cute stuff

It's full on cuteness these days.  The puppies are almost a week old and they are growing fast.  The normal rate is about 10% of their body weight per day but as there is so little competition at the milk bar, they are growing at more like 20% per day.  Big puppies!

Here they were at only 2 days old with Tuuli showing what a wonderful mama she is.

welcome

I was blithely whiling away the day at a show in deepest Cornwall where the handsome Loki beat his sister Ulla to Best of Breed and Pastoral Group 2.  Lucky he didn't win Group 1, really, because I would have missed the Best in Show challenge.  As I was packing up to go home, I had a text message from Jay to say that Tuuli had vomited.  Based on past experience, that meant her puppies were coming within hours.  I sent him back a message saying I was on my way.  As I rushed back home, dropping dogs off with their families along the way, Jay called to say that he thought Tuuli was having contractions.  I think I made it home in record time.

I went in the door, had a wash & a change of clothes before going anywhere near Tuuli and then we settled down to wait for the puppies.  We didn't have long to wait before the first one arrived.  It took a very reasonable 2 hours for her to produce the 3 puppies, and then I spent the next several hours waiting for the other 2 to make up the 5 predicted by the ultrasound scan Tuuli had a month ago.

I never argue with nature, because nature knows what's it's doing.  So if Tuuli re-absorbed 2 or even 3 puppies, then I'm just really grateful for the 3 strong, healthy ones.

This bunch were born under the biggest, brightest full moon imaginable, so they will be the "full moon" puppies - "Täysikuu" in Finnish.

First out was the boy with ALL the white - you can't really see it well from the photo, but you will see it better in future pics as he develops.  I think he's going to have markings very much like his dad, so he is going to be called Little Arvo.  Arvo is Finnish for "value" or "worth".

Next out was the girl who is called Tähti, which is Finnish for "star".  She's more black and tan like her mum than black and white but, just to be clear - Little Arvo has the white star on his forehead, not the girl called Star.  Is that confusing enough?

Finally, came the second boy who I think will also have bright markings.   He's going to be called Kuu, Finnish for "moon".

LITTLE ARVO

TÄHTI

KUU

 Welcome, full moon Täysikuu puppies!

Here is the first photo of mama and babies.  Tuuli is enjoying having only 3 puppies so much.

puppy news

Well well well, whaddeya know - there is puppy news in the air.  I've been feeling puppy broody for a long time now, so it's very exciting to be looking forward to welcoming puppies from Tuuli and the handsome Arvo before Halloween arrives.

Tuuli and I had a very quick visit to the Netherlands to meet Arvo and his lovely family.  We had a great, if brief, visit and I'm already looking forward to going back someday.  The coffee cannot possibly be better (thanks Ron!), but hopefully the weather, at least, will be as good as it was while I was there.  And the pretty photo above is thanks to Mel.

You can see more photos of Arvo on my website.

See you in a few weeks!

7 weeks old

Busy, busy, busy.

Apart from the pints of stuff that these puppies produce that needs to be cleaned up every 5 minutes, they are also now very fond of ripping things to shreds.  So the puppy pen inside & out is always a complete mess. 

The puppies have been busy socialising this week.  They have all had a little ride in the car and have visited the town centre to meet strangers & get cuddles.   The coming week will be full of more social activities and more car-time as well as vet visits for their eye tests and microchips.

They're pretty much ready for anything.  I hope their owners are.

At long last, there is an Infindigo Facebook group, so if you would like to join us, hop over there:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/infindigo/