Wednesday 21 March 2012

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.





















1 comment:

Linda Almond said...

Looking great - both of you!

Jennifer, you have obviously been working very hard and judging from the photos it won't be long before you are in the Mint skinny jeans. :-D

Well done!

W
Could I, please, ask (in relation to your warning re lungworm) would you use the lungworm medication, Advocate. This is a worm and lungworm treatment which would mean I would have to stop using Panacur which has always suited Talvi. I would prefer Talvi not to have to have Advocate 'just in case' but she has actually managed to get a couple of baby slugs (no shell)recently.

Kara my Samoyed used to love crunching snails and was lucky to never have any problem but maybe that was the result of being vigilant and her not ingesting many.

Looking forward to more photos and blogs - I really enjoy reading and viewing - thanks so much.

Nice to see Keskiyo - I thought he may have been staying elsewhere for a while, whilst the puppies were around.