Blog Posts

Osa, Lappy History & a TV Programme in the Making!

8/3/2015

"Liz, I'm planning to take Osa back to Finland to trace his family tree!".

Wow! Now I love getting updates on the TabanyaRuu pups I've bred, but I'd never had an email like this before! So let's start at the beginning. Grab a cuppa and let's roll back through the years and delve into some Lappy history to the days when there was less than 200 in the country. There are lots of images and video in this blog so please be patient as they load :-)

TabanyaRuu Osa was the only male in my first litter, his parents Smuu and Tuukka were my first ever Lappies; first litters are always special, but this one even more so. A bonus is that it is captured in loving details across a whole photo album, yes, back in those days I actually printed photos out! I don't think I've ever done it since, nowadays photos reside in the computer or external hard drive, but there we are in all our young, fresh faced glory, smiling at the camera, pups in arms, owners beaming, puppies looking cute beyond belief. My children were just 10 and 12 when they were born and I was in my early 30's (I felt quite old at the time but looking back I was so young!). Life with a young family was busy and I'd built a house which we moved into when the pups were five weeks old. I managed to juggle a bazillion things at once, but you do when you're young!

Garden playtime with Mum & Dad (whilst I pack!)

Proud Mum Smuu with her babies. There was a fourth girl who sadly faded away & died at 3 days old.

Osa, Kallis & Elli in Toni's garden.

Mark and Hazel visited the pups with their hearts set on a girl, but then they saw Osa, the spitting image of his handsome Dad Tuukka, big white chest, dark beautiful face - they melted. That was it, Osa was destined to join them in Essex.

I had let my daughter Carelle keep her favourite pup as an 11th birthday present, so Kallis was a keeper and so was Elli who I just adored - yes, I did very nearly keep TWO puppies. Thankfully common sense eventually took over and Elli went to live just a few miles away with Nigel, Mandy and Tasha. The other sister Ketti went to live with a Mum from my kids' school in my hometown and emigrated to New Zealand with her family when she was about 3. I would regularly meet for a walk with Elli and Ketti when they were still pups, it was so nice to compare notes and take yet another photo for the album.

Osa was the first puppy to leave home so he sadly missed the photo shoot for the book on the breed that Toni Jackson of Elbereth Kennel was writing, here's a small selection.

Kallis

Me and Tuukka - and I used to worry I was fat!!

Playtime with Daddy.

Toni with the very gorgeous Echo, Osa's Glamorous Granny!

Versatile Elli demonstrating 'chewing' :-)

I last saw Osa when he was 7 months old, when Mark attended the Finnish Lapphund Club of Great Britain AGM and Funday. He had such an impressive head for such a young pup, although he had the colouring of his Dad, he was so like his Mum, my beloved Smuu. It was wonderful to reunite him with his parents and his sister. Kallis was tragically killed in a traffic accident 8 months later - heartbreaking, the pain of losing her was horrific. I asked Carelle if she would like it if Tuukka were to become HER dog and she readily agreed and threw her love into our gentle big bear and slowly we started to heal. I repeated the mating 2 years later and kept Sisko, Finnish for sister, a tribute to the precious Kallis who has never left our hearts. Although I didn't see Osa again, we would exchange Christmas cards and the odd email update.

So fast forward 13 years and THAT email. Mark, is an Australian who came to the UK in 1990 and has spent the last 15 years working as a sports journalist for The Telegraph and in recent years, the Daily Mail and Daily Express; having taken redundancy he decided that Richard Desmond could fund the trip of a lifetime - taking Osa along with three mates (acting as film crew) back to Finland to trace his family tree! Did I mention that it is to be a road trip in a VW Camper?! Osa's story is an interesting one as his Dad Elbereth Tuukka was born in the UK's first ever Pet Passport Litter, which you can read about here. Osa's paternal Grandfather is Ch Lumiturpa Norri, an influential sire from the renowned Lumiturpa Kennel. Toni kindly put Mark in touch with Matti and Riiita and a visit to Lumiturpa is on the itinerary along with the culmination of the trip, a visit to the Finnish Lapphund Spring Festival in Turku, where he can compete in the Veteran Obedience Class (for free!).

Osa has had a very thorough MOT at his vets, who declared him remarkably fit and well and more than ready for such an adventure. Mark has taken incredible care with Osa over his lifteime and his health and welfare are his prime concern. Osa and his lovely film crew comprising of Mike and Jimmy, came here for a visit in February and filmed Osa's reunion with me ("who the hell are you?!"), his sister Sisko from the repeat mating ("You don't look overly pleased to meet me Sis") and my own children, now aged 24 and 25 - I feel SO OLD!! It was an emotional meeting - here is a dog that is the image of Tuukka and yet so like Smuu, gambling across my drive like a youngster - it was like being catapulted back in time - in my mind I could see my adult kids as children again and yet although the dog still looked the same all these years later (only bigger), my children are adults and Mark and I are grey and have gone downhill (although photographic evidence concurs that Mark's fashion sense has improved ha ha!). Osa left me quite speechless, he is in terrific condition for his age!

THEN AND NOW - 2001/2015
Carelle pictured left, aged 10 holding 3 week old Osa and pictured above at 24.
Dexter pictured left aged 12 holding 3 week old Elli and below right aged 25.

THEN AND NOW - 2001/2015

Mark above with Osa aged 5 weeks and right with Osa aged 13.5.

The three of us - 2001 - 2015

Mark wanted to raise money for a dog charity on his trip so I suggested he contact Selina who herself has a Lappy the same age as Osa. Selina used to work for Hearing Dogs for the Deaf and trained Kai to be a demonstration dog, she now works for Dogs for the Disabled and since there was once a Lappy fully trained to be an assistance dog, I thought this would be a good fit. Here's a cutting from my scrapbook that my Mum sent me all about Tara the remarkable Lappy and her owner Norma.

Mark and his crew also filmed a reunion between Osa and Elli (along with Mandy, Nigel and Tasha) and conducted an interview with Toni, at which Osa met his Auntie Toive (at the grand old age of 15) along with second cousin (I think?!) Multi Ch Elbereth Matkamies, the UK's top winning Lapphund of all time.
I can't wait to see the footage! It is hoped that once Isaac has finished editing the trip, it will be taken up by a producer and if not, Mark will have a fantastic record of Osa and will hopefully will have raised lots of money for charity along the way. Already radio stations and local newspapers are getting behind the adventure!

Crufts was fast approaching - Osa was due to attend a photo shoot on the Dogs for Disabled stand and Mark thought it would be lovely to take Osa along to meet the other Lappies and our Judge. Crufts is the world's largest dog show, so one has to put some preparation in as you can see in the lovely short video below!

Doesn't he look fantastic!

Osa has an exciting heritage when it comes to Crufts, with his Dad Tuukka winning Best of Breed there in 2004 and his sister Sisko winning Best of Breed there in 2010 (along with Best Puppy in 2005). The day of Crufts dawned - eeeek! More of that in another blog! I caught up with Mark, Osa, Jimmy, Mike and Isaac ringside as they filmed some of the breed judging. Our Judge was Sue Dunger of the Sulyka Kennel (famous for Bichon Frisé), who imported the first ever Finnish Lapphund into the country from the world renowned Lecibsin Kennel, Lecibsin Loru at Sulyka. Together with husband Rodger, they went on to import on loan, Ch. Lecibsin Hissuka who was in whelp to Fin Ch Fohrmans Hermanni. A litter of five was born in quarantine in 1991 and a dog from this litter, Sulyka Lecibsin Nilla was to become a very influential sire. Nilla sired two litters with Loru and out of those pairings came two outstanding dogs and influencers within the breed - Sulyka Valio is Curdeleon ('Valio', top winning male) and Sulyka Mischa at Elbereth (Echo, top winning female). Valio is Osa's maternal Grandfather and Echo is Osa's paternal Grandmother - so quite a heritage.

Sue declared that Osa had a fabulous head, exactly as they should have and that he could give the youngsters a run for their money! Mark explained to her that he'd taken a bit of flack from certain quarters over his plans to bring Osa to Crufts and to take Osa to Finland to trace his roots and so asked Sue if she herself would take him to Finland if she were in his position. 'Without hesitation' came her reply! What could be nicer for an old dog than to be with his master all day and night? Far better than being left at home all day as so many dogs are, or worse still, being in a kennel. Some people prefer to find criticism with what others do rather than being supportive and kind - how sad and ugly - poor them!! Osa is a credit to the breed and is demonstrating just how fantastic Lappies are even into old age. Life is for living, at the same age his Mother was crippled with arthritis and his Father was dead - he has one remaining sibling. Life can be cruel so carpe diem! One only has to witness the veteran classes at a champ show to see fantastic golden oldies! Osa appeared to love his time at Crufts and took it all in his stride - in fact he seemed a lot more relaxed than some of the show dogs who are used to it.

You can follow Osa on his adventures by liking his Facebook Page or by following him on Twitter @4menandadog. Carelle is now a TV/Radio Presenter - follow her on Instagram or Twitter @carellemusic and don't forget you can see random pics of all my dogs (and a fair lot of food!) on Instagram @tabanyaruuliz or on my Facebook Groups (search TabanyaRuu). Osa leaves for Finland on March 20th.

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Hitchhikers, Hismo & Trees with Ears!!!

27/2/2015

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THE START

I don't usually make the effort to get out of bed at 4 in the morning unless it's to head for the airport and sunnier climes, but I do sometimes make an exception if there's the possibility of cute puppies at the end of it! So this is how I ended up at Folkestone Services one cold Sunday morning in February at the unGodly hour of 7am. I was meeting Mary along with her Lappies Ilo and Tykky who were all accompanying me on my little adventure with Peppi Dog. We were heading for Strasbourg in the Alsace region of France - for a hot date with the gorgeous Hismo (Halloween Black Dream du pays de l'Aurore Boréale).

Whilst Mary was loading her dogs into my boot and transferring her bags, I toddled into the services to use the facilities. On my way in I passed a young lady holding up a cardboard sign saying 'hitchhiking for charity'. Curious I asked her where she was headed (all the whilst thinking 'you're bonkers!' and 'how dangerous' and 'I wouldn't let my daughter do that!'). "As far as I can get" came her reply. Turns out she's doing a 'jailbreak' from Royal Holloway University, having 36 hours to get as far away as possible to raise money for East African Playgrounds (!!). "Well I'm going to France via the tunnel if you'd like a lift but I warn you, the car is very 'doggy', there's three of them in the boot and not much room on the back seat". Needless to say she was very grateful (she's clearly nuts) and immediately called her friend to tell him she'd secured a lift! HER FRIEND??!! There seriously was barely room for one person yet alone two - "don't worry, we'll put all the bags on our laps and around us - it will be fine, thank you SO much" and that's exactly what they did and I'm not exaggerating when I say they only had room for one foot each on the floor and I could only just see their faces poking out from the bags! Charlotte and Shammy were so nice and as we queued to get on the train, we chatted about their trip so far (up and down the motorway and getting nowhere fast) and chatted about where we all came from blah blah blah. In an incredible twist of fate, it turned out that her best friend was the son of a good friend of mine (and I'd been hearing about Charlotte or CGR as she's known, for years!!). Incredulous, she picked up the phone and dialed my friend "You'll never guess whose just picked me up" and she passed the phone to me. My friend was lost for words (it doesn't happen often) - failing to grasp how I was chatting to her on CGR's phone at 7 in the morning? It is a small world indeed and even more amazing, I have never picked up a hitchhiker in my life and probably never will again!

Since CGR & Shammy were such good company and were knackered after only three hours sleep on the seats at the service station, I asked if they'd like a lift to Strasbourg and they said "yes please", shuffled in their seats and gave their other foot a chance to rest on the floor. When we stopped for a coffee break they made a live broadcast to Insanity Radio, informing them of their 'jail break', where they were and who they were with (a couple of middle aged ladies who smell of dogs & talked dogs and zzzzzzz). And so they slept.

See that brightness at the back of them? I have it on good authority that it was the sun. I'm glad there is photographic evidence as I must have blinked and missed it because it was never to be seen again.

We dropped CGR & Shammy at a petrol station on the main road in Kehl Germany with one of their phones out of charge and the other with only 20% charge. They hoped to get to Munich. The place was deserted, the weather grey, grim and bitterly cold. Eeeeek. I hated leaving them but then I remembered that I was nearly at my destination - the Chateau, a nice meal and a drink were awaiting me. What if they didn't get a lift? What if they froze to death on the forecourt? What if the bar at the Chateau closed?? I sped off.

Hurry up and take the bloody picture Mary, these guys are young & cool and it's all a great adventure, I'm old, cold and in need of a drink - let's get outta here!

We got to the Chateau - it was quite large, old, a bit tired yet utterly charming, a bit like Mary really. It was also plonked on the edge of a huge park - perfect for the doggies and maybe even a little foreplay with an amorous poodle - well you know what these Frenchmen are like! It's OK Peppi, what goes on tour, stays on tour.

Alas, there was no time to eat, drink and be merry (bugger!), there is another Frenchman to meet and time is of the essence. So without further ado, let's cross town to meet the Handsome Hismo and his lovely owner, Aurore.

Peppi, meet Hismo. Hismo meet Peppi.

Ooooh la la! Now hang on a minute young man, Peppi is a laydeeee and needs to be wooed. Peppi would very much like to check out your credentials, so can you just show her round quickly and then get on with it? Over to you Peppi.

"Are you a man of property?"

"Are you fit and good at jumping? Aha, aha, aha, tres bon, let's get on with it then, don't just stand there with your tongue hanging out!"

"Look at me in my beautiful naked glory. Feast your eyes mon cherie. This way, Hismo, ici, ici, ici! Mummy Liz, put those bloody biscuits away!"

"First we must dance!"

"Then you must catch me!". "Mummy Liz, Mary, look away now".

OK, we can look again and everyone is suitably smiling.

Ahhhhh, I think it's love! Great guys, that's a wrap, let's go back to the Chateau before my stomach digests itself. Actually, that's a lie, our wonderful hosts gave us the most delicious homemade cheesecake, but my dinner tummy was still empty and the dogs were fast becoming in mortal danger of being eaten.

THAT EVENING

We managed to grab the last table at the restaurant next to the Chateau and had a very pleasant meal and a little drinkie. Now I'm not saying they are a bit odd here in Strasbourg, but this dude wore a crown throughout his entire meal. Not odd at all.

Early morning walk with Peppi Dog, that's the Chateau in the background and behind her is an odd, I mean unusual, hare statue thingy.

This is in the park next to the Chateau - is it just me???....

Thankfully we came across this AFTER the deed had been done else we might have thought it was a bad omen - I mean why else would a reindeer have his hands over his private parts?

Must get a move on with this blog post, I'm starting to get bored and if I'm bored, you must be really bored. So let's crack on.

We went sightseeing in Petite France.

And I shopped in my favourite shop :-) And we ate at a lovely restaurant sat at an outside table under a heat lamp and swaddled in their blankets. Man it was f-f-freezing.

We visited Hismo once more and were given wonderful home made biscuits as a gift from Aurore's lovely parents. The next morning we headed for home. I will quickly gloss over the scenic *cough* route through Luxembourg and Belgium that ended up taking aaaaages because of horrendous traffic and caused us to miss our timed departure at the tunnel. But I will tell you about the lovely British lady sat in the customs booth who patiently explained that we wouldn't be able to get on a train any earlier than 21.50 (our one had left at 19.20) - that's not the interesting bit although having been in the car since 10.30 that morning you can imagine we were slightly disappointed not to mention KNACKERED. No, the interesting thing is what she said next. "What sort of dogs have you got in the back?". "Three Finnish Lapphunds" I replied, mentally thinking, well, you know what I was thinking 'she won't have a scoobies what a Lapphund is'....... "Oh how funny, just the other week I was on the SFLS Judging Seminar and this weekend I took Group 2 at Horley with my Polish Lowland Sheepdog behind Toni Jackson who took Group 1 with Matka". SPEECHLESS. I was even entered at that show and the previous blog post to this is Alice's report of the show where Ruska took Reserve Best of Breed. Did I mention it's a small world??

We did actually manage to blag our way onto an earlier train and I was delighted to finally walk through my front door at 22.30.

1030 miles later. And pour wine and collapse......

THE END

What's that you say? What happened to CGR and Shammy? They were never seen or heard of again.

KIDDING!!

I got home to a lovely Facebook message from CGR to say that they made it to Munich! They were now home after spending 24 hours on various coaches. It really was quite a trip!

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A Very Lappy Weekend! - A Guest Blog by Alice Fowler

20/2/2015

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Many times over the last two years since getting a lappy in my life I have thought about the saying in the community of “you don’t just get a dog, you get a way of life”, and I found myself thinking this again, early on a Saturday morning as I piled wellies, towels, camera, treats, whistle, and of course, Ruska, into my car and set off on the 100 mile trip down to the coast.

Ruska had a gorgeous litter of puppies for Liz this time last year, and so for an early birthday celebration we organised a reunion for all the pups and their mum down in Rye, East Sussex. It’s a bit of a trip for a lot of us but the location just can’t be beaten - miles of sand and no small furries! Perfect for dogs with recall problems… (not mentioning any names, Ruska!)

Ruska chasing her daughter Luna. Photo - Alice Fowler

Life, as it has a habit of doing, of course got in the way and by the Friday evening we had fallen to only two of the seven puppies attending. But the plans had been made, the cakes had been baked (thanks Heather!) and we had two sets of prospective lappy owners coming to meet Finnish Lapphunds in the fur, not to mention Rye-local Mary (Starlapps) who has two fun-loving lappies.

Needless to say it was worth the trip. The weather was kind in the only way England knows how - the rain held off! Ruska was reunited with her daughter Luna, who lives in Kent and we are fortunate enough to actually see pretty regularly, and her son Loki, who lives in Bedfordshire and who we also see quite regularly. I am very lucky that many of Ruska’s puppy owners have allowed me to be a part of their lives, and as always it was fabulous to see my human friends.

One of the prospective owners brought her own dog, a little Jack Russell/Poodle cross, and within minutes she had gained quite the fan club from the lappies and was leading them all a merry dance across the beach. My Ruska was besotted and I think she could quite happily have taken the dear little Belle home with her; sorry Ruska!

Loki & Luna chasing Belle - Photo Alice Fowler

Loki & sister Luna chasing Tykky. Photo - Karissa Dalrymple

A few hours of chasing, wrestling, sand-rolling, a few toes dipped in the sea (lappy toes, not human ones!), and we eventually made our way back to the cars, dog tired (pun entirely intended). And what could possibly make this day complete? Cake! Courtesy of Heather, who makes the most wonderful cakes, we had cupcakes and the dogs had a liver and sardine birthday cake frosted with cream cheese! Spoilt, our dogs? Never!

Amazing cake!!! Photo - Alice Fowler

We all said our goodbyes, confirmed we hadn’t put off the prospective owners for life (who could be?!), and my 100 mile return trip commenced.

…And it all started again the next day. Up again, but this time a whole new set of equipment is thrown in the car - soft crate, brushes, rolled leather lead, treats (well, they are lappies), and everything else you need for attending a show. I have wanted a dog since before I could walk or talk, but showing is not something I had ever envisioned myself doing. It’s great fun though, wonderful training for the doggies, and this time I was bringing the baked goods to give Heather the day off!

Horley & District Canine Society Open Show was being held down at the South of England Showground near Ardingly, and we were seeing Luna and Loki and their human families from the day before again as well as other friends that I’d not seen since Christmas so it was a great opportunity for a catch-up. Especially as the wait was a long one. You never know the right time to turn up with Open Shows - so it’s best to turn up early and wait it out for fear of missing your class!

Left to right - Toni with Matka, Nadia with Roope & Karissa with Loki. Photo - J. Beaumont.

We had a good turn out for our breed classes, two entries in Junior, two for Post Graduate and a good class of 5 in Open (1 absent)! It was sibling rivalry in the Junior class with Loki and Luna in the ring together. Loki took 1st, and also Best Puppy in Breed. Another family affair in Postgrad - Nadia and Roope up against Julia and Ninka! Roope took 1st place. Difficult classes when the surface smells so darn good for the dogs and they are also having to concentrate in the ring when their usual playmate is in there with them and they can’t play!

We were up next in the biggest class of four. A lovely class with two handsome boys - Matka and Hessu - and two pretty girls - Ruska and Mimmi! Matka won the class, and went on to win Best of Breed, Best in Group and was shortlisted for Best in Show - what a great day for him and Toni! We came second, which I was chuffed with, and then we were back into the challenge and given Reserve Best of Breed! So pleased, as this is our best result to date from the limited shows that me and Ruska have been able to make it to.

Ruska sporting her beautiful rosette. Photo - Alice Fowler

We hung on to see Matka get Best in Group and Loki get placed 4th in the Puppy Group, and then headed home for a well deserved relaxing evening.

Of course, not every weekend is like this one - but it sure is fun when they are. :)

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Baristas Bowls & Bones. Have the dogs had a good week?? ......

13/2/2015

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So what have my doggies been up this week? Let's start with Baristas. Since my local dog friendly cafe closed down (boo!) I have become a frequent visitor to Cafe Nero in the town centre because they make decent decaff coffee (hurrah!) and welcome my doggies, sadly not with a biscuit and a bowl of water, but they do get a lot of fuss and attention from staff and customers alike. I like to spread the love, so they all got to visit this week and my Instagram followers were subjected to daily #CafeNero #Lappy #DogFriendly snaps (zzzzz), so now I'm sharing them with you :-)

And now we come to bowls. Much as I want to say that I was attracted to the design and how it would make their five second meal become a five minute meal, actually I just bloody loved the colours! The dogs approve too and who wouldn't want to eat raw tripe presented so beautifully??

I did wonder if the bowls would be hard to wash up with bits of food stuck in areas but no, there's no mess because these determined doggies work on the bowls for a further five minutes ensuring they miss not a morsel. Pop them in the dishwasher and voila, all gorgeous again ready for the next meal sitting.

You know that Friday feeling when you just want to flop on the sofa guzzling wine and stuffing chocolate? Just me then. Anyway, it's no different for dogs. They get to the end of a long week of long walks, visits to Cafe Nero and just generally being spoilt rotten and all they want to do is veg on the grass with a nice fresh marrowbone and who am I to disappoint?

"It's my bone so sod off"

It wasn't just baristas bowls and bones, there was also a doggy reunion and a film crew, but that's for another blog post!

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Is Peppi in love? .....

6/2/2015

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Peppi has been studying this little video of Hismo (Halloween Black Dream du pays de l'Aurore Boréale) very intently. I've been telling her all about his 25km hikes (she likes a fit man) and how he runs loose on walks with groups of other entire males (she likes a man's man) and also how he is pretty amazing at agility (being good at jumping helps doesn't it?!). Oh, and he likes a kiss and cuddle (ahhhhhh, the way to any woman's heart). Yup, I think she's smitten with her handsome Frenchman and she's not the only one :-). Bisou bisou.

COI over 12 gen

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Fun In The Snow! February 3rd 2015 - great whilst it lasted .....

4/2/2015

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We got snow - hurrah!! The dogs LOVED it! They had soooo much fun haring around the garden and of course I was clicking away ..... 137 photos later, these probably capture the morning best. Sadly it was all but gone by the afternoon.

Sisko contemplating the white stuff.

Peppi didn't seem to notice the fact that she's barely even wearing a coat!

That smiling face says it all!

And so does this one!

Scrabbly-Woof looking slightly more serious, perhaps he's a little sore after his massive bundle with Peppi - see photos coming up!!

These guys went bonkers! :-)

"He's behind youuuuuu!!"

Still contemplating ......

Scrabble's airborne and is that Peppi's mouth around his ankle? ;-)

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Christmas at TabanyaRuu

3/1/2015

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Is it really over a month since my last blog post argh!!! Here I was with the cutest puppy in the land and I didn't blog for five weeks, oh the shame! To be fair, eating lots and drinking even more did seem to get in the way, I think we call it Christmas?! And now he's flown the nest! The pen is put away along with his toys. The house feels quite empty.

The good news is that he's getting on really well in his new home! Two nights in and he's not cried at night nor had any accidents. I'm not at all surprised about the latter as he became house trained whilst he was here, in fact on the morning that he left, I was getting all the dogs their breakfasts and Ruuben (as he's now known) was sitting behind me along with my other dogs. I dutifully continued to measure out their Nutriment when I noticed that he was missing. I walking into the snug, no not there. I walked through to the conservatory, no, not there either, so I looked out of the window and sure enough, there he was on the lawn doing a poo! He'd clearly been sat there anticipating his yummy breakfast when suddenly he thought 'Ooooh, I need a poo!' and he then ran through two rooms, squeezed out the cat flap and had one! A few minutes later and he was back behind me in the kitchen waiting for his brekkie! What an amazing little boy. On the occasions when the cat flap had been locked, he'd scratch at the door. I must just quickly add that whilst all TabanyaRuu puppies leave here fully newspaper trained and often having done a lot of their 'business' outside, I've never had one leave here that actually consciously wanted to do number ones and two's outside - if only I could clone him!

As is usual with all TabanyaRuu puppies, Ruuben had LOTS of visitors and was exposed to the hustle and bustle of a busy, noisy house whilst having great adventures with his furry friends. Ruuben now has his own page on my website, you can see it here.

Of course one of my resolutions for 2015 is to keep this blog more up to date with news and photos. I'm on day two of my detox and I've written a blog post - it's a good start, let's hope I can keep it up :-)

"Just off for a poo"

A lovely frosty morning.

Off on a great adventure!

Look what I found!

Steph with Zinty (hoping for a Christmas kiss, ha!)

"I caught Santa! But he doesn't taste very nice!!"

Here are a few photos of the doggies enjoying their Christmas :-)

Scrabble's sister Puzzle with my Mum.

Sisko on our festive Christmas Lappy Walk, Dec 21st.

Salo totally bored with opening presents & clearly not remotely bothered that this particular gift contains a wonderful fallow antler!

Getting in the festive mood, or is he?.....

A very warm & springlike Christmas Day!!

Scrabble looking very serious.

Having a lovely snuggle with my daughter.

Christmas is exhausting.

Helping?....

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An Obstacle Course for Billy - Blue Peter Style!

28/11/2014

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Billy has become a slug - fact. The cutest, most scrumptious slug EVER, but a black fat slug nonetheless. He has a very different look to any of my previous puppies at this age, with a broad head, chunky legs & thick coat (very much a boy already!) - he also loves his milk and with multiple pumps to choose from, he can usually be found propping up the milk bar! Now talking of the word propping, this leads me nicely onto this blog post and the subject of walking, or lack of. See, usually at two weeks my pups are attempting to walk, well wobble - Billy No Mates at 17 days is biding his time, well it requires a great deal of effort to lift that fat belly off the floor and dragging himself is clearly soooo much easier than actually putting weight through his legs .... With the milk bar to himself without any competition, it's my job to present him with a few challenges, such as occasionally knocking him off a teat or using soft toys to simulate siblings to clamber over - life at the moment is a little too easy for Billy (and we all know that life isn't fair!), so I decided to present him with an undulating terrain to encourage him to get off that fat belly of his! Hopefully it's a nice little obstacle course to encourage Billy to start walking - or so I thought...

Take two pool noodles .......

And arrange each half under the vet bed - using the offcuts as 'litter mates'.

So as I was sat next to the whelping box sharp knife on one side, noodley mess on the other and licking the blood from the back of my hand - guess what happened? ....

And cut your hand, I mean .......

Cut each noodle in half.

And replace the vet bed.

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Fiia & Billy are out of the woods ....

22/11/2014

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Photos from the top :

Fiia enjoying 'wound watch' - any excuse for a belly rub :-)
Billy's shaved patch with Aloe Jelly on it.
Billy with Becky the Vet - she doesn't need to see him for a week.
Dex my son giving Billy a kiss.

I'm delighted to report that both Fiia and Billy No Mates are making excellent progress, although it has been a pretty worrying time. Not only did Fiia develop an infection within 24 hours of her C-Section but her body also started to reject the suture material resulting in her wound breaking open over a period of a few days until the vet was able to remove all the material. I have been meticulously cleaning the area and airing it; it is an impossible site to have a dressing stay in place, so it has remained open to the elements (or rather sandwiched between her mammaries as she's lying on her side to feed!) so I regularly make her lie on her back, legs akimbo for cleaning; one end of the wound has closed and the remaining open area is developing granulated tissue so is on its way to closing. Last weekend Fiia was left at the vets as they were going to staple the wound shut, but upon closer inspection they found the surrounding skin too thin so I was left with no option but to leave it as it was, tend the wound and hope for the best.

Poor little Billy hasn't emerged unscathed either. Thankfully after two milk top ups last weekend, he has thrived on his Mother's milk and today weighs over 800 grams! However he developed a little skin infection (no doubt caught from his Mum) and had to have a patch of fur shaved to let the air to the sore area which I am also bathing daily.

I'm sure all our troubles are now behind us and we can relax a little more. Fiia has been a star throughout, never once being anything other than gentle and compliant - we have been to the vets almost daily and yet she still walks in and wags her tail! Yesterday was a breakthrough day - no need to see the vet for a whole week - woohooo!!! I want to say a big thank you to those who have kept in regular contact enquiring how we all are, your contact has been a great support.

I will be bringing Billy downstairs once his eyes are open so that he can be amongst the bustle of family life and then the fun can really begin! :-)

Today I read a deeply moving poem, clearly written by a breeder who knows full well the anguish and heartache involved when things go wrong. It brought a tear to my eye and I think provides a real insight into what a good breeder puts into each and every litter and puppy - summed up beautifully in the last line.

BREEDERS PRAYER
You'll love your little puppy, she'll make your house a home.
She'll be your very best friend, you'll never feel alone.
She'll make you smile, she'll make you laugh,
She'll fill your heart with love.......
Did she come from a breeder or did she fall from heaven above?
If you've never been a breeder or seen life through their eyes
as you hold your little puppy, please don't criticize.
You don't know of all the anguish and the times that bring such pain.
When we lose the battle with a little one and the tears flow like rain.
Sometimes we sit the whole night through waiting for babies to be born.
Oh the stress and trepidation when they're still not here by dawn.
Or the panic of holding a tiny baby in our hands
who weighs but 60 grams
Do I do this instead of that or that instead of this?
Alone we fight and hope we won't give him his last little kiss.
We pray he'll live to bring some joy and make a house a home
We know it's up to us and we fight this fight alone.
Formula, bottles, heating pads, we have to get it right
Two hour feedings for this tiny guy thoughout the day and night.
In our hearts we know we are probably going to lose this epic fight
but we keep trying to save him because God willing we just might
Day one he's in there fighting; we say a silent prayer
Day two & three he's doing well, with lots of love and care
Day four & five.....he's still alive, our hopes soar to Heaven
Day six he slips away again, dies in our hands day seven.
We take this little angel and bury him alone:
With aching heart and burning tears and an exhausted groan
We ask ourselves "Why do this? Why suffer all this grief?
To help them live to grow up strong is such a great relief.
So when you think of breeders and label them with "GREED".
If you have a healthy puppy it's cause they filled his every need..
When you buy a puppy, and with your precious dollars part,
You only pay with money.........we pay with a piece of our heart.
Amen.

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Fiia's Puppy Announcement

16/11/2014

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Waiting for things to kick off!

With only one puppy on board, I knew that the whelping of Fiia and Mika's puppy might be rather stressful. Sam the Scan confirmed the week before that indeed there was just the one pup but that it was an average size - so all I could do was hope for the best and hope that Fiia went into labour naturally and delivered without any problems. I was buoyed up by the fact that Fiia's sister Kaija had herself had a singleton pup last year and went into labour & delivered 'Little Pickle' with no problems. As this litter was the result of chilled semen inserted by AI, I knew exactly the due date as Fiia had been progesterone tested. Three times Fiia's temp dropped and she displayed signs of early stage labour, but it would come to nothing. I was liaising closely with my vet during this time and when a shot of Oxytocin brought nothing more than half a dozen half hearted contractions, it was obvious that Fiia was suffering from Primary Intertia (inability to progress in labour due to insufficient hormones released, a relatively common condition in the case of a singletone pup) and a C-Section was now the only alternative. I've never had a bitch need a C-Section before so it was a little nerve wracking to say the least, but it wasn't long before the puppy was brought into the consulting room where we'd been waiting, swaddled in a blanket with just its little face sticking out. Welcome to the world Billy No Mates! Once Fiia had been stitched up, she too was brought in and Billy allowed to suckle whilst we waited for Fiia to come to.

"Look what I made!!!"

A desperate attempt overnight to bring Fiia's temperature down.

Five and a half hours after arriving at the vets, we were able to leave with Fiia and Billy. Fiia was a bit of a zombie for many hours afterwards, so we were having to stimulate Billy No Mates to go to the toilet using wet cotton wool - thankfully he got the hang of feeding although he was noticeably whingey for another twelve hours. Later that evening Fiia seemed mostly over the anaesthetic and was able to take over her maternal duties.

Sadly the following day things took a turn for the worse and Fiia developed an infection and soaring temperature. I'm not going to go into details but suffice to say it's been a very stressful time with intermittent sleep and round the clock nursing. It has been gruelling with endless vet visits and one problem after another - poor Fiia, she's been so unlucky. Billy No Mates failed to gain any weight (although really strong and vigorous) and so yesterday he was 'topped up' after his feeds with goats milk. Small wonder Fiia's milk has been lacking after the amount she has been through.

I knew my black hairy muff would come in useful one day! I pop the heated wheat bag inside & it becomes Billy's warm and cosy sibling :-)

Andrew hand feeding Billy using the amazing sponge method (thank you Jennifer for putting me on to this, it's been brilliant!).

To learn more about this easy way to hand feed a pup, click here.

Gorgeous Billy No Mates - 2 days old.

Fiia feeling much better and actually enjoying the buster collar as she's rather fond of having a pillow!

Billy looks very much like his half brother Kimi at the same age.

A Lappy temperament is a sight to behold, Fiia has been so stoical it's unbelievable - the vets have been most impressed. Totally compliant at every stage, she has moved us to tears with her beautiful nature - it's really been an exceptionally emotional time. My heartfelt thanks to my friend Mary of Starlapps Finnish Lapphunds who initially came for a weekend and ended up staying over a week, offering both moral support and hands on help as each crisis hit. Fiia's co-owners have also been amazing and it was wonderful for them to visit a cheerful and proud Fiia as her condition improved - Andrew even got to hand feed Billy, awwwww that was a tear jerker.

I'm pleased to report that Fiia is now healing and loving being a Mummy Dog again and Billy No Mates is eating well and growing. What a special little boy he is (not to mention rather expensive!!!!). There is always a massive investment in each litter, both prior to the mating (researching pedigrees/health etc) and then once the pups have arrived, copious amounts of time and love are poured into each - but I have to say, this one is a record breaker on all counts! I think we're going to have lots of fun with this special little chap - it's going to be agony to part with him but I'm not thinking about that just now.

Despite being a brilliant Mummy and a beautiful bitch with a temperament to match, Fiia will not be bred from again - I love her far too much to ever risk the same thing happening. Instead I shall look forward to seeing what her gorgeous son Roope will produce in the near future - if they are anything like her, they will be special pups indeed :-)

Here's a little video of Billy No Mates taken yesterday at three days old - I'm afraid it's very dark, but just look at that little tail wagging!!

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So as I was sat next to the whelping box sharp knife on one side, noodley mess on the other and licking the blood from the back of my hand - guess what happened? ....

Fiia & Billy are out of the woods ....

Photos from the top :

Fiia enjoying 'wound watch' - any excuse for a belly rub :-)
Billy's shaved patch with Aloe Jelly on it.
Billy with Becky the Vet - she doesn't need to see him for a week.
Dex my son giving Billy a kiss.

Fiia's Puppy Announcement

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So as I was sat next to the whelping box sharp knife on one side, noodley mess on the other and licking the blood from the back of my hand - guess what happened? ....

Photos from the top :Fiia enjoying 'wound watch' - any excuse for a belly rub :-)Billy's shaved patch with Aloe Jelly on it.Billy with Becky the Vet - she doesn't need to see him for a week.Dex my son giving Billy a kiss.

Author

Archives

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Photos from the top :

Fiia enjoying 'wound watch' - any excuse for a belly rub :-)
Billy's shaved patch with Aloe Jelly on it.
Billy with Becky the Vet - she doesn't need to see him for a week.
Dex my son giving Billy a kiss.