happy birthday ...

... to the Persikka litter who are 4 years old today!

What a gorgeous bunch they are now at 4 years - and what a gorgeous bunch they were at 4 weeks.

I must confess that I raided some people's Facebook pages for some of these photos and just plain nicked them.  That's right, I'm shameless like that.  Had to be done. 

Persikka Kuura  -  aka Kuura  -  formerly known as Junior

 

Persikka Bo  -  aka Bo  -  formerly known as Budgie

Persikka Sonni  -  aka Buddy  -  formerly known as Kicker

Persikka Tippi  -  aka Tippi  -  formerly known as Honey

Persikka Marja  -  aka Marja  -  formerly known as Marilyn

Persikka Ukko  -  aka Ukko  -  formerly known as Kuusi

Persikka Kasari  -  aka Sisu  -  formerly known as Vee

happy birthday...

... to the beautiful Persikka puppies who are 3 years old today.  Here's how they looked at 3 weeks. 

If their owners are tuning in, they should feel free to send me a recent photo.  Just sayin.

Kuura - who was Elias Jr

Bo - who was Budgie

Sonni aka Buddy - who was Kicker

Tippi - who was Honey

Marja - who was Marilyn

Ukko - who was Kuusi

Kasari aka Sisu - who was Vee

Crufts bound

Crufts 2012 has started and tomorrow is the day for Finnish Lapphunds.  We are very proud of all the Infindigo dogs who have qualified this year:  Aurinko (Inko), Keksi, Minna, Neka, Pikkukarhu (Karhu), Rauhan, Taito, Tarkka, Tippi, Ukko and Usko.  Of those, only about half of them will be actually going tomorrow.

Normally I make a card for everyone to wish them luck, but this year that was rather beyond my abilities, given all the other demands on my time.  However, I wanted to say:

Well done, team, good luck & have fun!

Here are the Crufts-bound gang in photos taken a bit before shows and all that stuff.  For the good luck cards I always try to get a photo that no one has seen before, and that's what I've done here too.  Hence they are not all quite as sharp as they could be, ahem.  I guess I'll eventually run out of never-before-seen images, but for now I think I've managed it.

Inko, 4 weeks

Rauhan, 5 weeks

Taito, 5 weeks

Tippi, 5 weeks

Usko, 7 weeks


















Hope you all have a fabulous day!

fat puppies, eyes open

Two days ago we had the first tentative little blinks from opening eyes and it's looking like by the time the puppies are 2 weeks old all of them will have opened their eyes.  Without going back to refer to my "notes" (i.e. the blog from previous litters) it seems a bit early to me.  These guys also seemed to be up on their feet walking early too.  And they've started to lick your nose when you hold them close to your face.  That means they can lap and would start to drink if I offered them milk. 

But, frankly, I'm not in that big a hurry to start weaning them.  2.5 or 3 weeks is plenty early, even for greedy little baby Lapphunds.  Especially as I'm going to have to do it the hard way this time around since Pedigree no longer sell their puppy porridge.  It was so easy, so handy, the puppies did so well on it.  DRAT!  I'm amazed there isn't a similar product made by someone else.

The other thing these puppies appear to be advanced in is size.  But I know for a fact that that's incorrect perception on our part because the numbers don't lie.  They are more or less the same size & weight as previous litters.  In fact, looking at the graph, I now think that the scales I used for the first litter must have been inaccurate because I simply do not believe that Keksi, Taito and the rest of the big-dog gang were smaller as puppies than, say, Tippi and Marja, who are both now so petite. 

The first of the gang - Brownie and Claw - hit the 1 kilo mark yesterday and today only Little Ilo is just under.  

Having said all that, this bunch appear to be enormous, fat and very advanced.  Oh, and did I mention cute?

Only 4 at a time will now fit into the holding box that they all went into a week ago. 
(No, it's not your eyes, the photo is blurry - sorry!)

Out come the bellies.

A sister or brother's head makes a fine cushion for a puppy bottom.

to qualify or not to qualify

At the Welsh Kennel Club show a couple of weeks ago, I took both Tippi and Kuura into the ring in an attempt to startle them into distraction by taking them away from their owners and perhaps get them to behave themselves for the judge. That way maybe - just maybe - they might qualify for Crufts 2012.

At their previous shows they were both equally wiggly and uninclined to allow the judge too close. And as for looking at their teeth? Forget it. By taking normally naughty dogs away from their normal handlers, you can often get them to behave well just through the sheer novelty as they are too busy wondering what's going on to play naughty games.

That's how it works in theory, anyway. In practice, it didn't exactly go like that for me at WKC. Tippi moved quite beautifully away from the judge. Alas, that was only because she was determined to leave the ring altogether and go find her brother Tarkka and the rest of the family. As you might imagine, that made returning to the judge just a tad trickier.

She was more or less ok about the judge going over her, though, and did manage to qualify for Crufts by placing 3rd in Puppy Bitch and 2nd in Junior Bitch.

Kuura's turn was somewhat different. He was more than happy to trot around the ring, and he was fine with the judge going over him - even the boy bits. He took exception to showing his teeth - the traditional stumbling block for so many puppies as they venture into the show ring. But the thing that got him disqualified altogether.... that's right, I said disqualified.... was the fact that he had a slight limp.

It was something I didn't notice before going into the ring and once in the ring I blamed his slightly rocky gait on the uneven ground under our feet, as it was quite rough. However, it was obvious to everyone watching that he was actually limping and, indeed, it was obvious to me once I took him out of the ring and saw his movement on flat ground.

The absolute crunch requirement for show dogs is that they are "sound" - i.e. healthy and not limping, dagnabbit, so that was that.

The reason for the limp? He had taken a joyous flying leap from a little height while playing in a garden the day before. This is the reason why breeders bleat on about no stairs, no jumping, no leaping until Lappies are 12 months old. They are heavy for their size and as puppies, before their joints and muscles are fully developed, they can easily hurt themselves. Stopping a Lappy leaping is another matter altogether, of course.

chaos

Even with no puppies in the house, we've had a busy summer. Perhaps I should specify that we've had no new puppies in the house. We've had a few to visit.

The latest visitors are Taika & Minna who have been here almost 2 weeks and are going back home in a couple of days. That means that we have 5 dogs in total in the house at the moment. And if you wondered how many dogs is too many, then I think my limit is 5. Or possibly 4, actually.

Don't get me wrong - I have really enjoyed being over-run with canines. And these particular 2 are extremely well behaved, so they don't actually cause much more chaos than our normal daily amount. However, once you factor into the equation the fact that Jay has been almost completely incapacitated with a back problem for the whole time, you can see that I've had my work more than cut out for me.





I'm pretty sure there's still one missing... on the way back to the car, and still no Neka...












Quite apart from the walks (during which at least 2 need to be kept on lead for some reason or other), at this time of the year there is the post-walk daily dog de-seeding. It's only a small exaggeration to say that we have as many seeds in our bin as are left in the woods. What we really need at this time of the year is a dog-friendly beach nearby. No seeds.

In July BF (before seeds) we had Buddy for a week and before that Kesa came to stay for a few days.






Kesa & Maija mid-game

















An unlikely pair of bookends
















In between, the puppies and relatives went to a few dog shows. Apparently every photo we took of Keksi with her offspring at the National Working & Pastoral show was out of focus. Huh.














L-R: Kuura, Keksi, Ukko, Tippi

Yes, those ears, I know. I think the subject of ears deserves its own blog post.

puppies' first show

So Becca & I set off for the Three Counties show. It was a wonderfully warm, sunny day with a slightly blustery wind. Perfect dog show weather. Never mind that by the time we got into the ring, an enormous black cloud full of rain had swept down the Malvern hills on a ferocious wind and sent dogs, exhibitors and judges scurrying for cover in the sheds and tents with all their various stuff.

Now. Didn't I firmly vow to take the posh camera to this show and properly record Tippi & Ukko's first foray into the showring? Er, yes, I'm pretty sure I did just that very thing in my last post. Well, with no Jay on hand to mind the valuables, I thought it best to leave that particular camera at home. But surely I brought the other, good enough if not very great, camera along, right?

Er... um... enough with all the questions already! Dead battery, yadda yadda yadda. Best we concentrate on the positive. What it comes down to is that I have a few photos of Ukko that Becca took with her camera and a few truly dreadful ones that I took on my phone. Better than nothing? Hmmm, maybe.

Here they are waiting in their crates like a pair of very well behaved puppies before all the excitement of getting brushed and ready for their big debut.



"Don't I know you?"





























First up was Ukko's class and I took him in because Becca was positively green with nerves. He did his trot round the ring exceptionally well and was very good indeed about letting the judge go over him. He was even happy to show her his teeth. As for standing, well he wasn't too sure about that, but by the end of the class he was really getting the hang of that too.




Anything for a slice of sausage
























While I got Neka ready for the ring, it took surprisingly little persuasion for Becca to take Ukko into the puppy stakes class. He was so well behaved and did her proud on Becca's first ever time in the ring as well.







"Stand. No, not sit. Stand."












In the meantime, Susan was in the ring with Tippi while me and my terrible phone camera were standing further away than ever.







































Tippi was a real pro at standing, and she also trotted beautifully around with Susan. Unfortunately she was determined to get at the treats without letting the judge anywhere near her. After the judging I took her around to a few strangers for some practicing and she let them go all over her with no problem at all. It's just a matter of getting her accustomed to the new situation and I'm sure she'll be fine.

Our judge was Mrs J P (Ginty) Gill-Davis and I must say she was so nice with the puppies. Judges tend to vary rather a lot in terms of their patience with - or, in some cases, even interest in - puppies. Mrs Gill-Davis was so patient with them, and very gentle to make their first experience a good one.

So we didn't take away any big prizes from this show, for obvious reasons. The puppies, as you can see, are so very immature - what is known in dog show parlance as "raw". They are skinny, leggy and with very little in the way of coat. However, we had a lovely day and the puppies had fun and games with lots of treats, so there can be little doubt that they considered themselves big winners.

visitors & visiting

If you've dropped in on this blog more than once or twice, then you've probably seen reports about various members of our canine family staying for a visit. Keksi has been here, and Taika, Inko, Minna. Even some of the boys have had a flying visit (when Keskiyo's back was turned, that is). We love to have former puppies coming back now and then - it maintains a nice bond for us with the dogs and a nice bond between the puppies and their family members Neka and Maija. In general, Keskiyo is less interested in visiting family members unless they're girls who are, well, interesting. In a special kind of way. Y'know.

Coming back from Scotland last week, after dropping Taika & Minna off with Jerome, I made a little detour off the M5 to pick up Tippi. It was so wonderful having a puppy in the house again for a few days, and particularly just after seeing her brother Sisu and sister Bo in Scotland. She was a little overwhelmed by the Maija-Neka playing machine at first but soon got the hang of joining in - although she preferred to play with Maija alone.

Maija did teach her to jump onto the sofa as well. It wasn't me - honest! Now, don't tell Susan & Ian because I'm not sure if Tippi is allowed onto the furniture at home. However, she did take rather well to it and even liked to come up in the evening for cuddles. I ask you, who could possibly refuse?




















And no wonder - as you can see from this rough phone pic, she & Maija have a history of playing on the sofa together.

















While she was here I just had to take advantage of the fact that her brother lives only 20 minutes away in Exeter and her sister less than an hour away in Cornwall. So one chilly, damp and windy afternoon I took Tippi and Ukko to visit Marja for a puppy reunion. Getting a good photo was rather tricky. Rather.

And by the time Maria wrangled them into a stranglehold for a group shot, they were utterly covered in puppy slime.






L-R: Marja, Ukko, Tippi









What's a little puppy slime between friends and littermates? That's just the way puppies are when they get together for a play.

And if you're wondering how they got quite so bedraggled...





Marja & Tippi together











































Compared to Marja & Ukko























































Tippi may well be in charge at home and boss her big brother Tarkka around, but she's definitely a little lady dog and prefers one-on-one games. When things got too hectic with Marja & Ukko (which was more or less the whole time), then she would simply take herself off to raid Marja's toy stash.

































When Marja finally got tired, she disappeared under her pew for a... well, a pew.















And when Ukko finally got tired?

















That's right - he didn't actually get tired. Or not tired enough to give up, anyway. It was all just too exciting. But he slept very well on the way back home and I'm sure Becca had a nice quiet evening with him too.

This weekend there's a quick trip up the motorway to the Southern Counties show planned. This is the show where we always have a Finnish judge and an excellent turnout. It's also the show where Taito has always won either Best Dog or Reserve Best Dog. This year Taito won't be in attendance, regrettably, as he's away on holiday. However, we'll be having fun anyway.

And when we get back, the puppies will be 6 months old and heading for their own first shows. An interesting summer ahead. Interesting? Well, funny perhaps.

three, two, one

Buddy (Kicker, aka Sonni) has now settled in with Nick & Rachel back in the ancestral homeland. No, not Finland - Surrey. Both Granny Neka and Keksi's sire Kimmi come from Surrey. It's a real hotbed of Lappies.

Here are the excited trio getting ready to hit the road. I can imagine that Buddy is quite looking forward to his future trips in that campervan.




















Then Tippi (Honey) left with Susan & Ian and a rather excited Tarkka. This was the only photo in which he wasn't on 2 legs trying to say hello to his new little sister.




















And the penultimate one to leave, Kuura, with Daniel & Jim. Mum Keksi and housemate Ismo were both a tad too excited to pose for photos.




















Hopefully we'll have settling in photos of those 3 tomorrow. In the meantime, here is Sisu at home in his snazzy new bed.















And for more news of Sisu - and to see his rather nice show stand! - hop over to his new blog:
http://sisu-fetter.blogspot.com/

While back at the ranch, we are left with one little white one. Marja will be with us for a couple more weeks because her new family will be taking a holiday before the sleepless nights and house training duties.