilate the pupils then a few minutes later as many puppies as can be carried at once go into the vet's office and he looks in each eye using several different contraptions and lights. Then the big bill, of course. The puppies were all extremely well behaved and the surgery staff did much ooh-ing and aah-ing over them. Thanks again to Jo for her company on the drive and assistance in fetching and carrying puppies.

This was also the puppies' first car journey. They have all had a few minutes sitting in the parked car and a few minutes sitting in the parked car with the engine running, but this was the first time the car moved. Ideally the first journey should be short, ease them into it. But no, this is a 45-mile drive across Dartmoor to Tavistock taking about an hour, each way. There are only certain vets who are qualified to test under the BVA eye scheme, and the only other one in this part of the country is about 30 miles away in the other direction. However, I know and like the one in Tavistock, and it's a much nicer drive. For our trouble, we were rewarded with seeing a pony rolling around on her back in a field while 2 foals grazed nearby. Awwww...

The road is quite twisty in places, with too many roundabouts, which doesn't help. However, only 3 of the puppies were sick, and only 1 of them was sick going in both directions, so that's a good result. I think in the last litter, every single one of them vomited on this trip. So, I'm pleased with these guys. Once they were back in their garden pen, it was as if nothing had ever happened, so they clearly weren't too traumatised.

I didn't get a photo of them all tucked up in the car crate, but here are some of the attempts we have been making to get some pictures to submit for the 2009 SFLS calendar. You can see how difficult it is. Just to get something in focus is quite a feat! We persevere.


L-R: Sulo, Tarkka, Maija, Rauhan













Maija practicing flirting with Keskiyö
















Tarmo & Sulo:
















L-R: Rauhan, Sulo, Tarkka, Inko

wow what a racket

I'm sure going to be needing some serious bribes to crawl back into my neighbours' favour when this is all over. Luckily, puppy cuddles take me a little way, but 6am is beyond anyone's forgiveness.

I don't feel so bad about the people behind our house who have 3 of the noisiest children I've ever heard. Every day they & about 200 of their closest friends, get stuck out into the back garden to just get on with it, as far as I can tell. When I was trying to work from home - before we moved into our luxurious new accommodation in the unheated, windowless industrial unit - that racket used to drive me crazy. So I'm happy for the puppies to dish out all the noise they like to them. Heh.

But for everyone else - and I mean everyone within a significant radius - I'm truly sorry. Four, even 5, puppies cause a bit of noise when they're playing. It's natural. Everyone understands. Double the number of puppies & double the decibels. Yikes.

Most of the time, 99% of the time, the noise level is acceptable. I'm with the puppies for the majority of their waking hours and I don't let them sit yapping & howling just to amuse themselves. (Although I must confess to enjoying the howling just the teeniest bit. It's very funny.) The time it becomes truly unbearable is just as they realize I'm on my way downstairs in the morning.

They begin to wake as the sky is getting light and they're hungry & need to relieve themselves. They have been relieving themselves all over their newspaper all night and it's in quite a state, let me tell you. They start to whine & whimper & perhaps one of them will howl a little. There is a bit of sleepy playing. If I leave them a few minutes too long at this stage, the noise level steadily increases, so I try not to go downstairs until as close to 7 o'clock as I can manage. I figure most people are up by about 7 to get ready for work. When the pups see me appear at the bottom of the stairs - bam! - they all start SCREAMING.

Now, under normal circumstances, I don't even make eye contact with the puppy who is barking for attention. He's completely ignored. He's the last to be picked up and the last to move from pen to pen. That's how they learn not to yap for attention, and it's a good strategy, it works. However, all that goes right out the window first thing in the morning. It's a race for me to get their breakfast & them into the outdoor pen as quickly as I possibly can. Sticking their faces into their breakfast plate is the only thing to quiet them. And, of course, they have wound themselves up to such a frenzy that it takes some racing around the pen, still squawking, to release the pent-up energy.

I haven't received any petrol bombs or eviction orders. Yet.

Here are a few cute puppy shots to keep you going. New poll tomorrow.


Jaana having a cuddle with Lenny:
















L-R: Jaana (sitting), Tarmo, Tarkka, Viivi, Rauhan
















L-R: Inko (sitting), Jaska, Jaana, Viivi, Tarkka

character building

Late post today as I've been preoccupied with puppies-in-puppies-out all day long. Amazingly, at just short of 6 weeks old, these little 'uns are asking to go out for wees and poos. If I had a few extra arms & a few hours more energy, they'd be housetrained in days! As it is, I only get half of them out about half of the time. And, yes, it's still raining. Or should I say raining again. Much muddying of puppies. Much towelling dry of puppies. Much laundering of muddy towels. All good fun.

Their characters are developing nicely and their temperments are much more even than they were, say, 2 weeks ago. There is no clear dominant pup anymore (I can hear Jo breathing a sigh of relief from here). They are learning not to play so roughly with each other. Rather, they save their most ferocious biting for when I dare stick my fingers in the pen. Their favorite game is to see how many can hang off my sleeve by the teeth at once. There are still skirmishes that need to be broken up from time to time, but in the main everyone plays nicely.

The label of "noisy pup" of the litter has been passed from puppy to puppy over time. It seems to be a phase that each one goes through and then reverts back to a little whining for attention and only a little barking and growling in play.

The socialisation progresses. Each puppy is getting a trip down the park to the main road to get their first taste of traffic and the ooh-ing and aah-ing of strangers. They also get to sit in the car for a few minutes (no engine) and stay alone 5 mins inside and 5 mins outside. I try to make sure that each one gets one new experience everyday. Yes, I have a chart on which I keep track of who has done what so far!

Too bad I didn't take a film today when the puppies had their first taste of chicken. The reaction was "Man! You mean there is food like this!?" The crunchy puppy meal will never be the same. I missed that event, but here is a little video of how cute they are when you approach the pen. See how big they're getting?

spiky tykes

So, there are no weight updates today, but I knew I'd find something to entertain you with. It was only going to be a matter of time before the poor-wet-puppy photo opportunity arose. After the terrible weather last night I picked my moment carefully this morning and popped the little ones outdoors during a rare dry spell so that I could clean the indoor pen. They were happily having their breakfast and zooming around when - whoosh! - the heavens opened. Most of the pups quickly scampered under the sheet but 2 of them were running in circles thinking they could outrun the rain. If they were the sort of puppies to use bad language they would have been going "oh ****!, oh ****!, oh ****!" or similar.

So here are a couple of shots of soaked, spiky puppies. I did try to get photos of them all as Jay brought them in but in my haste most of them were too blurry to use. At the bottom is a pic of them piled into a fuzzy heap after being towelled off.

Jaska & Sulo
(Suck Monster & LMP)


















Viivi & Inko
(Flash & Cross)


















Heap of damp fluffies
(that's Rauhan-Chew on the left and Jaana-Spot with her bottom to camera)

space galore

Around the turn of the 4-week mark, the puppies' tails went up over their backs and really started to wag with intent instead of just for balance. Now, when you approach the pen, they come running, wagging, to be picked up. The trick is to make sure we don't pick up the one who is barking for attention! That's the kind of attention-seeking we try not to reward.

Today the sun shines - hurrah! So the pups have spent most of the morning outdoors in their newly expanded, enormous pen - a pen-thouse, if you will. I was worried about the outdoor pen being a little small for such a large bunch. Last year's litter only really seemed to grow out of it towards their moving-out time. This time, they seemed to outgrow it pretty much as soon as they went into it. See what I mean about those extra 2 pups making a really big difference?

The indoor pen is also getting a bit cramped. But short of letting the small furries run riot all over the lounge, there's not much I can do about that. You're all praying to the sun gods, yes? We really need to keep the babies in the garden as much as possible.

The new pen is twice the size of the old one - we now have two of these joined together. It's actually bigger than I was expecting it to be and it's trickier to collect anything that has been deposited in the middle - I actually have to climb in and then it's difficult to escape with 9 little piranhas hanging off my trouser legs. Also, with so much space available now, they can really build up some speed when they're running around. Great exercise for those developing muscles and also for tiring them out, of course. Unfortunately, it also means that they land with more impact when they run face-first into the sides. I keep telling myself that they'll learn... well, they'll have to, otherwise we will have some very short-nosed dogs.

Today's video is footage of said running in said pen (& with said deposit in middle, for which apologies).



And tomorrow is Thursday again! New photo updates complete with the puppies' proper names, with the possible exception of two girls whose future is still uncertain. That sounds ominous, doesn't it? All I mean is that we STILL don't know which is going where. But we will soon. Promise.

busy days

We're back! As expected, it was a hectic weekend full of visiting puppy-families-to-be. The canine gang took it all in good humour. However, after being spoiled by so much attention, they're now getting demanding. Uh oh.

The workload is ratcheting up. The weaning is going really well. They are eating 4 meals a day, all provided by me. Two or 3 of them will be puppy biscuits soaked for a few minutes in warm Lactol and one will be thick porridge. Every other day or so they will have scrambled egg for one of their meals.

Now that Neka is only in with them at night, all the cleaning up is also down to me. That's fine when the weather is good and they can spend time outdoors. Going into the garden regularly also helps with the house training as they get accustomed to doing their business on the grass instead of the fur mat. Unfortunately, however, it doesn't seem to want to stop raining for more than 5 minutes at a time, so we have frequently had spiky puppies as they get caught while I'm frantically trying to clean out the indoor pen. I do have a waterproof sheet draped over the pen to protect them from the sun & rain, but when it's so windy as well, that doesn't last long.

They don't wake us at night so much now except for the occasional teeth-caught-in-the-bars emergency that results in blood-curdling puppy screams that send us rocketing out of bed and down the stairs before our eyes are even open. Of course, by the time we get to the bottom of the stairs, the crisis is over. There is nothing to match the screech of a Finnish Lapphund who thinks he just might, perhaps, have a slim chance of being about to get hurt.

Rise & shine is at about 5:45, which is an improvement on the last litter who woke religiously at 5 am. I guess it's down to the later sunrises. As their day starts with a trip to the garden, I don't dare get going until 7, though, as I'm trying to be kind to my neighbours. Yes, they're noisy. No, not the neighbours...

So if we've all gone a bit quiet here it's only because I don't have quite enough hours each day. And don't even ask about how the lounge painting project is going!

Here's the Devon Nine in their pen this morning.















L-R: Flash, Right Paw, Spot, Big A, Boots
Back: Cross, LMP
and 2 in hiding in between















Not sure who owns that gorgeous little bottom on the left, but that's Cross in the middle and Suck Monster on the right.

raccoon & the outdoor pen

It was so nice to see Kate & Jerome with kiddies Isabelle & Jamie yesterday - even if they did only come to have puppy cuddles! Nonetheless I got to have puppy cuddles of my own with Taika and got this sweet photo of her looking beautifully trim after her recent diet. I'm considering asking Kate to put me on the same one...

















Those of us with Lapphunds have heard them called many things - husky, chow, fox, wolf, bear, etc, etc - but when a child called Taika a raccoon, it was a new one on me. However, looking at her pretty mask, you can perhaps see the resemblance.

And here's a treat for you all, just in case I get caught up in the weekend and don't get around to posting. Here is the pups' first foray into the garden yesterday morning. The one careening around in a demented fashion in the background is Boots. Of course. In the beginning of the video, the one sitting in the middle of the pen calmly watching everyone else going mad is Big A. Also of course. Watch him closely and he'll wave at you. The one sitting front & centre towards the end of the video having a moan at me direct to camera is Suck Monster.

games in the pen

The puppies have settled in to the downstairs pen and seem to be growing right before my eyes now. In fact, I think I'll be adding the pen extension today to double the size. They are taking all the household noises as they come and haven't been too worried by the washing machine spinning or the Dyson zooming around their perimeter.

When they're not sleeping or eating, they're too busy playing to worry about any random bangs or crashes. They're interacting with each other, us and their toys a great deal now. When I come downstairs in the morning, I call them and they all run, yapping, to the side of the pen looking up, waiting for breakfast.

Breakfast today was last night's leftover puppy biscuit mush and another plate of porridge. The biscuit went down very well and no one turned up their nose or seemed to have any trouble eating it. I will gradually lessen the time I soak it for until they are able to happily crunch up the bits.

On Thursday they will be 4 weeks old and that means lots of new things. New portraits, of course, and visits from strangers & patiently waiting families. It also means I need to start making up my mind about which puppy will stay here with mum & dad and which ones will go where. Placing the puppies in the right homes is a job I take very seriously and I try so hard to make sure the personality fits the family.

Of course, some puppies' personalities change when they move into their new home and get their paws under the table, don't they Koda? Koda was a quiet little mouse when he lived here with us and when he went to his family his cheeky, adventurous character really developed! A little bit of work and he's now reverted to his good-boy status and is a real delight.

The magic 1-month-old milestone also means that I'm hoping the pups will start spending some of their time in the garden. Fingers crossed for good weather - or at least better than it's been for the last 2 months or so. Now need to find some time to get the grass cut good and short in preparation.

For your entertainment today, a little video of games in the pen.

the big move

It's been quite a busy weekend here for the Devon Nine. I started to feel sorry for Neka having to run up and down the stairs everytime a pup made a squeak and even sorrier for myself having to do the same. So over the weekend I planned the big relocation.

On Saturday I scrubbed the puppy pen and down came the pups, two-by-two with Neka trailing after me & Jay as we carefully carried them from the cardboard box that they called home for the first 3.5 weeks of their lives and placed them into their new pen. They settled right in and were very interested to meet Keskiyo & Annie & took everything completely in their stride without a hint of fear or shyness.

Here are a couple of photos of them snoozing in their new digs.

L-R: Suck Monster, Flash, Big A















A selection of puppies! Flash is clearly yet another one of this litter who takes after her dad, resting her top lip on the bar to show off her tiny brand new teeth.















The weaning is going very well. They now polish off 2 large platefuls of porridge at every meal and tonight I'll try them with their first taste of puppy kibble soaked in warm milk until it's mushy. I'll report back how we get on!

pups on the rampage

What, didn't you believe me when I called them noisy horrors? See below for the proof and witness LMP (I think it is) attempting to break out.

And after that, have a look top right for the new poll. It's the race to reach the 2 kilo milestone.

3 weeks old - weights

It was lovely to see Emma, Andrew & Matilda today with Taito, the "Spot" from the last litter. He's a lovely 14-month-old boy now - handsome, super coat, so sweet natured and cuddly. We had a great walk and Taito even got a little game out of Annie.

Here's how he looks today. See the family resemblance? Never did a boy look so much like his mum!

As for the puppies, the noisy little horrors, here are their weights at 3 weeks with birth weight in parentheses and gain on previous week added:

Big Arrow (366) 1470 - gain 317
Suck Monster (360) 1576 - gain 422
Chew (320) 1419 - gain 414
Right Paw (365) 1462 - gain 366

Spot (285) 1348 - gain 395
Boots (297) 1393 - gain 384
Cross (347) 1512 - gain 358
Flash (300) 1397 - gain 357
LMP (?) 1232 - gain 317

And the pictures: