3 weeks old

 It's been a busy week for Joulu.  He's had his nails cut a few times now, he has been wormed - neither of these events is something he's particularly keen on, like all puppies.  On the plus side, his eyes are open, he has learned to walk (and getting good at it), he is now playing with his toys (result - they don't bite back!) and he has started to lap at milk (yummy but hard work) and had his first meal.  

Is it possible he's getting cuter?  He's definitely getting funnier at times.  Little walking video at the bottom.

This pretty boy (tongue out!)

And again!  Sleeping version

Not perfectly sharp, but with pretty mama

Mamas are good for snoozing with

Practicing walking

Hanging out with the toy-siblings

Milk is yummy

Being a puppy is TIRING WORK

Squawking over-tired puppy

And then .... zzzzzzzzzz

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:

12-week check in

At the time of writing the Sisko girls are just about 12 weeks old.  They are deep into training, socialisation and ... swimming.  At least one is a skilled escape artist like her dad, at least one other is super-clever like her great-great-granny, at least another is a very good girl like her mama.   But they are all, without exception, loving the water like their maternal grandpa.  Actually, come to think of it, he was a pretty good escapologist himself, so I guess these puppies don't stand a chance.  Or, should I say, their families don't.

Big thanks to their families for frequent updates and some photos.  I'm still waiting for the swimming video, but hopefully that will be along too in due course.

Suvi

At home in her new garden

Got the paddling pool sorted

A day at work

Insta-famous at Pets at Home

Piia

Mid-game with new big brother, Bergen

Being a good girl

Growing up pup

Also got the paddling pool sorted

Kukka

who is now also called Nukka

"I'm allowed on the table, right?"

Getting sleepy

Playing tug with Mr Fox

Another sweet wet pup

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!

Emmi's tennis puppies

Mama and babies settled & happy

The plan was to meet Jane for lunch on Friday.  Maybe have a little dog walk.  Bring Tuuli so she and Jaana could have a play together.  Then gather up Emmi and her belongings and make our leisurely way down the M5.

Then the plan was to get Jay to finish setting up the whelping box, clear out the puppy room and find me a box to put the hot water bottle in for the puppies while Emmi was busy with each new one.  I would introduce her to the whelping box and get the last few bits together that I needed to.  After all, there was plenty of time.  Those puppies weren't coming until Sunday at the very earliest.  In fact, as I had to go back to work on Tuesday after 4 days off, I was pretty sure Emmi would wait until after midnight on Monday.

Yup, those were the plans.

Need I say that Emmi had her own ideas.  Right from the beginning she was in a hurry with these puppies.  Her season started unexpectedly early.  Then she mated early in her season.  And sure enough, the puppies came on Friday afternoon - much earlier than I expected.  And far more conveniently than I expected.

Luckily Jane and I had been in contact Thursday night for me to get regular updates on her development.  When I saw a video of her panting away in the dog bed, I thought to myself "stage 1" and waited to hear about digging.  Jane was standing by to let me know when any digging got going or - heaven forbid - if there was water breaking or the grunting that is a tell-tale sign of contractions.  But stage 1 labour can and often does go on for 24 hours or even more before anything more exciting starts to happen, so I wasn't unduly concerned.

When the text arrived at 4:45am to say that digging had been going on intermittently all night, I hopped out of bed, straight into the car and met Jane to collect Emmi at a convenient spot on the M5.  Lucky, lucky, lucky.  If we had stuck to the plan, that first puppy would have been born in the car coming down the motorway.  Or I would have had to bring the whelping box to Jane's.

The next plan was for me to get to watch the 2 Wimbledon men's semi-final matches while Emmi's stage 1 progressed.  I got to see the Djokovic/Gasquet match ok, but as soon as Murray and Federer started, so did Emmi.  Oh, and they finished about the same time too.

It is said that it's best not to pay to much attention to bitches as they are going through their various stages of delivery until the cucial moments.  So it was nice to have something to distract me from what was going on in the whelping box.  However, it's true that I saw a lot more of the whelping than the tennis.

But it's only fitting that these puppies get named for the top 4 men and the top woman in tennis.

Did I mention that the plan was also for 6 puppies, 2 or 3 females and a couple of wolf sables?  Emmi had her own ideas on that score too.  Five puppies, 4 boys and 1 girl, 3 creams, one black and one brown.  Although I think we're blaming this plan on dad.  Salo has produced a handful of gorgeous cream puppies before, but all girls until now.  I'm sure they knew what they were doing, though, because look at what a good job they did!  I'll have to bring a big juicy bone next time I see Liz.  Although I dare say Salo will appreciate the bone more than Liz would.

Novak
Cream male
Birth weight:  259 grams
Time of birth:  4:08 pm

Roger
Cream male
Birth weight:  355 grams
Time of birth:  4:44 pm

Stan
Brown tan & white male
Birth weight:  303 grams
Time of birth:  4:50 pm

Serena
Black, tan & white female
Birth weight:  300 grams
Time of birth:  5:10 pm

Andy
Cream male
Birth weight:  384 grams
Time of birth:  6:25 pm

Did I mention that the plan was also for a Murray/Djokovic Wimbledon final?  Uh huh.



But we can't blame that one on Emmi or Salo.  

catch up on the pippuri litter

In addition to the birthday dogs, I have also been collecting recent photos of (some of) the Pippuri puppies who are now 4-almost-5 months old. 

Pippuri Talvi has passed her Kennel Club Good Citizen Bronze award.  She's so young to have achieved this already - what a clever girl she is.  And good job, Liz, too!

Little sweetie pie Pippuri Fiia not looking very grownup yet.  On second thought... I'm sure her ears were the first up.  I think this is an old photo!  But very cute.

Pippuri Kai looking a big boy and sweet as can be.

Pippuri Kaito looking adorable with smiley face and ears up. 

Finally, over the weekend I had a chance to meet up with Pippuri Aatami (Tito) and managed to grab a few shots.

Soaked after a few water games with the boys

After a great Lappy walk in the warm sunshine at Bodiam Castle, I even managed to get a cuddle.  He was marginally more interested in getting to the other puppy on the ground just out of shot.