Week 2

It is a real progress week this one. First eyes, woofs, purring growls that sound exactly like Star Trek Tribbles and they can now hear and react to sound as well as vision.  Staggering round the box is now quite normal as is sitting up! Photos from week one and this week are now up here :-) Enjoy. They have had a fair few visitors. These I select carefully as they have to be people that Tykky is comfortable with and knows really well, as it is possible that too much activity would upset her and prevent her from mothering effectively. Of course she is delighted to receive guests :-) as is Ilo.

I have also had various discussions regarding names. As Mika is an overseas sire the KC have said I must send off my names 'yesterday' if registration papers are to go with pups as they are in a 'high volume' period at Aylesbury registration HQ.  It is a shame since last time I was able to let owners choose pedigree names,  but that is hard to organise fairly with some people yet to visit. A slight panic ensued, mainly as I had only just contacted Kati Soila Smith who helped me so generously with the phonetics.

I thought you might like to see her explanations:

 

Jieknja is N Sami for Ice and subject to KC approval I have had to allocate the names, so:

Carmine is Baldu = Iceberg/Ice Flow
Sky is Rudni = Ice Hole (for fishing)
Sienna is Suossa = Bay Ice
Pink is Duollu = Ground Frost
Aqua is Boara = Smooth Ice (after Spring snow has melted)
Silver is Cuokca = Ice Bridge over a river
Sunshine is Sealli = Melting Frost on trees

Welcome to the Jieknja Litter

After a four-year gap the next generation is born.  Jieknja or jiekŋa ( say Yee-ek-ng-ya - I think :-) ) is N Sami for ''ice".  Those with a great memory with remember my first litter was called Muohta,  N Sami for "snow".

This litter has been a long time in the making and after last year's long trip to Sweden but no pups it really is lovely to have a litter from our trip to Bavaria.  Long Live Dream Alaska (Mika) and Tykky are very well matched in so many ways. Tykky had a very active and uneventful pregnancy, but she kept everyone waiting over the Bank Holiday weekend. Even her beau Mika waited patiently for news:

Mika the expectant Dad in Bavaria (J Scheidig)

Tykky in no particular hurry in Rye

Midwives and husbands came and went, and due dates checked and checked again.  Eventually, having being threatened with a c-section, Tykky decided she could hold them no longer and 7 beautiful pups were born in the early hours of 6th May 2015 - 5 girls and 2 boys. The pups have some wonderful markings already and 3 of the girls are wolf sable, with the other 4 pups being black with bright tanpoint markings. The marking are changing daily, it is really interesting to watch them change.

Tykky is being a super attentive Mum, after some encouragement with cleaning. Pups need stimulation to eliminate for the first few weeks. Normally this duty is undertaken by the mother licking the pups. Tykky decided poo was not on her agenda whatsoever so I decided to temp her into the less refined maternal duties with the help of some strategically placed (organic) Greek yoghurt.  After 3 days she decided it was worth it and is now happily cleaning away.

The best position for 7 pups to feed

Two paws, Mum and son (S Crowhurst)

Muohta litter one year on

All through the year, the puppy owners have been diligent in sending me some lovely pictures of the brood, and here are just a few that I have been sent or selected from FB with permission:

Milo

Mia

Tuula in UK snow

Tali in French snow

Finn

 At the beginning of September we had an anniversary walk for the whole litter - it was wonderful to see all the pups together and see how much they had changed in the last few months.  Each and every one looked well and had a real joy for life and it was lovely to see.  Helle and her two furries joined us and took these wonderful photos, and lots more:

Milo, Mia, Tykky, Tuula, Finn, Ilo and Tali

Mamma Ilo

Mia

Finn

Tali

Tuula

Milo

Spring is sprung

and in the interests of evolution webbed feet are now a requirement. Thank goodness we live near a beach so that mud is never a feature in this house (substituted for sand, mind you).
Weather was nice and warm though in March when we visited Honeybears and had a small family reunion:

"Fancy another go this year honey?"

"Are you kidding? Look what arrived last time!"

Siblings Tali and Mia came to visit, goodness, they have both changed so much - Tali has Ilo's lovely eye markings and Mia's coat texture is superb.

Tali

Mia

Although we only show infrequently, 3 of the 6 pups have been exhibited already. Tykky set the ball rolling by picking up Best Puppy Bitch on her first outing at Manchester Ch Show under Stuart Band and Tuula won BP AVNSC Pastoral at Horley and District. Mia meanwhile was strutting her stuff at a local companion show on the S Coast and loving it.
Susanne (Lappviken) and I often travel together for long-distance shows, its more fun driving and chatting and we can celebrate/console each other on the way home. So it was for the FLCGB Ch show at Stoneleigh - when with low expectations we joked about stopping off on the way there to put additional air in the tyres so we could carry all the trophies!  As the prizes, rosettes and dog food mounted up, we were wondering if it would all fit in. Tykky won MPB with Tuula coming second. She then took Best Bitch Puppy and behaved quite well in the challenges. Finally she got BPIS under Hans Lehtinen from Finland and we celebrated most of the way home and the next day too! I was overjoyed that my two babes had done so well at the strongest entry we have ever had in the breed for puppy classes.

Tykky BPIS

At home with the trophies and Ilo's fur for the birds!