2 very different walks

3 friends on Dartmoor granite

It's been an eventful few days, some of which events were good or amusing and some of which were just awful.  In fact, today I had what was, hands down, the worst experience I have ever had on a dog walk.  And this is coming from someone who lost her 6-month-old Neka for an hour on an unfamiliar heath once.  And someone who has walked 3 or sometimes 4 reactive Lapphunds at once.  And an Akita. 

In general, I'm pretty careful about where I walk and when and how.  I like a quiet life, and so I aim for walks where I can see who is coming and take appropriate action accordingly.  These days I have Keskiyo who is old and not interested in looking for trouble.  In his younger days he was a handful at times, but being neutered, intensive training and, finally, age have all contributed to his now happy-go-lucky outlook.  In fact, these days if a scary dog heads his way, he throws himself to the ground rather than try to defend himself.  

Then there is Maija who will be 9 years old at the end of this month.  She is the quintessential easy dog - obedient, friendly to everyone she meets, excellent manners with other dogs.  Everything you could ask for.  In fact, I would say that Maija is dog perfection.  She is sweet and gentle and has never had cross words with anyone.  Except, perhaps, on those occasions when some young whippersnapper has the temerity to consider helping itself to her bone. 

Finally, we have Tuuli who has her friends and loves the people and dogs that she knows, but who barks at strangers.  And sometimes lunges.  And there is also occasional leaping.  However, if anyone ever went for her, she would turn tail and run away.   But because she has such bad manners, she is frequently on lead - always if I am somewhere we are likely to run into others.

This morning before 7am I was in the local dog walking fields next to a river in Kingsteignton near Teigngrace.  It's a terrific place for walking dogs, and for that reason it is almost always very busy.  And for that reason I rarely go there - my idea of a good walk is seeing no other people.   But we were there early, and it was pretty quiet.  I walked on past the bridge across the river for the return leg of the journey that most people take and carried on to the next bridge which leads to a track.  Unfamiliar with the terrain, I had Keskiyo and Tuuli on lead and, as usual, Maija was running on ahead.  As the track sloped downhill towards a gate back into the meadows along the river, Maija popped into the woods at the side and 3 Staffies appeared at the gate.

When I heard two people calling the dogs back in panicked voices, I started to get concerned.  Clearly, the owners were worried about these dogs heading out the gate.  I wasn't actually unduly concerned yet; I was far enough back up the hill for my dogs not to attract any unwanted attention from most dogs who you might expect to encounter off lead, and Maija is quite safe meeting all dogs.  But I called Maija back to me, intending to turn around and head back up the track away from the potentially problematic Staffies.  And so my sweet little Maija popped out of the trees straight into the three Staffies who were sniffing around the path.  And they attacked her.

She was screaming, trying to get away from them.  When she leaped into the air to try and escape, they jumped up and dragged her back down!  They pinned her on her back and all 3 were just going at her.

What did I do?  Well, nothing useful.  I was terrified of getting too close with Keskiyo and Tuuli in case I ended up with a 6-dog fight with leads involved.  For the same reason I didn't dare let go of the leads and wade in to drag the Staffies off.  So I stood there and screamed.  Really unhelpful, I know.  But when you're terrified and in shock, it's hard to gather the wits to know what to do.

In hindsight, I think if I had dropped Keskiyo's and Tuuli's leads, they would not have moved because I did sort of register that in those agonisingly slow seconds that Maija was being attacked, they didn't move a muscle or even bark.  Very uncharacteristic.

The owners came running after what felt like minutes but, I guess, was actually only seconds.  I just screamed at them to get their dogs off.   I honestly thought those dogs were going to kill Maija, and they surely would have if not for the fact that they were muzzled.  Thankfully.

The owners were very sorry and apologetic.  But, honestly, those dogs should not be off lead at any time they cannot absolutely guarantee being able to control the situation.  From a dog-owning point of view, why on earth would you have THREE dogs so antisocial that they need to be muzzled and why would you then walk them as a pack when they are clearly so dangerous?  The Staffie owners waited until I ascertained that Maija wasn't badly hurt and I just said they should keep their dogs on lead.  We then turned around and retraced our steps back to the car, avoiding everyone we met on the way.

Back home, I rinsed all the mud off Maija, gave her a dose of arnica and checked her over for injuries.  I'm sure she must be bruised and sore, but at least they weren't able to bite her.

I surely won't be taking that route again, regardless of how early in the morning it is.  I'm sure the Staffies' owners thought it was early enough that they wouldn't run into anyone.  But it was shaping up to be a warm, sunny day, and there were plenty of dog walkers there, even at 7.  So that's it for those fields and us.

This is actually a bit of a shame for Keskiyo who absolutely loved it there in those nice flat fields.  A year ago he could hardly walk and now, newly medicated, he scampers around like a puppy.  Well, not *quite* like a puppy, perhaps, but there is definitely scampering.

On Saturday we had a much better walk.  Around the crack of dawn, Heather and I met up with Loki and the girls for a Dartmoor trek.   By 7am we were headed for Hound Tor via Haytor (and I was freezing because I dressed for the weather that came an hour later).  It was a great walk with superb sunny weather and a cooling breeze to keep the dogs comfortable.  There was some steep climbing and some steep downward skidding, some pushing our way through 7-foot gorse (ruck sacks excellent armor in these situations) and a bit of slipping, one of which resulted in Heather tumbling over some rocks.  Luckily she was unhurt but for some grazes, and we had a terrific morning of blue skies, dramatic far-reaching views and picturesque piles of rocks.

First stop was Haytor and the old disused quarry next door - the best spot around for dogs to run and play.  Maija fell into the water and, at the age of 8 years 11 months had her very first swim.  She headed for a little stand of trees in the middle of the pond for some reason and I feared she was chasing a duck or something.  However, it seems she was just trying to find a spot to climb out.  Luckily she turned and swam back to me through the lily pads because if she had found some solid ground in that little tree island, I'm not sure how I would have got her back.

3 friends after a swim in the quarry

Great views

Stunning piles of rocks

The light was quite beautiful, but difficult to photograph in

One of those gorgeous Dartmoor stone bridges

Sweet curious calves

Headed .... there

Intriguing little doorway

Inside the doorway

Taking the ancient tramway all the way back

Heading home

the cutest thing you have ever seen

Sometimes a puppy needs a little help.  Sometimes when a puppy is born it struggles to nurse for some reason.  I had one in my very first litter and he needed to be hand-fed every 2 hours for the first 2 weeks.  To say we were exhausted would be quite an understatement!  However, it was worth every sleepless night because he grew into a fabulous dog of great character and health who is still making his family happy now, 2 months before his 10th birthday.

I have never before had a puppy who started out strongly enough but then didn't thrive like the rest.  Normally, you think that if a puppy survives its first week, then he's going to be ok and grow on.  By the time they are 2 weeks old, their eyes are opening and I'm getting ready to start introducing solid food to them.

However, little Dizzy wasn't doing so well. When he was born he was only 237 grams, and believe me that is tiny for a Lappy puppy.   However, he was strong, vigorous and noisy, so I had high hopes for him.  Then he carried on gaining about 10% of his body weight each day, as expected and like his brothers and sisters.  That did mean he was still quite a bit smaller than the rest, of course, but as long as he was growing at an acceptable rate in relation to his own size I wasn't too worried.

Then in his second week his growth slowed down to where he wasn't gaining even 5% of his body weight each day.  As the 10-days-old milestone came and went, most of his brothers and sisters were opening their eyes but he didn't.  Time for intervention.  He was still happily nursing from Kaija, but I started to hand feed him some supplementary meals of Lactol puppy milk, and that did the trick.  Eventually.  At first he was difficult to feed using any of the methods I have tried in the past, but after 3 or 4 attempts he finally got it and then he was well away.  As it turned out, he just seems to be a bit rubbish at sucking!

And now you, you lucky readers, are going to get to see the cutest thing you have ever seen:  a 2-week-old Finnish Lapphund puppy nursing from a sponge.  Enjoy!

mid-week games

The puppies were rampaging around the outdoor pen in the way that 7-week-old puppies tend to do first thing in the morning, so I got out the camera to catch the evidence.  Of course, the minute I pointed the camera at them, they did this instead.



But they can't just sit there looking cute indefinitely.  Eventually normal service resumes, as shown below.  And if any of you were thinking Karhu was quiet, retiring and shy, you should see him when the scrambled eggs are served.  Not to mention when he gets his sister on her back in the box.  Once she has given up trying to get my attention, that is.

cute stuff

It's full on cuteness these days.  The puppies are almost a week old and they are growing fast.  The normal rate is about 10% of their body weight per day but as there is so little competition at the milk bar, they are growing at more like 20% per day.  Big puppies!

Here they were at only 2 days old with Tuuli showing what a wonderful mama she is.

8 weeks old

In case you ever wondered what it looks like when puppies are ready for their new homes, it looks something like this.  Mayhem reigns in the outdoor pen.  It's a bit trashed, there are a couple too many squished-in poos, there is shredded cardboard everywhere, the toys and vet beds are all a bit worn around the edges, and in the case of these particular puppies, the water bowl is up on bricks like an old jalopy.  I'm warning the new owners now, you literally cannot keep water in the water bowls. 

Many of my puppies have been water babies to one extent or another.  I've usually had at least one who would sleep snuggled up to the bowl, or with head or other body part dipped in.  Occasionally there would be a water digger.  In fact, at least two of Tuuli's last puppies are water diggers to this day.  I have assured their owners that they will grow out of it ... eventually ... we hope.

These puppies were a tad late to the water party.  I was pleased and, frankly, surprised.  You have seen their sire, Salo, right?  No?  Well, check out the videos at the very bottom of his page.  Yes, that is the father of these puppies lying in the waterfall and swimming with the goldfish in the ornamental pond. 

In the end, genetics kicked in and the puppies did discover the water bowls, and, lo, they did create a mess.  Over and over again.  It's mainly Jaakoppi and Ulla, though, so perhaps the owners of the others will be off the hook.  We will see.

Anyway, jacking the water bowl up on bricks did work briefly, but Ulla eventually delighted in finding a way to climb up there and still get her front feet in, occasionally tipping the bowl entirely over.  But often it's too much trouble, apparently, so it usually remains more or less intact. 

The indoor bowl is another matter entirely.

Tomorrow the first puppies fly the nest (or the damp pen).

lunch

We had no visitors this weekend for one reason and another.  Considering the weather, it was perhaps just as well!

However, Mark did pop by to drop off some stuff, so while he was here I took advantage of the opportunity to get a little video of the puppies having lunch.  It took all of, what, 35 seconds? 

You get the feeling they like scrambled eggs?

busy

Took a little post-lunch video a few days ago before it started raining.  Somehow forgot to post it.  Six-week pics tomorrow.

pupdate

The Juhla puppies are almost 8 months old now.  They have all their adult teeth, have outgrown the adorable fluffy puppy stage and are well and truly in the throes of the gangly era where they are big puppies looking nothing like mature adult dogs yet.  Oh, and they don't act like mature adult dogs yet either.

This is the age when the naughtiness starts to surface.  They start to be come a bit more independent and brave and they also begin to test the rules.  The testing occasionally extends to one's patience ... and the patience of their older doggie brothers, as you can see in the funny video of Malaki below tormenting the long-suffering and incredibly patient Shadow.  Mally is so very much like his sweet mum Tuuli who, it has been said, is a lot like her sweet dad.  Sadly I've never met him, but I have seen the photos and videos, and take it from me, he's an adorable clown.

Good boy Mally

RAWR!

Punching boy

Shadow taking the brunt of a bit more punching from Mally.

 

Next gangly teenager report is from Niko.  Niko is not naughty.  No, no, you're wrong, I'm pretty sure he's the well-behaved one.  After all, he doesn't look naughty, right?  Huh?  I'm sure I don't know what you mean.

See?  Such a good boy

Niko on a stump chair

Niko & friends

Hmmm

The third boy is Tux.  I can't even pretend that he's not naughty because the evidence is published elsewhere on a regular basis.  However, he looks angelic enough in these photos.  Another boy who is the image of his mum.  There is also a video of Tux & Karhu playing at the beach.  Perhaps the presence of the training line gives a hint of the greatest challenge an 8-month-old Finnish Lapphund puppy presents. 

Pretty boy in the park

Sandy boy at the beach

Cuddled up with Karhu

Then there are the girls.  First of all, Kaija.  She has stayed here a couple of times now and I can confirm that she is indeed a good girl.  Sweet, well behaved, quiet, plays nicely with children & other dogs.  Pulls like a train on her lead.  All par for the course at this age.

Kaija being a good girl on the sofa

Kaija also has a RAWR!  And so does Mason

Kaija at her first show

Finally, Eevi.  Right from birth, she looked like a feminine version of Niko, and she still does.  Oh, and she definitely inherited the waterbaby gene.

Eevi being angelic

Peek-a-boo

Splosh

games with auntie

Ever since the puppies were born Tuuli has been desperate to see them.  I was wondering whether she would still like them once she actually had access to them.  After all, as far as she is concerned, she is the one who has puppies around here.  She would be well within her rights to object to someone else moving in and taking over puppy-making duties.  It would not be completely out of the question for one bitch to try and kill the puppies of another.

With Tuuli I didn't have to worry.  She couldn't wait to hop into the puppies' downstairs pen. 

growing

A few more photos from the week's activities and a pair of videos to boot - 50% eating, 50% playing, 100% cute.

In the bottom one you get Roger & Novak playing in the background while Stan rolls around yawning & complaining in the foreground.  And you get a glimpse of the brand-new little teeth.

Roger rubbing his face

A bear makes a good pillow

A brother makes a good pillow - Andy & Novak

Toy time

mobility

Working long hours is playing havoc with my blog.  I can't believe I am only managing 2 updates a week.  This is the worst documented litter of puppies I've had.   

Rest assured I have been taking photos - just not quite managing to get them edited and posted.  You'll just have to take my word for it how cute the puppies are.

Naw, just kidding.  This is how Emmi is doing - great!  She often nurses sitting up now with her puppies in a skirt around her.

Emmi with her puppy skirt

Nose & toes

Kisses

Yaaawwwn

Since the last update, lots has been happening in the whelping box:  No longer content to crawl around on their bellies, they have been hoicking themselves to their feet to lurch around the box.  Andy hit the 1-kilo mark.  Roger was the first to open his eyes at 11 days old, quickly followed by Stan and then Serena and Andy.  Little Novak was the last, opening his today at 13 days. 

Now that they can see, the fun really starts as they begin to interact with each other, playing bitey-face (or bitey-tail, as the case may be).  They are also learning to bark and growl, and today someone even had a little howl.

Although I don't manage to post here as often as I would like, you can always check out what happening over on Instagram.  I do manage to post a pic or two there each day. 

And I was just lucky enough to catch this funny video today.  In the beginning you can hear Tuuli in her normal position, whining at the top of the stairs, until Jay calls her away.  She has been absolutely frantic to see the puppies.  I'm looking forward to getting them downstairs so she can have access to them and see what she thinks of them then. 

Later in the video you can see Stan is stuck behind Emmi.  But these days, getting stuck doesn't result in panicked squawking that brings me running to the rescue.  These days, they can rescue themselves.

splitting hairs

You will be pleased to hear we have reverted to the puppy-photos portion of this broadcast.  At least for now.

On a recent photo, Jane asked me if the cream puppy was Andy.  I had to admit I had no idea whatsoever.  That's not to say that I can't tell the cream boys apart in general - I can.  But only in comparison to each other.  Take one in isolation, and I'm completely in the dark.  So, little cutie-pie with paw on mum's muzzle there?  No idea at all.

In photos it often looks like the creams are slightly different shades, and they certainly were at birth.  Novak was lighter and the other two were a darker, richer cream.  They are changing a bit now and are more or less all the same shade.

When they were born I admit I was concerned about being able to tell them apart.  There are little elastic collars made just for that reason.  After all, what do you suppose a breeder of 8 or 10 black Labradors or a bunch of white Samoyed puppies do?   But I've never had any of those little collars.  I've always figured I would be able to distinguish my puppies if necessary.  I've had 2 creams before and it was easy to tell them apart.  I've even had a litter of NINE black puppies and I managed to tell them apart.  But the 3 cream boys, a little trickier. 

So I acquired some elastic stuff from a friend and adorned Roger with one colour (black) and Andy with another (silver) on the basis that Novak is considerably smaller and is therefore easier to spot compared to his more beefy brothers.  So if you are wondering what the collars were that you might have spotted in earlier photos, now you know.  I think the collars lasted about 20 hours.  Maybe even less.  I think Emmi took exception to them.

I've heard of people using nail polish on puppies to tell them apart - a little dab on their tails or backs.  But I really don't like the idea of putting that kind of poison on them.  Or on fur that Emmi licks.  But I thought, maybe a little spot of permanent marker just on Roger.  That lasted about an hour before Emmi had cleaned it off.

So I'm back to trusting my eyes.  So far so good.  I'm thinking it will get easier a they get older.

Pile of puppies - that's Roger looking whiter in this photo.  I think.

Today's video:  more nursing puppies.  To be fair, at this stage they don't do much more than eat and sleep, so that's what you're getting.  But it's not bad, really.  As you can see, we have abandoned all pretense of lying on the soft, fluffy vet bed, and the puppies have been launched into the harsh reality of the Lappy world of scratchy, hard and cold surfaces on which to sleep.  Ahhhh, bliss!

peace

I do believe Emmi's milk has come down.  Early.  Why am I not surprised?

The first few days mama dog produces colostrum rather than milk.  In fact, I believe this is true of all mamas, not only dogs.  The colostrum contains lots of good stuff to keep babies healthy.  Then, just as the puppies start to get tetchy and impatient, the milk comes down.  At that point the puppies start getting fat and content, there is less of the elbowing one's sibling out of the way, and they just nestle in there with their little tails sticking out and wagging.  There is grunting, squeaking and paddling with their little paws.  It's all rather irresistible, as you can see from the video at the bottom.

But first, a selection of cuteness from the past couple of days.

Peas in a pod

Squashed mama

Tail snuggler

Cooling down

More cooling down

And the video of the day - content little fatsos.

black slime, green slime

Oh, I'm sorry - did you think this blog was all about puppy whiskers and waggy tails?  You must be new around here.

Just to make it worth your while clicking on the link, here is the family this morning - just a quick phone pic.

See how she is rucking up the bed out of the way.

And so to the slime.

The day after the puppies are born is the slimy day.  The green slime discharge is still coming from mama at this point.  Luckily, supplementation with raspberry leaf during pregnancy enormously decreases the amount of green slime produced.  When Emmi's mum, Keksi, had her first 2 cream puppies, they were stained green for the first several days of their life.  Ew.

And as for the black slime, well that's even worse, if you can imagine it.  As the puppies are born, mama generally eats all the stuff that comes with the puppy - the bag, the umbilical cord and the placenta.  The placenta is chock full of nutrients and blood, so it's good food for a new mama dog.  However, like ice cream, too much of a good thing is usually not such a good thing.  Too many placentas generally = the most foul black, tarry diarrhea.

(Bet you never thought you would have ice cream compared to placenta and black slime.  Have I put you off your porridge yet?)

I usually try to stop bitches from devouring all the placentas, if I can.  Believe me, I learned my lesson with Neka's 9 puppies and the resulting scary diarhhea.  However, Emmi was so on the ball that I didn't so much as see a placenta, let alone get the opportunity to rescue it from her greedy chops.

Yet, today, not even 48 hours after giving birth, I'm delighted to report that normal poos have resumed.  Halle-flipping-lujah for raspberry leaf, I say.

And as a reward for getting through the black & green slime, here are some 2-day-old puppies jostling for a good spot on mum's milk bar.




I don't know how they're supposed to get a good grip with their little paws on newspaper or - even worse - bare plastic.  But Emmi is quite certain she no longer wants them to be sweating it out on the vet bed and she keeps shoving it away.  It does create puppy chaos occasionally when one finds himself caught up in the vetbed, far far away from Emmi's belly. This bunch will end up with strong back legs.

rainy days

Rainy days are tough when you have almost-7-week-old puppies who are getting housetrained and really, really want to go outside to do their business.  Then there is the matter of all the running and playing.

On days like that, it's all hands to the pump to keep the puppies entertained. As always, these puppies are very lucky to have their great-granny Neka in their lives.  She loves to get into the pen to play.  

Niko with granny Neka

Meanwhile, Eevi is busy at the tail end

Kaija joining in the fun

Neka buried in puppies - that's Malaki in the middle