The puppies moved downstairs a couple of days earlier than my puppies normally would. Kaija was feeling a bit left out of things being sequestered away from everyone else but her 7 tiny charges, so down they all came on the weekend. Kaija has been much happier and more settled since then and happy mum makes for happy puppies and - even more importantly - happy humans!
In between the rain, wet snow and hail showers today, they each had a few minutes out in the big wide world in order to have their 4-week portraits taken, and these photos are the results. As usual, some are better and sharper than others, but in every case you can certainly see that they are becoming ever cuter, if such a thing is possible.
If you have been watching on Facebook, you will have seen some daily stripes and occasional videos. This morning's video was particularly amusing as the puppies have suddenly burst into raucous puppy life. A couple of days of real food has charged them up, and for a few brief minutes after their meals they are stomping around barking, growling and playing. You can find us on here in the Infindigo Finnish Lapphunds group on Facebook. And this is what happens shortly after all the rampaging.
And here are the 3-week photos. Some are not quite as sharp as they might be. I do try to get them when they're sleepy as it makes it rather easier to get photos, but I appear to have managed to catch one or two of them still in a wiggly mood.
The 3rd week of the puppies' life is when they start to experience lots of new things. Their eyes have opened so they can see for the first time which means they start to play with each other and interact with the humans when we look or reach into the box. They have also started to hear by now which means they start to practice all their sounds; cue lots of yapping, howling and - my particular favorite - growling. It's very funny and I promise I will try to capture it on video, but it's notoriously difficult to have the video going just at the right moment.
Another milestone they reach at the age of 2 weeks is getting wormed. This is the first inkling they get that the world is not just a warm cocoon of milk and snuggles. Worming is not snuggly and it is not yummy and they hate it. And I have to do it to them 3 days in a row! Poor puppies. I didn't photograph the little screwed up faces this time, but if you would like to see what they think of getting wormed, you can check out Kaija's brothers and sisters, the Juhla puppies, getting wormed here and, possibly even funnier, the Pippuri puppies getting wormed here.
Then, at about 2.5 weeks old, the really good stuff starts happening: real food! Here is a selection of photos from the week, including attempted escapes and the notable mess that is the first few forays into eating meat for the first time.
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!
Almost everyone has started to open their eyes now - only Dizzy is steadfastly choosing to stay in the dark. And who can blame him with my camera flash going off in his face every 5 minutes!
Getting these photos was the biggest challenge I have had to date in photographing puppies. It wasn't entirely the puppies' fault, although they were feeling particularly wiggly. I took an inordinately large proportion of blurry shots - or shots where the delicate little paws and claws were perfectly captured while the face was a mad blur. Then there was the flash/no flash issue. No flash = too dark and too rubbish to lighten up with Photoshop; flash = draining the battery so that the shutter speed slows down to the point where I miss the split-second opportunity to get the shot.
After 3 separate attempts in 3 separate photoshoots, in the end I had to wait for assistance from Jay to get the last few that were missing. That explains the different lighting and set up. Needs must, as they say. And all for a good cause; the photos where Jay is holding the puppy are better than the others. But I wasn't going to photograph them all again for the FIFTH time.
