Litters

We didn’t start naming the puppies traditionally starting from A letter, instead we wanted to have themes for their names. Although our first puppies had names which reflected their external looks or something related to their birth.

Our first two litters were born in the same year when a new two-legged member of our family was born. So when we were expecting our third litter, people were asking “when the baby is born”. This “tradition” didn’t eventually continue.

When Nuppu was expecting her first litter, she used to sleep her back against my back very often and I suppose she sensed the new life growing inside me too. At least when I brought our daughter home from the hospital, Nuppu came by to sniff and lick the baby on the bed and then went back to do her things. Nuppu’s daughter Susa (Lappunaaman Tummasilmäsusa) instead, was sitting on the bed staring at the little miracle for at least an hour. Only the big ears of Susa were moving and reacting to the sounds and movement of the baby.

The sire selected for the first litter was Sinikka Sjöblom’s Follow The Fun of Rivona. That litter had also Sulo (Lappunaaman Jarruenska) in addition to Susa. Sulo went five times to shows and succeeded at Jyväskylä on June 1992 as BOB and was awarded with Certificate quality also on April 1993. Sulo passed away in the age of 13. In addition, were born also Iita (Lappunaaman Isoiita) which unfortunately had a bad second eye and Doris (Lappunaaman Minidoris) which had umbilical- and diaphragmatic hernia when she was born. Doris had a surgery and she rehabilitated well, but remained small in size. The first litter also had one male puppy born lifeless. Iita lived until the age of 12 and we had to let Doris go in the age of 11.

Susa went to shows and reached a couple of certificate quality mentions, but Susa wasn’t used for breeding. In quite early days, she began to limp her front legs but at the time we didn’t find the reason for it. When we X-rayed Susa’s hips somewhere in the age of 2, we found out that she had not just very bad hips, but also bone proliferation in her knees and lower spine’s hip area. Legs were bugging her mostly when the air was cold and moist and at those times she limped her front legs as she put more weight to the front than usual. Susa was kind, loved children and she lived as a full member of our family. Susa lived her life together with her dam and was very attached to her, we let her go together with her dam in the age of 11. They were ashed together.

Moomins

Nuppu’s second litter, which had FIN Ch Shallianne Anticipation as the sire, was born in February 1993. At the time we were living in apartment house’s third floor with no elevator, so Nuppu’s breeder Anneli Sutela had kindly promised that Nuppu can come to Kaipola for giving birth. At the evening of the whelping day I received progress reports regularly and at the time of evening news I got the hint to start driving there if I want to see the birth. As I arrived to Kaipola, two tricolor -puppies were born and as I was informing it to the folks at home, again one tricolor was born. Anneli grinned and told me that here you now have the ones you were craving for when all five puppies turned out to be tricolors. At the time this litter was born, Moomins were a big hit in our family so the puppies were named Lappunaaman Naurava Nipsu “Nipa”, Tomera Tiuhti “Kamu”, Vauhti Viuhti “Linda”, Mainio Mymmeli “Vappu” and Villi Jonkka “Ninni”, of which we gave Ninni and Nipa for placing dogs. In his show career Nipa reached first and seconds and got 188 points from character test. Nipa had healthy eyes and elbows, but the hips gave us D result. Linda’s best show result was first and her hips were D/C. Kamu’s best show result was second, but he was eager agility -dog, and reached 10th place with result 1 in his only official competition. This litter did put up some running- and crawling competitions with our daughter in our apartment and we have been very grateful for our patient neighbours, who took this rumble and radiator banging very peacefully.

Rockers

Lappunaaman Rock -litter was brought to the daylight at Ilmajoki in April 1996, in the good care of Vappu’s owner Raija Bisi. This litter included the red ones Lappunaaman Elvis Presley “Roope” and Tina Turner “Marsa”, and also the tricolors Dy Springfield “Lilli” and Janis Joplin “Omppu”. Omppu remained small in size, and the probable cause for that was leaking aorta. Despite the disorder Omppu lived over 10 years. Vappu was at her best when her puppies were born, since she was chosen as BOB at Kauhava group dog show in June 1997. Vappu was a healthy eyed A -hip bitch, and she was very attached to her owner Raija. Vappu lived until the age of 12.

Little rockers

Finnish movie characters

Despite her name, Ninni (Lappunaaman Villi Jonkka) was calm and stable and lived in her placing home along with multiple cats. She had healthy eyes and C/B -hips. During the show trips Ninni spent time with us, and she came along very well with her dam and Susa. Show results varied between first and second places. As Ninni’s spouce we picked the A -hip Station Hill’s Midsummer Night owned by Marja Sara-aho, and in March 1997 was brought to daylight Finnish Movie charaters Lappunaaman Aarneniskavuori “Miska”, Juurakon Hulda “Hulda”, Kauniskatariina “Pipsa” and Hiljamaitotyttö “Penni”. Penni is a tough-minded bitch, who lived in the same home with a German Shepard bitch and challenged her many times. Eye examination found a slight PPM from Penni’s eye. Certificate quality Penni had C -hip, but she hurt her back and we had to give up using her for breeding although we had already planned it with her owners.

Home district

We were expecting the next litter in 2002. Doris (Annline's It's My Promise) had been placed to us in 1996 and now her daughter “Rita” Annline's Ringpromise (healthy eyes, B hips, character 95 points) gave birth to a litter which sire was Int Ch Khartoum Haleys Comet “Kazz” (owner Anneli Sutela). These puppies were named after the places in our home district Orivesi and after old Finnish names. Puppies Lappunaaman Siitaman Sulo “Sulo” and Eräjärven Elmer “Elmeri”, Naappilan Nelli “Nelli”, Holman Helmi “Helmi”, Hirsilän Hilma “Hilma” and Voitilan Venla “Taimi” saw the daylight in May. The males of the litter unfortunately have faulty testicles, but they both are skilful agility -dogs. They have also performed very well at the dog camps for children who have not been able to bring their own dogs. Anneli Sutela owned Hilma who’s best show result is EX, but her show career has then ended because of tongue problems. Nelli’s ears fell back down after her teeth changing. Helmi’s best show result so far is VG, eye examination showed that she has healthy eyes. Hip result is C. Our kennel has a breeding agreement for Helmi, but despite our wishes and several attempts Helmi has not became pregnant.

Pop artists

In December 2003 was born the Lappunaaman POP -litter. Dam of the litter was Milli (Annline's Recent Promise), which our friend Kati Puhakka gave to our kennel for breeding. Milli’s best show result was first, since she had healthy eyes and C/B -hips. Sire of the litter is FIN Ch Jimanie Beryllos Stormy Day “Floyd” owned by Kikka Korjula. Puppies have later had their eyes examination, four pups have had their hips X-rayed and seven out of eight has also been is shows. The litter of Lappunaaman Nightwish “Namu” (EX), Him “Leo”, Tik-Tak “Taika” (hips C, eyes PPM, EX), PikkuG “Toffo” (VG), The Rasmus “Veikka” (hips C, eyes OK, 2xCAC certificate), Darude “Rudi” (hips C, elbows 0/0, eyes OK, CAC certificate, Reserve certificate), Gimmel “Minni”(H) and Killer “Raksu” (hips D/C, elbows 0/0,eyes OK, EX, Reserve certificate) have gave us and naturally to their owners a lot of joy.

Summer rock festivals

Vemmi’s (Wales Tale's A New Dream) and Bruno’s (Caamora J-Lo Annline's Dancing With Stars, owned by Anneli Sutela) litter was born after a long wait on July 16th 2011. All of us were excitedly waiting for the belly to get growing, and our puppy guesses changed on a daily basis. Eventually Vemmi had a C-section and soon we all were whelping and drying the puppy babies.

It has been a little bit difficult to call myself a breeder lately because quite much time has passed since the latest litter. Of course we have spent time watching Mörri, being at the Blondi’s puppy box and seeing Nemi’s puppies, but next own litter kept us waiting. This litter also became immemorial to us, because we spent so much time with the puppies since Vemmi -dam had pain caused by the gangrene of her uterus. This litter had their names from Rock -events because our younger daughter’s 18 year old living was all about rock, peace and love of course. After we noticed the characters of these puppies got some rock’n roll from their vivid dam and not so peaceful sire, the naming theme became obvious.

After the hassle in the start 7 sweet puppy babies were beginning their lives next to the dam. As the days passed we noticed that these little rascals have got Vemmi’s energy in their milk, and things did get wild. We were supposed to got to Ruisrock, Kukkaisrock, Räikkärock etc., but we were just sitting in the puppy box. All the time we had to search holes from the cardboard box, where the curious puppies had dug into and in the other hand we were chasing them all over the yard, when breaking out the puppy fence to the outer world had been successfully completed. Now in their new homes, joy and devilment are brought by Lappunaaman Provinssirock (Severi, Kankaanpää), Ruisrock (Sisu, Piikkiö), Tulivuorirock (Senni, Espoo), Noitarock (Oona, Mänttä-Vilppula), Kukkaisrock (Nessi, Tampere), Ikurirock (Hertta, Tampere) ja Räikkärock (Ränä, Tampere). Hopefully we will hear back from then in the future.

Finnish movies

Movie theme continued in the form of new Finnish movie names in the second litter of 2011. Dam was Nemi (Wales Tale's Spring Treasure). Nemi already had earlier experience of breeding so the sire Puntti had quite an easy job. Maybe Puntti had also skills from his father Veikka, since the job was done with the same secrecy. The results started to show as Nemi’s belly started growing just before the day of the Speciality show, where Nemi performed joyfully. Well, despite the big belly or maybe thanks to that, the show brought us the victory of the pair competition with the “genuine” pair Puntti. And so on we were at the clinic again at November 18th whelping and drying the litter of eight puppy babies.

Nemi took care of the puppies very well, but also allowed her best friend Vemmi and Vemmi’s daughter Ränä to at least partially participate entertaining the pups. This litter maybe was not quite as wild as the children of July, but they sure had got some nice herding drive from the sire, since all the time someone was hanging off our trousers. This litter also had a group of little cleaning “helpers” who always participated the cleaning of puppy room. These children were named and located to Lappunaaman Pelikaanimies (Pepe, Akaa), Roskisprinssi (Rolle, Ylöjärvi), Prinsessa (Tiuku, Tampere), Sisko tahtoisin jäädä (Nuka, Aura), Liian paksu perhoseksi (Nelli, Espoo), Rentun Ruusu (Pitko, Espoo), Näkymätön Elina (Pola, Hyvinkää) and Tyttö Sinä olet tähti (Fila, Tampere).

Kukkaisrock artists

Nessi (Lappunaaman Kukkaisrock, owned by Sofia Viertola) visited Kuopio to see Sakke (Promisehill No Greater Kiss) at the beginning of April. Nessi was so vivid and active that she almost caused a nervous breakdown for Sakke and we were amused to see the relieved face of Sakke when we came to take Nessi back home. Nessi had a quite easy going pregnancy time, even though the belly was growing very fast at the beginning. Nessi was also good at giving birth and a dedicated mother. At the beginning when we had to pick the puppies up for a weigh-in, Nessi was looking at us worried and even tried to lift the puppies back to her warmth. This vivid and playful mommy dog tried to make her kids play right from the early days. When they started going outdoors Nessi guided her little followers how to dig holes. After that we had quite a few holes on our yard. Puppies have also been enjoying the playful company of their auntie Ränä. Nessi also didn’t mind the visit of Puntti or the sire himself. Sakke -sire instead wasn’t quite that excited about the re-union with his over-excited bride.

According to our first plans, Lappunaaman Kukkaisrock puppies were supposed to be named after spring flowers. I had already planned a little bit of Finnish flower names like koiranputki, kurjenpolvi, akankaali etc. I thought the Kukkaisrock events had been stopped and forgotten, until their new flyer dropped into our mail box. So this changed the plans and Kukkaisrock puppies were named after this year’s artist perfomers. The male was named Lappunaaman Fumble (aka. Koda) and the bitches Lappunaaman Dashbone (Hilma) and Lappunaaman Rockwalli (Lara) by her vivid attitude and fearless character.

Royals

Lappunaaman Prinsessa aka Tiuku was very clever with the timing of giving birth, so it’s easier for the breeder mommy to remember the dates for congratulations. The puppies with sire Rocky (Beryllos Black Charmer) were born on July 16th 2014. Tiuku was easy to breed just like her own dam, excellent at giving birth and a kind mother. In two hours, all puppies had born into this world. One tiny one had been lifeless before the birth, so at the beginning we had six puppy babies. During the week we tried to take care of one little girl pup, whose weight didn’t start increasing, even though the siblings were getting more weight and the milk was flowing. After one week struggle we had to let her go and Evira reported us the reason for these problems afterwards. This puppy had a cleft palate, which wasn’t found earlier.

As the five puppies were growing, we realised that our kennel now has the first fluffy one, it was one of the girls. Tiuku took care of her kids in a kindly way like her character is. One of the girls was really vivid and the loudest one. The second boy was slightly more shy than the other, he needed a bit more encouragement than the wilder boy. The fluffy one was a heart melting cutie and the pet of everyone. One girl was a bit blondie. When it was time to give names, it was quite obvious that the children of Prinsessa will of course be royals. Only thing left to wonder was that will we name them after the currently present royalties and should the names be after the ones who are officially born royalties. When looking at the names, you can figure out which was the conclusion since the names are Lappunaaman Elämäni Elisabeth (Ellu, living at our home), Menevä Madeleine (Miina, Tampere), Valloittava Victoria (Nani, Pori), Waltias William (Wallu, Tampere) and Hurmaava Harry (Masi, Turku).

Eppu Normaali songs

The breeding of Ränä (Lappunaaman Räikkärock) wasn’t quite that easy to complete, since she has the temper of her dam. At first we had some plans and backup plans about selecting the sire but despite those plans we ended up with Annline's This is True Love aka Leo. This sire didn’t mind to have a bit sassier bride so soon we were again spending our days sitting in the puppy box, second time in the same summer since these puppies were born on August 13th 2014.

Ränä was quite tiny and we were a bit worried to see that her ribs started to show during the end of the pregnancy. It turned out that the puppy babies took so much space in her tummy that there wasn’t room enough for food, even though she had a good appetite. The pups were eventually born in the safe hands of Juliska. We ended up with seven pups, including one girl who had six brothers. There was also one tiny girl who unfortunately wasn’t breathing well so she didn’t survive the birth.

Ränä was doing great job taking care of her children, but her own condition was worrying us, she had lost a lot of weight. We noticed that the glands in her neck had significantly expanded. All possible options were considered and we were even prepared for the worse. Luckily after a good care, Ränä’s condition started to get better and when the pups started to walk the play began.

The naming theme for Ränä’s pups had already been planned long ago. Obviously, the children of Räikkärock would be named after the founders of that event, a band called Eppu Normaali. The names of the pups would be names of their songs. Unfortunately some of the favourite songs had to be left out because their names were too long. Some of the names were exactly like the puppy who it was given to. It was obvious that we would have Tahroja Paperilla (Torsti, Pirkkala), who had a white spot on top of his head and Baarikärpänen (Oiva, Oulu) who liked to spent time in the milk bar. Rest of the boys were En saa mielestä sinua (Pantse, Tampere), Kun olet poissa (Stenu, Vaasa), Urheiluhullu (Diego, Nokia), Hipit rautaa (Hipi, Alavus) and their energetic sister Tahdon Sut (Sinna, Helsinki).

April Fools’ Day

Nessi (Lappunaaman Kukkaisrock) continued the tradition of her family by being not so easy to breed. The sire was Mickey (Triad Panoramic) who had the same temper.

At first it looked like the belly is growing very fast, but when the fifth week turned the growth got more steady and the X-ray showed that both of the babies were in their own slots. Me, Nessi and a mattress moved to Lintukallio to get prepared not just for giving birth but also for moving in. I didn’t yet have a TV as distraction so cleaning the kitchen and utility room went very well with Nessi listening to my jabbering and bending her head.

So two puppy babies were about to be born, and we had to wait them so long that our original naming plan with Easter theme passed by. And even though we also slightly passed by the April Fools’ Day, the girls born on April 2nd 2016 were named after that day. Then we had Aavistus Aprillia (Kaneli, Tampere) and Koreaa Kuravelliä (Ymmi, Juupajoki).

Nessi enjoyed her time with the children so much that during the first days we literally had to carry her out of the puppy box. These little pups got as much care, warmth and milk as they ever needed. There wasn’t any rush for opening the eyes but when they eventually opened, the living area expanded outside the puppy box very quickly. Thanks to the warm May, these girls were able start being outdoors quite early so they had a good start for housetraining. Although Nessi had kept a good care of the cleaning so I didn’t need to clean any poop from the puppy box, I only needed to change the papers and floor covers. Nessi arranged some exercise school for her pups and the girls wandered the yard, which has a versatile terrain for muscle training. As a result of these sports classes the stairs of our house were not that challenging anymore.

At some point I got a bit worried, has this master hole digger forgot her skills in the city life? This worry was for nothing. The hole digging exercises were saved for later weeks, and soon this team of three had done quite a few holes in our yard.

Wedding hullabaloo -puppies

The children of Ellu (Lappunaaman Elämäni Elisabeth) and sire Mauno (Mistycor Custom Made at Beryllos) had their start during the spring. At least by the midsummer it was all clear that we would be having little puppies in July, since Ellu’s shapes got more and more round as the weight gained. X-ray showed that there was many skulls and the big belly was making Ellu feel heavy end exhausted. Our 10 kilo lightweight lady had changed to 16,4 kg and we were preparing the puppy room. The body temperature pit was passed by and for a moment we already thought that the puppies would be born on our wedding anniversary day. Ellu didn’t quite make it on time for that day but the whelping started before the wedding of our beloved friend’s son on July 13th 2016.

The birth took a long time, large litter and large-size puppies are not the best combination. Thus, unfortunately we had to notice that all the puppies did not survive the birth phase, many of them didn’t make it alive. Ellu fought through the long night and gave birth to all the puppies by herself, even the ones who didn’t make it alive. Ellu took good care of her remaining babies and was a very good mother all the way until the puppies got their new homes. She cleaned them, stayed up guarding them, nursed them and played with them. During the first weeks the only basic care I needed to do was to make sure Ellu gets enough food.

These puppies born in middle of all the wedding hullabaloo were of course named with a wedding theme. Boys became Pitkä Hääyö aka Miko (Tampere) and Surusilmä Sulhaspoika aka Viljo (Parkano) and their sister is Tulevan Suven Morsian aka Luna (Pori).

Autumn magic

According to the original plan the litters of these half-sisters were supposed to come in the opposite order, but Ellu made it first. Sunoasis's Elegant Angel visited the sire Ray (Triad Dressed for Success) successfully.

Mother dog had so much fur it wasn’t easy to tell when her belly started to grow, but slowly the belly line was changing it’s shape. Mother dog had already partially got familiar spending days with puppies since Ellu had her litter. But still, we were quite amused after the first puppy was born because she was looking at it like a teenager thinking “Nobody told me that a moment of joy could lead to something like this”. We went outside for a little while and oops, “it’s not poo, it’s a baby”. After that we were waiting, waiting and waiting and eventually we had to drive to Rahola to see Johanna. A mummified puppy baby had caused the end of natural birth process and the three remaining living babies were born by a surgery. One male puppy didn’t make it and Evira reported us that the reason was a bad chest, pressing lungs and heart.

Quite warm and low precipitation autumn gave us a change to bring puppies outside a lot. Soon this group of four was used to run outside as soon as the gate opened. Outside these furballs got all wild running around, the boys did have a huge fur and the girls didn’t have that short hair either.

Fanni (Lappunaaman Kirpeä Aamunkoitto) traveled to Pori, Pate (Viluvarpaat) to Mäntsälä, Taavi (Syyspäivän Sadetanssi) to Kotka and Doris (Iltapimeän Ilo) to Lempäälä.