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

5 weeks old

The puppies are 5 weeks old already.  I know I say it everytime, and I know that the time drags for their new owners, but the weeks since they were born have just flown by for me.  I dare say it's been rather slower for Jane & Mark waiting for Emmi to come back home.

There has been a multitude of visitors already, including a big posse of children of various ages.  The puppies have been thoroughly cuddle-tested, and this week they will start venturing out into the big world for little car trips and visits to the town centre.  And then there is the worming which is due again now.  At least there will be scrambled eggs to lessen the trauma this time. 

The photo shoot was tricky this morning.  I must publish some of the out-takes sometime.

 

gear

Over the years I have accumulated quite a bit of gear for the puppies.  With my first litter I had little more than whelping box, small indoor pen and small outdoor pen plus a few toys.  When the second litter came along and there was NINE of them - almost double the number of puppies in a normal litter - I bought a second indoor pen and a second outdoor one to double the size. 

There are lots of disposable items that are new with each litter.  Each one sees a new whelping box, new puppy toys, new syringes for various purposes such as administering wormer.  Then there are the bigger items of equipment that last from one litter to the next like new liners & vet beds for the whelping box.  For Emmi's litter I have invested in a couple of new things.  I'm still using the two big pens and now I have a reusable whelping box too. 

I have always been concerned about leaving 4- or 5-week-old puppies unattended in the outdoor pen.  We have a lot birds of prey around here, and one of them could very easily carry off a small Lapphund puppy.  This year I was even more worried as it was only a week or two before the puppies moved downstairs that the news was full of the poor little Yorkshire terrier that was attacked and killed by gulls in Cornwall.  I'm hoping the Chudleigh gulls are not as aggressive as Cornish ones, but I don't feel the need to take any chances.  So for these puppies I also invested in a gazebo.  Not only does it shield them from passing gulls and hawks, but it also provides them with some handy shade.  Particularly useful for these sun-averse puppies.  And pretty good shade for the humans too on those rare occasions that we get enough sun to need to escape. 

Keskiyo modelling the gazebo

Under the shelter of the gazebo, this is what was going on in the outdoor pen at 9pm last night.

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. 

4 weeks old

At 4 weeks the puppies have teeth, they are getting more mobile and starting to give some indication of what they will look like as adults.  Whereas at 2 weeks they looked like guinea pigs, and at 3 weeks they looked like generic little dogs, at 4 weeks they looks like little Lapphunds.  Even their tails have gone over their backs.  All that's missing is the pricked ears.

This is an age for big milestones.  They are experiencing lots of different types of food each day, they haved moved downstairs, met all the big dogs and they have even started to go out into the garden.  Although it does have to be said their first experience of the great outdoors could have gone better.  I don't think they are impressed with warm sunshine and summer weather.   I'm sure they will be thrilled to discover they won't be troubled by too much of that rare stuff.

      

moving day

I was getting worried there for a minute.  These puppies were getting really unbelievably noisy.  Especially at night.  The more noisy they got (at 2am and 3am and 4am), the more we shut them in, sealed the windows and doors and tried to find a way for us (and our long-suffering neighbours) to get some sleep.

And then there was the worry about how the new owners would cope with them.

After two nights of increasingly disturbing decibels, I moved the little sods downstairs 3 days earlier than I normally would.  And then - voila! - the noise stopped.  Looks like the poor little mites were overheating in that small room.  And of course the more I shut them in the hotter they got.  It was a bit of a vicious circle - or a figure-8 even.

And in case there was any doubt what they were squawking about, this morning they went out into their garden pen and had a fabulous time.  A bit later they went out again ... the sun was shining ... it was quite warm out there ... I was a bit slow in getting some shade up for them ... and, lo, the racket started up again.  They were stomping around, tongues hanging out, yelling their heads off.  Brought them back in, quiet ensued. 

Proper little snow dogs.

They are 4 weeks old today, so new portraits going up tomorrow.  If I find time to edit them, that is.  Because we have a houseful of people coming to see the puppies this weekend and I have about an hour of work per person to make the house halfway presentable.  Wish me luck!

When the puppies moved into the big pen downstairs, the first point of business was to get to know their great-granny Neka.

Neka wastes no time getting acquainted (& checking for food)

And then there was Auntie Tuuli to meet

Too much excitement!

Eating from their own little bowls now

All in a row

First time in the big wide world

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

escape

With each litter, the thing we worry about most at this stage of the puppies' development is that they will escape from the whelping box.  The wees on the carpet are not the end of the world, but we are super careful opening the door of their room each morning in case someone is on the floor on the other side.

And I will never forget the time we found a sleeping 3-week-old Kiittaa on the landing at the top of the stairs.

Whelping boxes traditionally have a cut-out dip for the bitch to easily hop in and out.  Of course, she can easily hop over the side, but in doing so there is the scraping of the milk bar against the edge (not comfy) and the danger of landing on a puppy (cue much screeching, generally in fright rather than injury).  The old whelping boxes I have had solved this problem either by being quite high-sided, including the cut-out, or by having a convenient "door" that fit over the gap at appropriate times. 

The new whelping box, while having one or two features that are superior to the old boxes, does not have a high gap nor a door.  So we have been blocking it off at night with a piece of stiff cardboard.  Ideal. 

Well, almost ideal.

It's less that absolutely perfect because it can be nudged out of the way by Emmi as she jumps over, or even by an unsuspecting puppy.  Or even a suspecting puppy, for that matter. 

So it was that I opened the door this morning to find 4 of the 5 puppies rampaging all over the room.  And who was the one left behind in the box?  Not who you might think - I probably would have put money on Stan being the first out of the box, but in fact he was the last. 

So tonight the cardboard will be taped securely in place.  See how long that keeps them in.

Yesterday the puppies had their first taste of raw meat paste.  They were quite surprised to find something soooo yummy that not only isn't warm, but it doesn't even have honeyed milk added to it. 

NOM

Serena chewing her way out

Stan chewing his way out

Getting a leg up?

Trio

Another trio - with someone else on the bottom

Stan being The Man

Roger being The Man

Andy being The Man

Andy being a cutie

Sleeping like a Lappy already

Today's happy mama & babies shot