9 & 10 weeks old

The Onnekas puppies are having a strange kind of start in life.  We're all locked in our houses except for one walk a day, and there's very little traffic on the roads or any kind of normal society at all.   That makes for a challenging time to be trying to socialise young puppies.  Anyway, needs must, and so they are all getting as much in as they can.

In the meantime, they are growing fast, bringing a wealth of happiness and joy to their new families, and starting to learn to do all the stuff that young Lappies need to know - like being good, and being naughty, of course.

Cute update photos alert!  I have to say I'm pretty impressed that we have such great standing shots - definitely not easy in a young puppy.

Nalle
9 weeks & 10 weeks:

Penni
9 weeks & 10 weeks:

Ruska
9 weeks:

Taika
9 weeks & 10 weeks:

Maki
9 weeks:

Lily
9 weeks & 10 weeks:

6 weeks old

The puppies are 6 weeks old, and as usual, here they are with their new names.  As always, all the names are subject to KC approval. 

These puppies have been so well behaved and quiet - it's most unusual for a litter of Lappies.  Because of the weirdness of Coronavirus and the self-isolating I've been doing for almost 2 weeks now, these puppies have not been getting anything like the normal socialisation regime that Infindigo puppies usually get.  Still, they're confident and outgoing little tykes, taking in all the experience that we can give them without actually having people in the house or taking the puppies into town.

As you might expect from their parents, the puppies' coats are amazing.  Looking at these photos, I think I'm going to have to start using the adult brush on them, as the puppy brush just isn't cutting it anymore.

How cute are the sitting shots!  Luckily they are, as most of the standing ones are, well, not great.  But then you get the absolute natural posers like Neot/Nalle and Trever/Taika!

Neot
To be called Infindigo Onnekas Nalle
Nalle is a Finnish word for bear - very fitting, we think, for the most teddybear-like of puppies!

Penny
To be called Infindigo Onnekas Penni
Penni is the Finnish form of the word "penny"

Fowey
To be called Infindigo Onnekas Ruskka (Ruska)
Ruska is a Finnish word meaning autumn colours, but I added an additional, unnecessary K to the registered name because Ruska wasn't accepted by the KC

Trever
To be called Infindigo Onnekas Taikuri (Taika)
Taikuri is a Finnish word meaning magician and Taika means magic
You can follow Taika on Instagram @taikuri_the_lapphund

Kensey
To be called Infindigo Onnekas Maki
Maki is a Finnish boy's name

Ottery
To be called Infindigo Onnekas Kielo (Lily)
Kielo is the Finnish word for lily of the valley flower

3 weeks old

As promised, the puppies are more or less crunchy with dried-in food at this age.  They have started to eat solid food - and by solid, I mean puppy kibble soaked into mush and mixed with warm puppy milk.  Any that they don't manage to get on themselves while they are eating, their littermates spread when they start playing after meals.

They will have their first taste of raw food tomorrow - yum!  But in the meantime, here they are at 3 weeks old.  They still mostly sleep, but when they're awake, they are barking, growling, playing, stomping around and wagging. 

Neot

Penny

Fowey

Trever

Kensey

Ottery

weight

I have to say, these puppies look enormous to me.  They feel fat & heavy & very cuddly.  Don't ask me why - I have no idea why I have this perception, because apparently it's not true!  The numbers don't lie, and as you can see from from nerdy charts below, it seems that these puppies are extremely average in size and weight (if extreme average-ness isn't an oxymoron).

In other news, the puppies have been wormed for the first time.  That never goes down well because it's a liquid and they tell me it tastes terrible.  As proof, you can see their uncles from Tuuli's first litter being wormed at the same age here.  

This time I tried Drontal wormer instead of the Panacur I normally use.  I do believe the puppies tolerated the terrible taste more readily than others have coped with Panacur in the past.  I was slightly concerned as the Drontal is obviously a stronger drug, because you only give it once whereas the Panacur you give once a day for 3 days.  However, there have been no apparent ill effects, and it can only be a good thing for them not to have more than one day of it at a time.  

And here are the weights.  The puppies were weighed twice a day for the first week and then daily for the second week.  From now on they will only be weighed weekly.  The first table shows their weekly weight followed by a chart showing the same information in diagram size; and they are all extremely close.  The last chart is my litter average weight comparison chart.  See - I told you it was nerdy.  

If you're having trouble seeing the images, you can click on them for a larger size.

welcome to the onnekas litter

Here we are, not-quite-a-year later than the last post.  Today we are welcoming the Onnekas litter, who arrived so slowly that I took mama dog to the vet at 1am because I was worried that she was suffering from uterine inertia.  But lo and behold, perhaps because I just didn't give her enough time, or perhaps thanks to the trundle down the stairs and out into the car, the first two puppies were born in the car on the way.  In fact, they were born truly more or less at the same time.  Poor Anni!  There were two yelps from her, as you might well expect from the first-born puppy of a maiden bitch, about 3 minutes apart.  When we got to the vet and opened up the back, there were two of them!  So we stayed at the vet for a few minutes, got everyone warm, had a cup of tea and then bundled everyone back into the car and back home to the quiet & peaceful whelping room (aka Jay's office).  Jay says it's the most expensive cup of tea ever.  I cannot disagree.

But, seriously, I will always ere on the side of safety and caution and I don't begrudge one penny spent on puppies and mama dogs to ensure everyone is safe and sound, healthy and strong.  Waiting a few minutes too long to take necessary action when puppies are being born can be lethal not only for the puppies, but for the dam too.  So no unnecessary chances here. 

Of course, that means we don't actually know which puppy was first and holding up the proceedings.  None of them are particularly big, so I don't think that was causing a delay.  It was more likely that a puppy was coming breech (feet first) or (even worse) bum first.  Certainly, Anni's mum, Tuuli, birthed several that way, and in fact I saw two more come at least feet first in Anni's case too.  So that's the most likely explanation.

I'm taking a guess on the boy being first, but literally only because he was a bit bigger at birth. 

Why Onnekas?  Well, this litter marks my 13th as a breeder of Finnish Lapphunds.  Lucky number 13 deserves a lucky name, and "onnekas" is Finnish for lucky.  It's also the name of my first Lappy, my special Neka.  Although these puppies are not related to Neka, they are named for her <3 p="">
Here is the handsome sire, who is issuing cigars as I type; I couldn't hope for a sweeter, funnier, more gorgeous and fluff-some boy than Arttu.  Big thanks to Shelley & Sammy for helping to make this happen. 

Ch Pavoskas Aly Arttu JW ShCM   

Arttu

Mama is the Hollisters's adorable Anni:

Infindigo Taysikuu Anniina

 

We have spent some time today trying to distinguish between the puppies, and I think we got there in the end, but (as always) I reserve the right to fix it later.  Ahem.  And several of them might be wolf sable but at the moment they look brown or black, so I might be changing that later too.

As for the quality of the photos, we do this quickly at this stage, and these puppies wriggle, so don't expect great detail. 

If this is not your first time to the blog, you will know that my puppies' Finnish kennel names are chosen by their eventual family.  In the meantime, each puppy is given a baby name.  These puppies have been given the names of rivers in Cornwall as Anni is a Cornish girl who lives on Bodmin Moor.  Thanks to Jane for the great idea and to the Hollisters for the suggestions - they're perfect. 

Puppy 1 -  Neot

Sex:  Male

Colour:  Wolf sable (or maybe black, tan & white)

Time of Birth:  00:45

Birth Weight:  347g

Puppy 2 - Penpol (Penny)

Sex:  Female

Colour:  Brown, tan & white

Time of Birth:  00:48

Birth Weight:  305g

Puppy 3 - Fowey (pronounced FOY)

Sex:  Male

Colour:  Black, tan & white

Time of Birth:  02:45

Birth Weight:  335g

Puppy 4 - Treverbyn (Trever, like Trevor!)

Sex:  Male

Colour:  Brown wolf sable (or maybe brown, tan & white)

Time of Birth:  03:33

Birth Weight:  295g

Puppy 5 - Kensey

Sex:  Male

Colour:  Wolf sable (or maybe black, tan & white)

Time of Birth:  03:53

Birth Weight:  300g

Puppy 6 - Ottery

Sex:  Female

Colour:  Wolf sable

Time of Birth:  05:29

Birth Weight:  339g

Puppy 7 -  Loveny

Sex:  Female

Colour:  Black, tan & white

Time of Birth:  07:30

Birth Weight:  239g