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:

waving off the onnekas puppies

This is the spring of the novel Coronavirus and Covid-19.  And that all kicked off while these puppies were growing up here in this house in the past few weeks.  The puppies turned 7 weeks old, had their eye tests, their microchips and vet checks, and then we heard the country was going into lockdown.  Stay home, no socialising, no driving anywhere unless absolutely necessary.  I went straight to the new owners - a week early - and suggested they come and pick up their puppies as soon as they possibly could while they still could.  Within 3 days, they were all gone.

It was hard to see them go so early, but it is a truth universally accepted that a 7-week-old Finnish Lapphund puppy is ready for its new home.   Honestly, at that age they are flipping hard work!  Fighting with their siblings, already half house-trained, demanding to go out every 5 minutes for a poo and generally ready for the world.

With the social distance rule, the new owners didn't get the usual Infindigo handover treatment of a 2-hour sit-down to go over everything in the puppy manual and all the things they need to know.  They didn't even get to come into the house.  They took their puppy pack stuff and their puppy and were here and gone in about 10 minutes flat.  A bit stressful for me.  Not the way I like to send my puppies into the world.  But it's such a strange world we find ourselves in at the moment, and I know it was the right decision; the very next day the police were stopping cars.

One Infindigo tradition couldn't be abandoned completely, even though in many cases the whole family didn't come to collect the way they normally do.  But I still managed to get the leaving photos.  From a safe 2-metre distance, of course.

First to go was Ruska - to Cornwall with Avril & Scott & new big sister Layla, the Cavapoo.

Then Penni also to Cornwall with the Hollister family,  her mum, Anni, & Springer Lyla.  It was so lovely to see how happy Anni was to see one of her babies.

Penni was followed quickly by Lily who is off to Oxfordshire to Claire & Andy - not to mention new big brother, Miika (Infindigo Lintu Miika).  Looks like they are fast becoming best friends. 

The next day it was Taika off to ... not far away at all with Tom & Jo!  You can follow his continuing adventures on Instagram @taikuri_the_lapphund.

Then went Maki all the way to Manchester with Ruth & Mark.  Hopefully at some point in the future he will have a chance to meet some family members who live up there.  In the meantime, you can follow him on Instagram too @maki_the_lappie.

Finally, it was Nalle's turn to go ... again, staying pretty close by in Devon with Helly, Neil and Bjorn.

Good luck, pups!  Be the amazing dogs you are destined to become.

Someday, when all this madness is behind us, I hope to be sharing some puppy reunion photos.

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.

2 weeks old

In haste because I'm quite tired tonight (and who thought it would be a good idea for me to do these weekly updates on Tuesday nights, anyway?)

The puppies' eyes are all now open, or at least just starting to open.  Now that they can see each other, they are getting funny, heaving themselves to their feet, trying to play and practicing their growling and barking.

Next week I promise to try and get sharp photos!

Neot

Penny

Fowey

Trever

Kensey

Ottery