If A Picture Says a Thousand Words ...

What does a video say?

Taavi is ganged up on by Kiva and Mylo - captured by Louise on Friday evening and uploaded today whilst we were walking with the 3 of them and Kanto (search our blog archive) this afternoon.

I have added a few pictures to the "Easter Weekend" entry - scroll down the page to see them.

Taavi Speaks

I thought that I would contribute to this blog seeing as Simon has been a bit remiss.

Having 2 other dogs around is pretty cool; Mylo is great fun, he lets me pull his tail and grab hold of his mane - Kiva is less keen on the tail pulling thing though yesterday I did manage to pull her across the kitchen floor .

The hupeeps give me lots of attention and even let me sit next to them on the sofa - sometimes Kiva joins us too whilst Mylo lies on the floor beneath us. I get fed regularly - Sunday lunch is my favourite - though the homemade chicken and rice is pretty good too.


I get lots of walks, normally twice every day, though I don't get to run off lead as much as I do at home unless there is someone else to walk with us other than just Simon. Gulay and Guler came to visit and that was fun - I got spoilt rotten by them. On Sunday I met up with my sisters as well as a load of other Lappies - great fun and off lead all of the time (I can do recall).

I have learnt some new tricks; I pick up one of the toys whenever someone comes into the house or when Louise comes home from work and I also have learnt from Mylo how to make cute noises at the same time - and they say that talking with your mouthful is wrong ;-).

Taking the beds and blankets out into the garden is fun - though I don't think Simon agrees.

Though I am looking forward to seeing my hufamily again I do like it here - lots to do, plenty of company and loads of fun.

Easter Weekend

With Taavi's hufamily off on boat somewhere in the middle of the the Pacific and, in all probability with no internet access, the chances of them reading this before their return to the UK is pretty remote - however ....

Easter Saturday saw Taavi and I take a trip into Rugby to collect 2 house guests who had made the trip up from Herts to visit Taavi - a somewhat stress full trip for them as once again the railway service was disrupted - something about "an incident" - pft.

The 2 girls were delighted to see Taavi again, he too seemed pleased to see them. On our return they were introduced to Mylo and Kiva and then it was off on a walk - made so much easier with 3 pairs of hands to handle the 3 dogs. With Louise back from her trip to Holland the evening was pleasant and relaxed with the dogs chilled.

Sunday saw us take a trip up to Birmingham for a mini Lappy gathering in Sutton Park - I say mini but in the end there were 10 Lappies (plus owners) including 2 of Taavi's sisters. Time flew and 3 hours later it was time to drop our house guests back at the station for their train journey home. Pictures of the walk can be seen here http://www.flickr.com/photos/phelpsville/

4 of the 6 males running free

Mylo spots something to roll in

Taavi is in there somewhere, honest

The dogs were shattered - also somewhat dirty as they all wanted to dive into the pools of black mud on their walk - no matter they had fun, as did we. The only time they stirred all evening was when dinner was served, roast chicken and all the trimmings - quickly dispatched they again settled down ....

Lappy days

If it can go wrong .... it will

Don't panic - the dogs are fine; it's just the washing machine and central heating boiler that have decided to give up the ghost so my time has been spent trying to sort them out - alas to no avail which is a bit of a bugger because the sun seems to have disappeared and it's a tad chilly.

The dogs continue to be a pleasure - having 3 now seems the norm and I am sure that we, including Mylo and Kiva will miss Taavi when he goes home. They really do get on well - Mylo loves having a boy to play with and since Taavi has been here he has seemed to returned to puppyhood. Taavi continues to hang on to Mylo's tail whenever possible or, if Mylo manages to free himself, Taavi grabs hold of his mane.

Kiva too enjoys Taavi's company.

Louise has gone of to Holland for a few days and as a result I am home alone with 3 Lappies - a dream come true - though having to share a 3 seater sofa with the 3 of them was a bit of a crush (no pictures of this - I just couldn't get up, get the camera and take a picture of myself sitting down without disturbing the dogs).

Taavi is such a well behaved dog - he has obviously had a lot of time and attention paid to his training and is a credit to his hufamily. He has picked up a couple of bad (maybe good) habits though - including picking up a stuffed toy whenever someone comes into the kitchen :-) and taking the bedding from the kennel into the garden :-(

Lappy days.

Crosswords on Sunday

No - not cross words, but crosswords - something that Louise and I enjoy doing on a Sunday morning whilst the dogs chill out after their breakfast and play time.

Talking of playtime - what would it be without someone and toys to play with? Taavi has discovered the other toy box - the one that is insides Mylo's kennel - today taavi would mostly be playing with a stuffed toy fox ....

And, once he had managed to chew it in half he kindly let Kiva have part of it to play with too..

Not wanting to be left out Mylo decided too that he wanted a piece of the action

What could be better than the 3 of them sharing the same toy?

With the fox now well and truly torn assunder it was time for a walk - across the fields again and this time, with 2 pairs of hands they would all be off lead - well at least until Mylo decided to go exploring the one field without a footpath - time for some vigourous activity as we had to clamber over barbed wire fences (if you think I was going to crawl through the ditch that Mylo had used you would be wrong) to get him back on his lead - Taavi and Kiva of course just trotted along beside us.

Home safe and sound it was time for a late Sunday lunch - and as Lou prepared it the dogs kept her company in the kitchen knowing full well that their day would be capped off with a rather tasty meal.

Lappy days indeed.

Where Does The Time Go?

The weekend is always good at Dogs to Stay - with Louise here it makes dealing with 3 dogs so much easier, however this weekend the dogs seemed to be very chilled. Their routine is now so predictable; Every morning sees us greeted with love and excitement - after breakfast there is a mad 1/2 hour or so with them playing in the garden (thank heaven for the dry weather) then it is chill out time for them - each has there own favoured spot to sleep during the day - bizarrely nearly all of our guests choose the same one though Kiva and Taavi do seem fond of the top step to the garden.

Saturday is the day that Louise makes the trip to town to do the weekly shop - Tescos and a pet shop normally. Her return is always greeted enthusiastically by Mylo and Kiva as Saturday is Dentistick day. In an attempt to make anything that excites the dogs calmer mylo has been trained to pick out a toy/bone/cow's hoof from the toy box and to hold it in his mouth whilst Louise brings the shopping in - he normally accompanies this with some weird dog language to difficult to explain in mere words (memo to self - upload video of this to You Tube). Amazingly Taavi has also taken this practice up - so now we have the sound of 2 dogs trying to talk with their mouths full of something - Kiva of course just waits patiently. Once the Dentisticks are given out they scurry off to their respective favourite spots and chew on them.

We were due to meet up with Kanto (Kiva's brother) and his hufamily for a walk on Saturday afternoon, unfortunately this had to be cancelled so instead it was a walk across the fields with just our 3.

Saturday evening was another opportunity for Lou to groom Taavi (who seems to love this attention) and Mylo (who hates it) - as a result much of Sunday would be spent hoovering up the cream and white fur - why is it that when a brown tri or wolf sable dog is brushed that the only fur that comes out is cream?

Good Friday

I was chastised last evening for not having updated the blog since Friday - so here is a quick summary of Friday's activities at Dogs to Stay:


Friday morning began the same as any other with Taavi, having been alerted to us being awake, up and about letting us know that he was looking forward to greeting us by his customary morning whine (not a distressed one of course, more the "please hurry up and come to see me" one). Opening the door to the lounge or kitchen (the 2 rooms that the dogs have access to during the night) results in 3 happy Lappy faces and 3 wagging Lappy tails greeting me - it is such a pleasure to be greeted in such a way - the only issue is how to stroke 3 dogs with just 2 hands - there is a solution though; Kiva lies on the floor, belly up, so that I can stroke her with my forearm whilst stroking Taavi with the hand and, with my other hand I am able to stroke Mylo - sorted.

Walking 3 dogs with one pair of hands can also be somewhat tricky - I have given up with the brace instead favouring Kiva and Taavi on 2 conventional leads and Mylo on an extender. Walks are so much easier now and Taavi and Kiva can be allowed to walk free where appropriate whilst Mylo has the freedom of the extending lead (Mylo is going through a "I don't do recall" phase).

Observing the dogs interact continues to be a pleasure - the combinations of whom plays with who and how seems endless.

Once again Friday evening was much like any other with the 3 of them totally chilled - well apart from Taavi's issue with Sam the cat....

Sofa So Good

Taavi has most definately made himself at home and seems more than comfortable - I'm not sure if he is allowed on the furniture at home but he certainly likes our sofas. The picture below shows him, in my opinion, looking much like Max from 8 Below.He seems to like nothing better than to snuggle up on the 3 seater watching Mylo and Kiva share the ball that he found on his afternoon walk yesterday. No ordinary walk this, but one through the village, passing by fields full of countless new born lambs that seemed to fascinate the 3 of them, en route to the sports field where they were able to run free, oh yes, and scavenge for prey and, in Taavi's case, the odd tennis ball or 2.


Much of yesterday evening was spent with any 2 dog combination of the 3 of them playing with the tennis ball and, when not sharing a ball he and Mylo were quite happy to share a well chewed cow's hoof. Just in case you are wondering the picture above is of Mylo and Kiva and yes, they are the same breed, Mylo is just a tad larger (is it me or does anyone else think he might make a nice fireside rug?).

Louise again decided to give Taavi a brush - after his last grooming I wouldn't have thought that there was much to come out - wrong; my the time Louise had finished we had a pile of fur the size of a football and Taavie looked stunning. Once done with his grooming he decided to join me on the 2 seater.

Just in case you're wondering, I do have other sweaters than the one I am wearing in the pictures above and those taken when Smuu and Sisko came to stay (check back through the post archive).

Lappy days.

Garlic Chicken and Rice

I spent much of yesterday (Monday) stripping the chicken carcass, the remains of Sunday's lunch, and then boiling it down to get the rest of the meat off - as a result the kitchen was full of rather attractive smells (well at least to the dogs). Having finished the boiling process I next drained the water (no nasty little bones wanted) added a clove of garlic to the broth and used this to boil some rice. The result of these endeavours is 8 nourishing meals for the dogs (I normally give then 75-80 grams of this together with some of their normal kibble). Taavi the food cruiser loved it, in fact he was first with a clean bowl.

The 3 dogs are all now perfectly attuned to each other, Taavi is still besotted with Kiva but knows that when she seeks sanctuary under her bush that she is best left alone - cue "I want to play with Mylo and eat his tail". Mylo and Taavi get on so incredibly well, in fact Mylo seems to have recaptured his puppyhood in the way that he plays with his new best friend.

In the evening the dogs again settled in their normal places - well at least until 8.45 - Mylo's time to see what the cats have left in the way of food. Now we are well used to this and, with Mylo on strict rations, we now know not to let him have any of the cats' food, instead he has a dozen or so of his dry kibbles - for a smart dog he is easily fooled.

Eating from the cats' tray is Mylo's cue to settle for the evening, so with him at Louise's feet, Kiva on my lap and Taavi at my feet (far enough away from one of the cats to feel safe) our evening resumed. Well until Taavi wanted to be brushed that is.

I was busy brushing some matted fur from Kiva's haunches - something she tolerates so well - when Taavi made it quite obvious that he too wanted to be brushed. 10 minutes brushing of Kiva equals a bunch of fur the size of a golf ball - 10 minutes of the same with Taavi saw the living room carpet transformed from terracotta to a pale cream - wow, does he shed. Not to be left out Mylo also wanted in on the act (and Mylo hates being brushed) as a result much of today has been spent hoovering the carpet.

As I write the dogs are settled; the sun is shining and in an hour or so they will be getting another walk, on their return they will be treated to another culinary masterpiece.

Lappy days