happy birthday

Very happy birthday to the Tuisku puppies who are four years old today.  FOUR!  I can hardly believe it.

They're a lovely bunch of grownup Lapphunds at four years, but at four weeks they were positively adorable.  Although it is my tradition to post photos of puppies in corresponding months or weeks of age to their current years of age, for some reason I can't locate the 4-weeks-old photos this morning.  So you will just have to make do with these from the 5-6-week-old pile.

Minna, Kallio, Usko, Kesa, Lana

Minna, Lana, Kallio

Kallio, Usko, Minna, Lana

five (make that 3) more things you should teach your dog

Following on from my earlier post, five things you should teach your dog, here are a few more absolute essentials that didn't make the cut on the original five.

1.  Leave - Also known in some training classes as "Leave It".  The addition of the "it" may have something to do with the fact that dogs hear hard consonants better than soft sounds, so finishing the command on a hard T gives it a bit of extra punch.  Otherwise it can sound to a dog a bit like any other eee-word.  This really is an essential command for every dog.  It's useful for getting him to part with treasures he finds such as tissues, shoes, disgusting things found in fields, or, as in the case of Keskiyo a few years ago, a live and rather surprised pheasant.  Keskiyo, whose leave is really excellent, dropped the pheasant, albeit probably as much in shock at having caught it as in response to my roared command.  Nonetheless, drop it he did, and it survived to wind up another dog on another day.  Leave also works as in "leave that other dog/cat/person alone."

Karhu:  "May I please leave this bath?"

2.  Heel - Otherwise known as walking nicely on a lead.  This can be a tough one for Lapphunds.  Neka took an absolute age to finally stop pulling on her lead, regardless of how much training we did.  And we did a lot.  When she was about 5 months old she actually pulled me over into the street in the path of a bus.  Lappies pack a lot of power for a relatively small dog and they go from 0 to 60 in a split second, usually off to the side, taking your shoulder out of its joint as they go.  There are lots of good products available to help with the really stubborn pullers, and I eventually went the harness and head collar route.  These days she's excellent on her lead.  Unless she sees a squirrell, of course.  Or a cat.  Or occasionally a squirrell-shaped blowing leaf.

3.  Off - This is the all-purpose command to mean "get all 4 paws on the ground".  Use it to mean "get off the sofa," or "get off the street from the path of oncoming taffic and back onto the pavement," or "get off the stairs."  The real biggie, though, for this command is to stop your dog jumping up on people.  Some are happy to have their dog jumping up occasionally for a quick cuddle.  After all, it's certainly easier to reach them when they jump up to you rather than you bending down to their level.  However, if you do that you need to beware that they will forevermore equate jumping up on people with affection and therefore they will jump up on other people at every opportunity.  Don't let your dog jump up on other people, people.  Little folks don't do too well with dogs jumping up on them.  Equally old folks.  Not to mention folks dressed in their nice clothes.




Kallio illustrating another excellent use for the "Off" command.  Obviously he thinks anything the cat can do is fair game.











There are lots of things you can and should teach your dog, but I've reached the end of my list of absolute essentials.  Hmmm, maybe I should have kept point one from the first list as separate entries: sit, down, stay. That would have nicely filled out 2 sets of 5.

What has been the best or most important thing you ever taught your dog?

growing up puppies

In only a week the Tuisku puppies will be one year old and no longer puppies at all. I've had some updates here and there - and it is perhaps needless to say that we got to see one or two of them when the last bunch were receiving visitors.





Minna and Taika just a tad muddy after a walk during their visit.
















Usko also came to visit and we had a bit of a challenge to get him calm enough for a photo as he was rather excited to be here seeing us & his granny Neka.













Kallio had his first ever bath.












Lana went skiing in Scotland with sis Ellie & the rest of the family.







"You can't catch me!"







While Kesa enjoyed the snow down south.

in the meantime

Back along before I got distracted by seasons, progesterone testing and trips to France, the brothers Usko & Kallio had their very first show at Darlington. As, of course, did their owners Ian & Liz and Nicole & Charlie. Although it meant rather more driving than I would like, I had to be there to cheer them on.



Usko (L) & Kallio (R)







No one was more shocked than I to see that Usko's "little" brother Kallio had not only overtaken him in the size department, but looked about a month more mature as well.

Handled by yours truly, Kallio went into the showring and didn't have 4 paws on the ground at any one time. And he flatly refused to let the judge come anywhere near him - he thought it was a great game! And that carried right on through winning best puppy in breed and going into the big puppy group ring. As they announced the Finnish Lapphund, before all the spectators and cameras, Kallio hobbled across the ring on 3 legs. Not only did he refuse to walk properly on his lead, he decided he needed to have a good scratch as well and thought he could do so while on the move. Oh, so funny!

Usko, on the other hand, behaved impeccably for Ian & Liz's first real show with him. All those hours of ringcraft classes paid off - Usko behaved like a perfect little showdog in the ring, trotting around beautifully with Ian and standing nicely to let the judge go over him.

I'm sure all the exercise before going into the ring helped. Here are the brothers enjoying their reunion.














































Not only was Kallio bigger than Usko, but he was almost as big as his very big uncle Taito.

















Seeing Usko & Kallio together reminded me so much of seeing Taito & his brother Karhu together at their first show at 6 months of age. Taito, like Kallio, was quite mature while Karhu was like Usko and still looked very much the puppy. Here they are in the ring at the Manchester show 2007. As you can see, their ringcraft has come on quite well since those days - proof that there's hope even for Kallio!





Karhu & Wendy (L); Taito & Emma (R)









2 years on and Karhu has grown right up. At Darlington he went on to win Best Rare Breed in the very last Rare Breed competition that Lapphunds will participate in. Next year we will have challenge certificates and so the fun we've had over the years in Rare Breed classes with the Estrela Mountain Dogs, Pyrenean Sheepdogs and the like will come to an end.

I had some photos of Wendy & Karhu winning Best Rare Breed, but I can't find them at the moment - very frustrating, but not unexpected considering my, er, compromised organisational skills these last few weeks. If you're out there Wendy - please send me some more.




So proud of the beautiful boys!
L-R: Usko, Karhu, Taito, Kallio






Many, many thanks to Scott, Charlie and Ian (& possibly Liz) for the photos. Without you I would have had none at all.

pupdate

The puppies are 17 weeks old today. Is that all? Doesn't sound like much, does it? Around 4 or 5 months of age Lappies tend to go through a gangly stage. They have a growth spurt... of ears, muzzle and legs, anyway, and the coat can't keep up. They tend to be, um, cute-challenged. Not these puppies, they're cute all the way. (Um, mostly. So far.)

Note the fuzzy tufts of lighter fur behind the ears - a classic feature of the wolf sable puppy as the coat colour changes.

No new pics of Usko, but he's coming to visit in a couple of days, so stay tuned.

Jaana has been on holiday in Cumbria.




"Where'd they go?"













A perfect seat for two... Lapphunds.










Minna has also been on holiday - camping with the relatives! I've been assured she was a complete angel the whole time. No, really!







Snoozing with auntie Kaija in the foreground.







Kesä illustrating the play-bow. And looking very much like Kallio.







Kallio looking quite grown up... well, sorta.








He hasn't yet learned you can't out-stare a cat.






And, finally, in honour of Jay's recent birthday, Inko sent this greeting:

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!

water babies

You might think that with their thick, heavy coat Lapphunds would try to avoid getting wet. It has been my experience, though, that they love water. I know of a few who have learned to swim - for sport or in therapy or just by mistake after falling into deep water (Neka, Keskiyö).

I think that most would not choose to swim as a matter of course in the manner of, say, a Labrador, and ours certainly don't choose to get soaked head to tail. However, they love to paddle. Neka will playfully jump over waves in the ocean, while both Keskiyo and Maija head straight for any available river, pond, puddle or even mud.

The recent warm weather encourages even puppies to have a go. Although there is unfortunately no photographic proof, I have heard that Kesä, at only 8 or 9 weeks old had a swim in the family pool before the chemicals went in. Certainly, Keskiyö had an accidental swim in our garden pond at the ripe old age of 7 weeks, 2 days. (Incidentally, that event encouraged me to hastily remove the thick layer of pond weed obscuring the fact that there was, in fact, water underneath that seemingly solid green carpet.)



Usko trying out the stream












Kallio watching to see how the big dogs do it








Karhu cooling off












Taika on her first trip to France, on holiday 2009
















Everyone waiting impatiently to get their leads off at the river yesterday









Keskiyö paddling in sunbeams with his Collie friend Kye in the foreground

11 weeks old

I cannot believe these puppies have only been in their new homes 3 or 4 weeks. It seems like an absolute age. I'm sure it also feels to the puppies' new families that they have always just been there.

With apologies for the missing Kesä, here are the gang's 11-weeks-old photos.





Jaana out for a stroll among the fallen blossoms

















Kallio has a new bear









Getting very good at his show stand already!










Minna having a cuddle with Jay under protest
















A rare still moment posing with her mum












Usko helping out with a bit of weeding in the garden










Chatting with some pigs

what a difference...

...a week makes!

There we were last weekend bundled up in fleeces and waterproof jackets. This weekend? Summer arrived a couple of days ago and suddenly it's too hot to walk the dogs anytime other than very early or very late. So on Sunday, very early, we set off to Bovey Valley for a long walk along the river and through the bluebell woods.

Within the woods was a bit dark for very clear photos, although the dogs had a great time playing in the river and it meant that they were able to keep cool in the shade. Outside in the fields the sunlight was so hot & bright that it was difficult to get the gang to sit still for a photo. But here they are anyway.




Happy Lappies Maija, Keskiyo & Neka












With their friends the Border Collies Maddie & Kye











Keskiyo having a paddle in the river







In the meantime, the Tuisku puppies turned 10 weeks old and I have these photos to mark the occasion.




Jaana & Ellie having fun











Usko sporting the cute one-ear-up-one-ear-down look and learning to walk nicely on his lead.






Perfecting the Lappy pounce.








Kallio looking quite pleased with himself after - presumably - finishing the gardening. Just judging by the empty watering can next to him.

















Big grin.