worms & snails & puppy dog tales

Yes, I know it's supposed to be snakes.  And it's supposed to be about boys.  However, it's appropriate in this instance.

When Tuuli arrived she was enamoured of the grass - I guess it was novel after the frozen winter ground of Sweden.

Just look how small she was only 3 weeks ago!
















She still loves nothing more than a tuft of grass to carry, chew, toss into the air and play with.  Oh, and eat of course.  And if it has a great clot of mud on the end, then so much the better.  But now that the weather has warmed up and everyone has been mowing their lawns, I spend rather a lot of time extracting from her mouth wads of fresh cut grass the size of tennis balls.  How does she fit it all in there?

In addition to grass, she has added worms to her list of desirable prizes.  I suppose there is the element of the first hunt and kill about it, but it's quite disgusting.  I've taken several live worms out of her mouth.  And she swallowed far more than I managed to get from her.

Soon it will be snail season and I've never yet met a Lappy puppy who didn't like crunching up snails.  Eeuw is what I have to say to that.  But they really love them - it must be something about the texture.  That combination of crunchy with a slimy centre is apparently irresistible.  Like Ferrero Rocher for puppies, perhaps.

Don't let your puppy eat snails.

Apart from the ick-factor, snails carry a lungworm parasite that can be life-threatenting to dogs.  And dogs can pick up lungworm even just from snail slime.  So, keep your puppy away from snails.  But I'm warning you now, it can be tough.

Like all worrying things puppy-related, though, it is something they eventually grow out of.

There has been plenty of socialising still going on, of course.  We graduated from town centres to city centre and had a lovely sunny afternoon in Exeter window shopping and getting treats from strangers.

Sitting in Cathedral Green people watching and listening to some excellent close harmony being performed by a bunch of students.

A bit overwhelmed by all the feet going by.

Not too sure about the stairs.  This is the same staircase that flummoxed Neka as a puppy.  But where I eventually had to carry Neka to the top, Tuuli was a bit more brave.  But then again, Tuuli has already negotiated the stairs at home...

It was pretty slow going at times.

Made it!

















At home, she enjoys playing with her new bear, a gift from the Collies down the road.

rain or shine

Regardless of the weather, your dog needs exercise.  If you are lucky enough to have a Finnish Lapphund, then you will find yourself walking in all sorts of disgusting weather.  Lappies were bred to work and so they have a lot of energy.  That energy needs to be channelled everyday and I have found that the worse the weather, the better the Lapphunds like it.  Heavy rain?  They scoff at all sorts of rain, sleet and even hail.  Wind blowing trees horizontal?  They love that!  In fact, there is little so likely to bring the puppy out in my dogs than a gale force wind blowing through their coats and up their tails.

Apart, perhaps, from snow.  Lots of dogs love the snow, and Lapphunds - appropriately - seem to have a love of snow bred into their genes.  There were lots of happy Lappies around the UK over the weekend when there was a large amount of snow dumped over a 24-hour period.  Here in Devon we had a tiny sprinkle but then the rain moved in.

Neka enjoying a rare Devon snowfall last winter

Photo: Wendy H Gilmour

Karhu coming over all puppy-ish in the snow with his stick













And if the weather is just too disgusting for much of a walk, then your dog will need entertainment and exercise more than ever.  Here, from Dogster are some ways to keep your dog happy and occupied when you can't go outside.  Or even if you can, because these games are great fun for you and your dog.

don't feed the dog

Of course I don't mean actually don't feed a dog.

There are some things that dogs should only ever have as occasional treats and there are some things that dogs should never have.  The sort of thing that falls into my category of "occasional treats" includes most human food and the Pedigree Jumbone / Dentastix / tripe sticks, etc, sort of canine consumables.  By "occasional"  I mean no more than once a week.  Yes, I'm strict, I know.  And when they do get a Dentastix or Jumbone (both of which they love), they only get half of one each.  And that's plenty.

As a result of this my dogs are not fat.  In fact, they are lean and healthy, even if they do hate me.  Perhaps hate is a strong word.  Perhaps they just resent living here instead of somewhere with a softer touch for an owner where they might get leftover roast lunch on Sundays, bull's pizzle every morning and a ham sandwich now & again.  No such luck in this house!

Usko, age 3.5 months, enjoying a very safe chew - a nylon bone with an edible fake marrow inside that dogs love to eat. 














Amongst my list of things that dogs should never have are:

Chocolate - you know that human chocolate is toxic to dogs, right?  Dark chocolate or baking chocolate is the worst.  Don't let them have it and don't leave it where they can get it.  There is a doggie version of chocolate that is safe, but my poor maligned dogs don't even get that.  Not because it's poisonous, because it's not, but just because of the horrid ingredients.  I'd rather give them a juicy raw bone.

Citrus fruit - Lemons, limes, orange, grapefruit and their juice are all very bad for dogs as their stomach cannot deal with the citric acid.

Grapes & raisins - Both highly poisonous for dogs and, worst case scenario, can cause kidney damage.

Alcohol - Don't think it's funny or cute to let your dog drink beer.  Hops can cause seizures and any kind of alcohol can even kill a dog.

Seeds & pits from various fruits - like apricots, cherries, apples, peaches.

Nuts - dogs can choke on nuts; macadamia and walnuts can both cause awful illness.

Photo:  Joanne Ross

Tarkka enjoying every Lapphund's favorite treat - a snowball!

growing up puppies

In only a week the Tuisku puppies will be one year old and no longer puppies at all. I've had some updates here and there - and it is perhaps needless to say that we got to see one or two of them when the last bunch were receiving visitors.





Minna and Taika just a tad muddy after a walk during their visit.
















Usko also came to visit and we had a bit of a challenge to get him calm enough for a photo as he was rather excited to be here seeing us & his granny Neka.













Kallio had his first ever bath.












Lana went skiing in Scotland with sis Ellie & the rest of the family.







"You can't catch me!"







While Kesa enjoyed the snow down south.

growing & pain

Not puppy pain, but mother pain. What I have seen with Neka in the past and with Keksi this time around is quite a testament to the dedication of the dam to her puppies. Neka had 2 huge sores on her tongue from grooming and taking care of her puppies, but they didn't slow her down or make her any less inclined to do her job. The sores on Keksi's tongue are not quite so large as Neka's were, but they really have looked very sore indeed. Looks like they are finally starting to heal.












Again, although it must hurt, she doesn't stint for a second in her responsibility toward her pups. In fact, when I clean the box each morning I'm amazed how clean the vet bed is. She really is keeping the puppies immaculate.

Which is all the more amazing when you consider she would much rather be outside playing in the snow.

The Lapphunds are really loving this weather. Keskiyo has turned into a complete snow dog - he's still out there in the garden - and that's after our trek up through the fields this morning.











So you can imagine that when Keksi goes out for her ablutions 4 or 5 times a day, she doesn't really want to come back inside. She drags her feet just the slightest bit. So I always give her a little game so that she doesn't feel too left out. At less than 2 weeks since giving birth, it's rather amazing to see her running around, rolling in the snow and catching snowballs. No, I don't carry my camera out to capture all this. Frankly, my hands are usually quite full with stuffed poo bags, as each of Keksi's deposits requires 2 or more of them.

And so, the puppies grow and develop. As expected, their eyes are all open now, some wider than others, and they are starting to walk. Well, teeter and lurch, really. I'll try and get a video of that later. In the meantime, you can really get a sense of how much they've grown from today's lunchtime feeding.

snow xmas etc

This year we have a tree. Last year we didn't. Last year was a tough year, topped off by losing our beloved Anniebear in the autumn and then having to lay off employees at work a month before xmas. Last year we didn't feel much like celebrating.

This year, with puppies in the house, we have a tree and now we have snow to go with it. We must have been the last place the entire country to get it, but it finally arrived. Not masses, but enough to get the dogs worked up. Keskiyo was very excited when he looked out the window first thing and he stayed out there getting snowed on most of the morning.














Getting out of the house for a walk proved surprisingly tricky. Slippery underfoot? Well, yes, but that wasn't the problem. When we leave for walks these days we sneak out of the house so that Keksi, who is sequestered upstairs with her puppies and not allowed out for proper walks, doesn't hear anything and realise what she's missing out on.

Sneak out? Well that just wasn't going to happen today. As soon as the boots went on (the humans, that is), the dogs all started going mad, barking, running around, whining, jumping up. So excited. And that, in turn, would set Keksi off because she, of course, knew exactly what she was missing. Poor Keksi.

We did try to leave and got halfway down the park but the barking and howling coming from our house was too pitiful to ignore so we had to come back and try again later. The biggest challenge was tricking the dogs into going outside without getting over-excited. Sheesh!

As for the tree, well the dogs think that's pretty funny and entertaining too. You can see here the application of one of the many, many uses of vet bed. In this case, I'm using it to cover the scarred old table that the tree sits on. As far as Keskiyo is concerned, vet bed on top of a table is a dog table and he promptly claimed it for his own.





Doesn't he look like the dog that Santa forgot?








Like most daft Lappy folk, we have the requisite pair of silly reindeer antlers for the dogs to amuse themselves with. Ok, let's be honest, they are actually designed to amuse us with. If they were real reindeer antlers, then I'm sure the dogs would be much happier with them. Neka wasn't impressed with our idea of a good time and Maija just said "you must be joking." Keskiyo, though, was a good sport.
















More puppies later.

progress

Yesterday was a lovely day at the beach. No, really. While the rest of the UK was labouring under snow like I didn't even know was possible in this country, south Devon remained blissfully frosty and flake-free. Lapphunds, needless to say, adore cold weather, and I've lost count of the number of cute-Lappy-playing-in-the-snow photos I've seen. But I've kept them secret from our dogs who would be very jealous if they knew what fun their relatives were having.

Shhh! - here's Lana (formerly Jonna/Jaana) being a meerdog and gazing longingly out at the winter wonderland beyond her window.





Oh, pleeeeeeease can't I go out and play in the snow?














So to make up for what they are missing out on, we took advantage of a conveniently timed low tide for a quick run on the beach before work.

Keksi has mere days - nay, hours! - left and so has officially passed the "running" stage and will now even take a pass on "playing". "Sitting" is her favorite activity these days (after eating, obviously).















Keskiyo playing his favorite game: chasing stuff thrown into the water











Maija chilling out waiting for the 'photo' bit of the walk to be over with











And chilling a bit too much when she gets caught out - oops!







Today will be stuffed full of chores as I scramble to get ready for the newcomers. It's been a hectic couple of weeks; I can and do work a great deal from home, but much of my work can only be done at work, so I've been trying to get ahead for when I can't leave the puppies.

Progress to date: precious little

Jay once again inherited the job of clearing out the puppy room and although I was too embarrassed to post a photo like I did last time, it started out looking remarkably the same. So today the whelping box is in place and... well, that's about it. As for where all the stuff from the puppy room went, let's just say my lounge looks like a junk room exploded in it. And there's a reason for that: a junk room exploded in it.

Progress to date: a little

I've been shamefully slow in compiling the rest of the puppy whelping stuff. I have my "puppy kit" box that contains the latex gloves, syringes, thermometer, etc. But I haven't yet located the hot water bottle, set up my holding box or sterilised all the necessaries. I have purchased new tiny nail clippers for the puppies' new tiny nails, but I can't quite remember where I've put them. Even more serious, I haven't yet laundered all the dog towels in readiness.

What I have done, though, is collected enough newspaper. Or, perhaps I should say that Jay's parents have collected enough. They've been brilliant and now we have enough newspaper for 2 litters. Or one litter of 9 (I remember it well, how much newspaper we went through that time.)




We have 8 or 10 stacks like this one. Isn't it good to see real recycling in action.








Progress to date: newspaper fully loaded & good to go!

Where visitors to the last litter were not welcome to cross the threshold until they had crossed my palm with newsprint, I am pleased to say that we will subject our visitors to nothing more intrusive than a full pocket and bag search as they leave (to ensure we are left with the full complement of puppies after the visitors have gone).

some shows do go on

It must be spring. My garden pond is full of frogs. No, really, I mean full. And it's the lush proliferation of wildlife in my pond that provides my quite valid excuse for not dredging the weed-choked pothole, clearing it up and cleaning it out. I don't want to ruin the gloriously fertile environment it obviously provides for all those frogs and toads and newts. Yes, newts. And they're an endangered species, you know. With their habitat declining all over Europe, I see it as my duty to leave my sluggish, dank little pond - and its newt population - alone.

And with spring comes all the crocuses & snowdrops and no more snow, of course. So today's Devon dog show, the Ilfracombe & District CS Open went steaming ahead as planned. Although I forgot to enter any of my dogs, Tarkka was there at 6.5 months in the ring for the very first time. I don't think he's ever even been to ringcraft. And if you know Jo, you'd have been amazed at how nervous she was. But she did a great job as you can see from this rather blurry action shot.

















Tarkka on his grooming table before his big debut.

















One of the hardest things about dog showing is convincing the show dog that looking at your hand is more interesting than sniffing the floor. Uh huh.















The judge was very nice to Tarkka and patient with him, which is always a bonus for your first show. However, I don't think she was a fan of the breed. It was a big Not Separately Classified class with Corgies, Lancashire Heelers, German Shepherds and the like. Neither Tarkka nor the only other Lapphund present, Kippis, placed.

At around the same time, it was a very different story at Maidenhead & District CS Open. The Inky Dink (otherwise known as Inko, LMP or her posh name, Infindigo Monta Aurinko) had a very different day under judge Mrs Jenny Miller. She placed 1st in AVNSC Pastoral Junior then was awarded Best Puppy AVNSC and Puppy Group 3. Woo hoo! Wasn't that only Inko's second show ever? I'll bet Paula flew all the way home. With a bit of luck there will be a few photos of her big day on her blog later. For now, here she is at the SFLS Lappy walk at Hankley Common a couple of weeks ago.














In the meantime, last week all the way up in Scotland at Coatbridge, Airdrie & District CC Open Wendy & Karhu got that special first first under judge Ms M Ross. After nabbing Best AVNSC Pastoral, he then placed 4th in the Group. Here he is with his rosettes wondering what all the fuss is about.















Neka should be so proud of all her babies! I know I am - can you tell?