4 weeks old

Well Tuuli has done it again!  She has produced a litter of puppies who will all (more or less) sit and stand to have their photos taken.  It's difficult enough to get photos of puppies without expecting them to be still.  And more difficult again to try and accomplish this single-handedly.  However, we did and I did and it all went beautifully well.

Until I checked the photos I had taken.

Apparently I had forgotten to check the first one or two to make sure the camera was lined up properly on its tripod...  Yes I did forget to do that.  I took at whole set of impossible-to-achieve photos with the tops chopped off.  SIGH.

So I set it all up again and did it all over again.

Tux

Kukka

Ensi

Liila

Tan

And from the If-Only file:

Kukka looking demure

Liila doing her supermodel pose

Tan being all kinds of cute

And Kukka doing the same!

mama & baby time

Tomorrow the puppies turn 4 weeks so it will be time for the weekly portraits, weighing, nail cutting and brushing.  In the meantime, here are the puppies enjoying their mum.

growing

It's been hectic as all get-out here, and I'm on my own (apart from the 8 dogs of various sizes, that is) so the blog has been suffering from a bit of neglect.  Apologies for that.

Here's what's been happening while we've been away.

Getting crowded at the milk bar

Standing room only

Getting cute

More getting cute

Starting to play with toys

Toys also make good pillows

Playtime with Mama

More play with Mama

As well as struggling to keep up with the blog, I have also been struggling to get the puppies to eat the porridge I usually start to wean them on.  They just haven't been that interested.  Particularly Liila, who turned her nose up at it every time.  Today I hit upon a winning formula - Burns puppy kibble soaked in warm goat's milk and mashed up.  Everyone approved of that.  Later today they will have their first taste of scrambled eggs and tomorrow they will have their first raw food, and I anticipate all of that going down well. 

I'll try to keep you up-to-date, but if you want at least one photo daily, you can follow me on Instagram (@infindigo_jennifer) where I try to post at least one photo or little video a day.  It's much quicker and easier than the blog, obviously.  If you're not on Instagram, then you can still see what's going on here:  http://instagram.com/infindigo_jennifer

random acts of cuteness pt 1

The puppies are stomping around the whelping box now, tails sticking straight up and wagging.  They are barking, growling and - yes - I think this litter will be howlers too.

Like proper Lappies, they like to get up high if they can (which, in the box, isn't very high), they like to sleep with a pillow (a sibling will do in a pinch) and they also like to sleep flaked out on their backs with bellies on display.

Bellies galore

Group shot

The girls getting their heads together

Game of bitey-face

Chomp!

Looks like they both got their granny Keksi's paw

Chewing a wasp?  Just got punched??  Who knows.

Here they are from a couple of days ago.  That enormous Bernese Mountain Dog in the middle of all the action?  That would be Ensi.

3 weeks old

I have been told a few times in my time that the time at the waiting end of the deal drags on for a very long time.  I'm here to tell ya that the time at the puppy end zips by in no time at all.

Still with me?

Good.  Now, on to the 3-week portraits.  As always, the puppies at this age might be a little crusty around the edges thanks to their daily porridge experiences.

Tux

Serious puppy

Kukka

Ensi

Got any number of these - perfect poser

Liila

Hard work!

 Tan

And any number of these blurry ones of Tan...

Some more wiggling

nom nom

Puppy porridge day finally came.  This is the puppies' first taste of food other than what Tuuli produces for them.  Here is Ensi's first meal without mum.  Like a duck to water.



And then everyone else joins in the fun. Some are better at it than others, as usual. Oddly, Liila just wasn't interested - she only wanted to chew on her brother. Everyone else had a little lap - mainly from my fingers though. It's a challenge to get enough into them before the porridge goes cold. It can't be too hot to start with because you don't want to burn their mouths, obviously. But it cools very quickly. And tiny puppies are just not interested in cold food.

morning cardio

It's amazing how quickly the puppies develop, even when you get to watch them everyday.  A mere 2 days since the last video in which they were very clumsy, couldn't yet heave themselves to their feet, and 30 seconds of play wore them out so that they all flaked out asleep almost immediately. 

48 hours later and they are doing morning circuits, playing, and - get this! - going to the paper to pee.  I kid you not.  And I have evidence.



You can see a few thing from this video.  Not only walking & playing puppies but also bits of Tuuli's fur all over the place.  It's really starting to come out fast now and by the time the puppies are 11 weeks old, she will be looking like a Lappy refugee.  She will lose not only all her undercoat, but most of her topcoat as well.  Take it from me, Lappies with no fur are funny looking.  Don't ask me why it happens, but it always does. 

You can also see the removable door there on the right-hand side.  We have had to resort to putting the door in because the puppies are already showing rather a lot of interest in the outside world, as you can see.  But it's much easier to take photos & video with the door out of the way.

And you can see the puppies choosing to pee on the paper!  At first I thought it was my imagination, but it keeps on happening.  We are in shock here. 

Finally, the video ends abruptly when Liila approaches the puddle left by one of her siblings and starts to lap at it.  So of course I dropped the camera quick to get her out of harm's way.  That's one habit I don't want them to develop!   Sounds to me like these puppies are ready to start weaning. 

weights & other horror stories

Aw, just kiddin'.  Weights are not a horror story for these puppies - although I cannot deny they are very chubby.  In fact, I was concerned that they would be slow to get up on their feet for being too top-heavy.  But I need not have feared, they are indeed up now and walking around.  Well, kinda.

But it's true they are not a petite bunch, although the stats don't lie - they are no bigger than other litters at this age - and not even as heavy as their dad's litter.  Here's the comparison chart.  Click on the image for a bigger version. 

The horror of this story is the tale of puppy worming.  It's a job I don't look forward to and there are many versions of the story at various points in this blog - you can see them here and here, for example.  It's the first time that the puppies realise that something terrible can come from human hands, and it happens when they are only 2 weeks old.  It's a sad day.  It's a sad 3 days, actually, because you have to do it 3 days in a row.  Poor puppies.

First I cover myself carefully and well with a towel because I have learned from bitter experience just how far this stuff can travel when a puppy shakes his head to get the foul stuff OUT of his mouth and ON me.

Then I lull them into a false sense of security with yummy milk in a syringe.  Then without warning, in goes the wormer.

Tux: "Ok, this milk ain't so bad"

Kukka:  "Not sure about this..."

Kukka:  "Nooooo!  Make it stop!

WAH!

Ensi:  "What did you just do to me?!"