Catch Up

I just realised that it has been almost 4 weeks since our blog was updated and having just read a few blogs of some of our fellow Lappy owners I thought I better update ours. Since Taavi left us it has just been Kiva and Mylo here - not that it has been uneventful as the past few weeks has seen Mylo go on a diet. At 25 kgs he was, most definately, overweight - 25% overweight in fact - and despite our efforts we had only been able to shift 600 grams in 12 weeks. So a couple of weeks ago I took him to the vets to see if they could help - 14 days later I am delighted to say that Mylo has lost another 840 grams bringing him down to just under 23.5 kgs, still a way to go but very encouraging all the same.

The past weekend saw a couple of 4 legged guests, Sisko (Kiva's mum) and Peppi (Kiva's sister) who were with us overnight having been taken to a show in Stafford. An unexpected surprise was the arrival of Kanto (Kiva and Peppi's brother) who popped in to say hello with his huparents Neil and Milly.

Liz, their owner and Kiva's breeder, was also with us meaning an enjoyable evening round the kitchen table sharing doggy related anecdotes and discussing suitable mates for Kiva.

This was Peppi's first stay with us and she soon settled in, made herself at home and discovered the joys of Mylo's and Kiva's toy box and bone stash.

A late night meant for a late start to Sunday - the dogs were fed and then it was off for a walk across the fields - 4 Lappies running free is a sight to behold and with Kiva and Peppi busy exploring Mylo and Sisko kept us company.

Sadly Peppi and Sisko's visit came to an end leaving Kiva and Mylo wondering what would be happening next.

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?