Keskiyo's kids

Before Keskiyo became dad to Maija & her siblings, he sired a litter of puppies with Neka's sister, Suvi (Elbereth Huvi for Arianrhod) who is owned by Vikki & Trevor. Those pups will be 2 years old at the beginning of October.

Inexplicably I don't have a photo of Minna, but she looks quite a lot like her auntie, Keskiyo's sister Curly (Elbereth Suvi at Cochochr). Equally, I don't have a recent pic of the boy that Vikki & Trevor kept, Ripa, but I did manage to get a quick shot of him at Crufts in March.

This is one of the other boys from that litter, Kukko, who went to live with Jill. Many thanks to Louise & Simon at Dogs to Stay for permission to use their photo.

















Sweet boy looking so much like both his parents. I hear he has a lovely nature and is very large! I'd love to see that, considering his dad is more on the compact side. I must sometime try to make it to a walk where Jill & Kukko will be. Like so many of the UK Lapphunds, they live quite a way from me.

let it snow some more

And while in southwest England we're 'enjoying' unusually seasonal frost, snow and ice, this is the sort of thing going on in southern Canada/northern US, as photographed from space by satellite. I just love the images they show on the NASA Earth Observatory. I mean, just look at this image of a volcano in the Aleutian islands in the north Pacific, just south of Alaska. Ok, so I know its sides are not actually red, but what a fabulous picture.

I have been the lucky recipient of a few more fabulous pictures, too, I'm pleased to announce. Can you guess who this is?















I'm thinking it could be Inko, or perhaps Neka as a puppy, Keskiyo as a puppy, a very pretty Tarkka - any of those, really. But it's none of those. Have you guessed? It is, in fact, Kaija, otherwise known as Infindigo Sulo, or "Cross". As you can see, she's still got her cross like her mum, for which she was named at birth. Here she is looking so much like Neka.


















And enjoying the snow, like every Lappy.














Her sister (and evil twin???) Inko, around the same time, similarly occupied:



























It occurred to me today that these puppies will probably be expecting snow like this every winter now, having experienced it for their very first winter. Oh dear.

like parent, like offspring

Tarkka has been to visit a couple more times and he's looking more like his mum everyday. I know Jo & George were hoping for a boy with tan markings like his dad, but I feel he will end up with the bright tricolour markings that I love with distinctive white and paler tan. Sorry folks!

Here he is getting muddy with our gang yesterday.

















And having a cuddle with me very much against his wishes - he'd rather be beating up on Maija as in the following photo.


































You can just see the remains of their baby teeth in this one, and it might well be the last photo to capture them. Their adult teeth are quickly filling in the space at the front between the canines and the canines won't be far behind.

I should mention here that the puppies are 4 months old today. It's a real milestone as the girls are weighing in at about 10 kgs now and the boys even more than that. They are getting close to their adult height so that at first glance I can't differentiate between Neka & Maija when they are out running around. Happy 4-month birthday, puppies!

As Tarkka is looking like his mum, can you guess which one is Keskiyo and which Inko?




































She certainly has her dad's looks and now we're hoping she's got her mum's brains. That combination might just produce the world's first ever perfect dog.

Yes, well, I would say that, wouldn't I?

ugly puppies

That's right, I said ugly. You don't believe me, do you? I know I've said once or twice that puppies don't come in ugly. I've probably even said it on this blog. But I lied.

It all depends on the age of the puppy. And the breed, no doubt. There are very few puppies cuter than a Finnish Lapphund at the age of about 3 weeks to 15 or 16 weeks. (Ok, possibly these Shiba Inus. Beware this is a time-sensitive link to a webcam which is currently showing the most adorable little red Shiba puppies about 5 or 6 weeks old.)

Here is Viivi at 12 weeks, for example, in her usual position cuddled up with Jaska. Cute as a button, no?












And here is Maija at a similar age doing a like-father-like-daughter at the kitchen door. It's illegal in our house for dogs to actually enter the kitchen, but they do lie with front paws only over the threshold in the hope of being tossed a piece of cheese or, prize of prizes, a slice of green pepper.














And in a few days the puppies will be 16 weeks old. A full 4 months old at the end of November. Is that really all? It seems such a long time ago I had 9 of them here. And like everyone who gets a new puppy, I can't believe Maija has been with us such a short time - she's definitely an integral part of the family now and it's difficult to remember what it was like around here without her.

As there are few things cuter than baby Finnish Lapphunds, so the same dogs at the age of 4-5 months are barely fit to be seen in public. Those of us who are interested in the world of dog shows despair at winding up with such an ... unattractive specimen. Witness my beautiful Neka at the age of 4 months:














Shocking, isn't it? Gangly, skinny, big of ear and long of muzzle. Barely recognisable as a Finnish Lapphund. And so, even Neka's puppies, these most gorgeous of baby Lapphunds, are going through their ugly stage now. Maija's teeth are falling out much faster than the new ones are coming in, and I'm reaching the stage where I wonder if she'll ever grow into her ears.

















And speaking of gangly... Tarkka came to visit yesterday. He is shooting up and is now all out of proportion with a long muzzle, head too big for his body and body too short for his legs. But, even in the throes of their ugly stage, I have to admit they're still pretty sweet. Here they are after exhausting themselves playing like maniacs.
BTW that's Tarkka on top - they're still so similar it's difficult to tell them apart when they're just a bundle of puppy rolling around the floor together. But Tarkka is noticeably bigger now so the similarity will likely become less marked as time goes on.

So, we all go through our puppies' ugly stage and hope that when we get to the end of it they will have turned into the beautiful dog we hoped for. Guess what? They always do!

To every rule, there is the exception, of course. Very occasionally there comes a Lapphund who is as beautiful at 5 months as they are at 3 months and as they will be at 3 years. They just don't grow through that skinny, leggy phase. They sail through adolescence without being touched by the ugly puppy syndrome. Who could be so perfectly formed?


















Perhaps not the model of Lappy perfection that he is now at age 2 1/2, but Keskiyo didn't have many faults at 4 or 5 months of age. But, then again, some might say he never really grew up!