Rain Rain Go Away

Yesterday was blue skies and sun shine, bloody chilly, but still very nice - almost a perfect autumnal day.

Sadly today is somewhat different - it was raining at 7.15 am, we know because Taavi wanted to be let out for his morning ablutions, why he won't use the dog run is beyond me as the others are more than happy to.

It was still raining at 10.00 - the time we normally walk the dogs, 11,12, 1, 2 and 3 were no different, to say it's wet would be an understatement, the hill on which we live could be used for white water rafting.  Suffice to say that today's walks have been somewhat misreable so I hope you're having a great time on holiday soaking up the sun.

Right now Taavi is to my right with Kiva to my left - after some of my ham sandwich maybe - Jaaka is chewing on another bone and Mylo is in the kitchen (kitchen = room with very muddy floor).


Just another day at Dogs to Stay.

And Then There Were 5

Kanto, Kiva's brother, came to stay yesterday (Monday) and fun and games ensued for the first 15 minutes of his visit. 

I think that Kanto, a regular visitor, was a little annoyed to see 2 other dogs in, what he sees as, his second home then again Taavi was a little taken aback to see someone come running in to "his" territory, Jaaka just wagged his tail in a "Oh look, someone new to play with" style.

We kept an eye on them as they jockeyed for status and with quarter of an hour the pack had sorted itself out and the day passed very quietly.  The weather was beautiful, chilly but with blue skies and sunshine, and the 3 walks that the dogs enjoyed were glorious - tiring too.

Having 5 well behaved Lapphunds in one's home must be one of life's great pleasues, the fact that 4 of them are males, 2 entire and 2 neutered, says a great deal about how they can be managed and integrated.

We are very lucky to have 2 cover boys within the pack as Mylo's was the cover picture used on the first (2008) SFLS calendar and Taavi's is the one chosen for the 2011 calendar.  Autographs copies are available, please send an SAE to; 
We're Too Handsome For Our Own Good
Dogs to Stay
W00F L4P


Kanto went home in the early evening and we enjoyed a peaceful time in front of the open fire as we decided who would sit on which sofa and next to whom.

Back From A Walk And The Pub

Find enough to do on a Sunday morning and it means that the dogs get walked a little later than normal - it also means that the walk home coincides with the pub opening.
Once again it was a sunny autumn Sunday and though it had remained yesterday it was still dry enough under foot to be able to take the dogs out across the fields - meaning that they got the opportunity to enjoy running free off-lead.  Taavi and Jaaka are both excellent with their recall so we felt confident allowing them to play - and play they did.
The walk home, with 4 tired dogs, took us past the stable and yard that is home to Tony the pony, actually Twinkle the Shetland pony but I have always liked the alliteration of the former.  Kiva and Mylo are well used to Twinkle ambling to get a carrot or mint imperial - Taavi is less than impressed and Jaaka looks up at Twinkle with an expression that suggests he is thinking "OK - same colour, same number of legs but it's bloody big".
Walking back through the churchyard meant a glance at the clock - 12.05, great the pub would be open but not too busy, time for a Guinness for me and a Smirnoff Ice for Lou.  Small problem, the pub was busy - busy pubs mean can mean waiting to be served and a complaining Mylo, not today however as, with me at the bar Lou was busy with the dogs and all of the admiring looks and compliments - about the dogs of course ;-)
Taavi and Jaaka were as chilled as always, Kiva as quiet as a mouse and even Mylo was pretty chilled, meaning that out time in the pub was an enjoyable one.
With the log fire now burning and Sunday dinner cooking the dogs are all perfectly relaxed - not that we would expect the pack to be any other.
Lappy days.

A note from a broad

It has been a week of mixed emotions here. When we curtailed our Dogstostay activities because of Kiva and her pups we always assumed their leaving date would be the weekend of 9th/10th October 1-2 days short of their eight week birthday.

We already had Taavi and Jaaka due back with us for half term holidays (bizarre they should be last out, first in) but we were thought our timings would allow us five days with our pack of two, a bit of time for loving, fussing and regrouping…

Well what happens when your new puppy owners have a significant wedding anniversary (am I allowed to say 30?) which involves a most fantastic holiday cruising around Canada and the North East coast of the USA

What it means is that you get to keep one puppy for an extra 9 days which is great in itself and then you have a few sleepless nights before the posse returns to wonder how it’s all going to work….. sleeping, eating, breathing notwithstanding (just me obviously, because Simon is as cool as a cucumber at this point while I’m chewing off what nails I have left)

All of you that have watched Miika a.k.a. Dylan know he’s been the apple of Simon's eye from day one, and of course we all guessed he would run rings around the elders, well didn’t he just!

Taavi and Jaaka were fantastic with the pup from the moment they arrived, they didn’t even really mind that Alison coo’ed and billed and tried to make him fit in the exceptionally large handbag she brought with her ;) They accepted the tail tugging, mane hanging and to watch this mini-pack going on in our kitchen was a joy.

Since Flo left on the Sunday, Dylan had spent his nights with Kiva and Mylo having the complete run of the kitchen. When the two boys arrived we thought it might be prudent to have him in his pen with Kiva close by while Taavi and Jaaka had their normal run of kitchen/lobby/yard.

Mylo would be upstairs with us, lapp(y)ing up the attention and peace would prevail… or not, Dylan didn’t want to be confined and yes he soon alerted us to that fact! So having wrapped us around his little fluffy tan paw, we let him loose in the kitchen with everyone else, and THEN there was peace. Not a murmur from any of them, back to puppy times and waking them all up to make sure they were awake….

We only had four nights with the 5 of them but time and time again Taavi and Jaaka showed the softness of nature of a Lappy, not a grumble from either of them and always ready for playing with the puppy, I did wonder about all males together but I needn’t have worried at all.

It’s all been a bit quiet (in lappy speak) since Tuesday, the pack of 4 have reformed, we are now able to take longer walks without rushing back for the pup so everyone is more chilled and as always we’re having the most wonderful time looking after the most wonderful dogs….. Lappy days indeed

Taavi and Jaaka Are Back

It was at the end of July when I last updated the blog - I do have my reasons, not least the fact that on August 16th Kiva gave birth to a litter of 5 puppies, the Magic Roundabout litter as we called it.  Sadly Dougal and Ermintrude faded away in the first week and are now running free at Rainbow Bridge.  Florence and Zebedee are now with their new forever homes whilst Dylan is with us until Tuesday.  The whole experience has been one of highs and lows and it is my intention to write an article about it and to provide a link to it from this blog.


As we were busy raising puppies we didn't have any guest dogs - Taavi and Jaaka, who arrived yesterday are therefore our first visitors since July and are with us for 2 weeks.


Today is Jaaka's 1st birthday and a while ago he shared some of his birthday chicken liver cake with Taavi as well as Kiva and Mylo, little Dylan had to have a slice too.

Earlier today they all enjoyed a hearty breakfast - yes even Taavi.

Yesterday and last night passed smoothly, Dylan (proper name TabanyaRuu Karuselli Miika) is totally unfazed by the bigger dogs and they are all considerate towards him.  We were woken at 8.00 by Dylan wanting his breakfast - a new day at Dogs to Stay had begun.