Senna

Snakebite!

2007-06-11T11:48:00.000+03:00

Poor Senna had such rotten luck in the weekend. She was bitten by a viper and gave us all a fright.

We were in Mykyrä with Tuomo's dad and brother to do some work on the house when we heard the dog barking outside. The guys went to check what was going on and there it was, a snake. Senna was jumping around and apparently the snake was quite angry looking (I didn't see it since I was inside). Luckily I had brought the anti-venom to Mykyrä the very same day, we didn't know if she had been bitten or not yet but all the same, we gave her the tablets.

Only 5 minutes later when I went out to check on her she was lying down on her side, drool coming out of her mouth, her snout swelling up by the minute. She had been bitten alright. There was also a tiny amount of blood on her nose. Poor girl was so weak. We called the vet on call who told us to bring the dog in. She had to be lifted into the car and was looking really groggy. Her snout was now enormous. At the vet's she got three different shots and antibiotics. The vet told us these things happen and that the dogs don't really learn from it. Great:( So we stocked up on some more anti-venom, just in case.

I felt so bad for my poor girl. Obviously it hurt lying down so she was kind of sitting up and sleeping. Luckily she came round pretty quickly. Soon she was chewing her ball again and in the evening she even came swimming with us. Now she's fine, her nose is only a little bit swollen and I expect that will be gone by tomorrow. But still, nasty stuff.

Scubadog Senna!

2007-06-08T15:24:00.000+03:00

Last night we were looking after Barney for the night so we decided to take a walk with the dogs in our new surroundsing in Pirkkala.

The weather was great, sunny and warm, so the dogs were more than happy when we reached the little ducks' pond close to where our (future) house is. Both dogs jumped into the water happily (well Senna very very very happily as always:) and Senna started swimming around. Then she did something I've never seen a dog do before, she put her head completely under water! It was as if she thought she was still on land, since she was walking around, nose to the bottom looking for stuff under water! She looked hilarious, almost like a duck, only her bum and wagging tail sticking out of the water. She would surface once in a while, shaking and spluttering a lot of water all over the place and Barney would close his eyes every time she shook and then he would shake as well:) He's no too keen on the wet stuff, but is quite brave and goes in to his elbows at least. Senna finally found a nice stick under water, but when she surfaced she shook so violenty the stick went to pieces and all she was left with was the small piece in her mouth. We were laughing like crazy!

Makes you wonder if our dog is distantly related to a duck...:)

Summer's here!

2007-06-05T14:21:00.000+03:00

And here it is again, summer! Finally! It arrived without even knocking on the door. This week it's been an amazing +26 and sunny.

Lots of things have happened but most exciting of all, we've bought a house! A "paritalo" in Pirkkala, just on the outskirts of Tampere. Moving in date is set to 29th December this year so it's still in the process of being built but it's very exciting and we can't wait to move in! Senna will have a (although very small) garden to be outside in. It's just big enough for us to sit outside and have dinner, but it will be nice to just be able to go outside through the back-door.

Senna is doing fine and is back to her normal high energy self after having a few very slow months of wanting to do absolutely nothing after her heat. We almost got a bit worried since all she wanted to do was to lie around in her basket and I felt mean dragging her out on walks and morning runs. Now she's full of energy and it's nice to see her happy about the outdoors again. We went rollerblading with her a few times and although she doesn't really get the whole idea of pulling she runs nicely next to you. I actually perfer it this way since I'm not 100 percent when it come to breaking...Tuomo's a lot more stable so he can go a lot faster with her.

Her results from the hip x-ray came back all flawless so now there are no restrictions on exercise. She had a minor change in one of her elbows but shouldn't be anything to worry about.

We had a really nice trip to Sweden with her for Easter. She was such a good girl on the ferry and just tucked her nose in her tail first thing she did when we got into the cabin at night. Then she slept through the night. She was too desperate in the morning not to use the "dog toilet" on deck (a small sand box, which she refused to use in the evening) and felt quite relieved afterwards I think:) My family loved her and were really impressed with how great she is in all situations. My nephew and niece even got up early in the weekend to take her out for a long walk! She must have gotten a lot of treats though, since I couldn't quite ger her harness on when we got back, and she was hanging around suspiciously much in the kitchen when my mum was cooking...

This week Senna's daycare is closed so she's spending some time with the grandparents in the summer house, not doubt swimming all day long, collecting those water lilly leaves.

1 year old!

2007-02-25T17:18:00.000+02:00

This Saturday Senna turned 1 year old. Can't believe she's now been with us for a whole 10 months! She got some nice tuna mixed into her meals which she loves. Every last bit of scrap was devoured and the bowl was unusually clean:)

She had a bit of a funny birthday present actually (apart from the goodies in the post from nan in Sweden and sms greetings from "dagis" and Finnish grandma:). 1 year to the day when she was born she came on heat for the first time. Our girl has grown up!

I got out of bed and spotted small spots of blood on the floor on a trail. She's doing well keeping herself clean though and we praise her every time she cleans herself. With time I think she'll manage well, at the moment we'll just have to wipe up the "mistakes".

She was scheduled to have her 1-year hip x-ray tomorrow but I think this will have to wait for a few weeks. We also have to go to the vet to pick up her passport, since we're travelling to Sweden to see my family with the dog for Easter. That will be exciting going on the boat with her:)

Today the weather was beautiful and we had a long walk on the ice with her on her line. We even brought her dummy this time for a first time practice outside. We still have a lot to learn about retrieving but she now sits still when it's thrown, goes on my command and comes back, most of the time happy to give it back to me. Good girl!

Talviloma

2007-02-17T10:55:00.000+02:00

We've had a nice week at home with the dog and a welcome break from work. It was nice to have so much free time to do things with her and I think she's enjoyed spending a lot of time with her "pack".

In the beginning of the week we got her a long line to start practising being off the leash without running up to all dogs and people in the near vicinity. That has worked out better than we imagined. She thinks she's off the leash and runs around and sniffs etc until she spots a dog or a person approaching. Just when she starts to take off we yank her back and she just seems very surprised, "what, I can't go?". Then all we need to tell her after a while is "ei menne", don't go. She wasn't too interested in a large group of kids skiing on the ice but she can't really resist other dogs. The first time we used the line she broke the ring attaching the line to her harness clean off when charging after another dog. The first time Tuomo used it she completely floored him. Now we know how strong she really is:) It seems to be working though and hopefully she'll be able to walk off leash in the future. The ice is such a great spot for training though since it's completely open and she can spot a dog from miles away. We actually met another flattie when walking on the ice one day, a liver coloured one! I have never seen one of those before, they are quite rare. It was lovely to see a mirror image of our dog, the same body language and eagerness.

We also took her to the local pet supply shop for the first time. It was a good training activity for her and she went a bit nuts in the beginning, wanting to say hi to everyone, pick her own bones and generally run havoc in the shop. Luckily the shop assistants thought she was a cutie and didn't mind. I guess they are used to doggie whirlwinds in their shop daily:) We went there to pick up a skiing harness for her and later that afternoon we went out skiing on the ice. At first she was just very excited and didn't know what we wanted her to do, she was mostly jumping around, up and down. Then I went off ahead of them and she got it and started chasing after me! She seemed to really enjoy it. After a while we swapped and I went with her. I have never been so fast on a pair of skis, that's for sure. When both of us were going flat out we were really flying:) It was great and I can't wait to go again. She was completely exhausted after one lap around the lake and plopped into her basket as soon as we got home. Only thing we need to practise is the stopping. All of a sudden she would decide she needed to pee and would stop dead in her tracks...we'll that's not too easy on a pair of skis when you're going full steam ahead:)

We also went for a really long walk with Irene and Barney. It's lovely close to where they live, there's even this tiny island where the dogs can run around freely like idiots:) And they did. She was so tired after this walk that I had to wake her up the next morning to take her out. She wasn't even interested in any longer walkies until well after lunch:) A truly broken doggie:) Hopefully the weather will get a bit colder next week, I can't wait to get on my skis with her again, yay!

Recap

2007-02-04T16:42:00.000+02:00

Very long time no update. Lots of things have of course happened.

Senna is now almost 1 year old and has grown into a laaaaarge girl with loooong legs :) She's doing very well and is really enjoying the winter, which has now finally arrived. We've started taking her running with us three times a week and she likes the speed, although she thinks were really slow sometimes probably. We've equipped her with a reflector harness to make her stand out in the dark. It works really well in lit areas but in the forest when we're walking at night you still can't see the pitch black dog in the pitch black night. So we got her a collar that you light up by pressing a button. Finally we can see her in the dark!

She’s as hyper as ever, just looking at the dog produces tail wag. We’re making a point of being really calm around her and seeing other dogs makes you realise how “hot” she really is all the time. Inside she sleeps most of the time but she’s always ready to join in if there’s some sort of activity on offer.

We've been on lots of walks lately with Irene and Barney and the dogs are now "this thick", best friends in the whole world. It's really lovely to see and it's nice for Senna to have a friend that matches her energy level. After a flat out run off the leash in the forest with Barney she's more than ready for the basket.

We've realised we need to get a line for her to train off leash. In the forest, as long as there are no other dogs and people it's fine but if someone's approaching she's very likely to run up to them. We really want to be able to trust her off leash so it's really important to get this training started as soon as possible. The ice provides a great opportunity for this since she can spot a person approaching from far ahead. Otherwise she usually comes when called, since we’ve been really good at training this with her.

I started training a bit of retrieving with her again and now the dummy comes back! I had to start running the other way for her to be interested in coming back to me and now she seems to get the idea. She still wants to keep it to herself though so we wont train outside for a while.

This weekend we spent in Mykyrä together with Irene, Holger and Barney. It was a nice and relaxing time with lots of play and running around for the dogs. They've not been able to let go of one another before but last night they were sleeping nicely next to each other, too exhausted to play. They were also chewing bones next to one another, really nice:)

Next week we have one week off work. It will be nice to have a lot of time to spend with the dog.

Forest walk with friends

2006-11-18T11:10:00.000+02:00

Last weekend we went for a walk with Johanna, a work mate of mine, Pauli and Pancho. This second meeting went much better than the last one we had during the summer, when Pancho was still very small and very scared of Senna. After Senna had calmed down somewhat we introduced the dogs to each other again and Senna invited Pancho to play immediately. Pancho is a bit wary of new dogs, true to his breed, Mexican hairless dog. Bur after a while he picked up and they were playing nicely in a deserted parking lot. Only thing was, I guess due to being hairless, Pancho is not keen on running around in the deep snow but sticks to the path. After a while Senna figured that if she wanted to get away from it all for a while all she had to do was to leave the path and run around in the forest:) We had a nice walk together and the dogs were ready for bed afterwards:)

It was very nice to see that Pancho was no longer scared of her and that they could play nicely together. Pancho is now 5 months and has grown a lot since the summer. They are on more of an even ground now.

We bought Senna a massive real bone and she was quite impressed I think:) She's been occupied with it ever since and is making real progress:)

Today we are heading out in the fog for a walk. Unfortunately the snow is almost gone, since it's been really mild lately. Hopefully winter will return soon. It was so nice to see Senna enjoy the snow.

Winter!

2006-11-11T08:58:00.000+02:00

It's been a while since I updated the blog. I'll try to make up for that now:)

Winter has arrived, a bit earlier than expected this year! Senna was very intrigued when she saw the snow. "Hey, what's all this white fluff?" But she quickly took to it and now she really enjoys it, as can be seen from the pictures:)

We had a lovely winter walk with Irene and Barney last Saturday, in the area where they have their summer house. The dogs were playing like crazy in the snow and were running around on the fields for hours. We also walked them on the leash, side by side. They now know each other so well that this isn't really a problem. Of course, sometimes you just want to PLAY so badly, but Senna is doing a good job concentrating on me and the walk. In the evening they came to our place to cook. It was the first time we let both dogs loose in the house and we were a bit worried if furniture and lights would be flying but after some initial, and quite calm play they were quite happy chewing bones and sleeping next to one another. Very nice! They were giving each other lots of nice kisses all over the face:) It's great to see them get on so well and that Senna has such a good friend in Barney. They have actually got on really well from the very first time they met. Only occasionally when they play a bit too rough will one of them yelp and then the other one backs off. Senna used to tell Barney off in the beginning for wanting to play all the time but actually now it seems she's as much the instigator as he is:)) Towards the end of the evening both dogs were just dead tired and the next day was a struggle trying to get Senna out of her bed:) We had a quiet Sunday since she was still very tired.

Tuomo was in Turkey for a few days last week and Senna seemed to be following me around everywhere in the house, something she doesn't normally do. Maybe she was missing him and wanted to make sure I didn't disappear as well:)

Yesterday Senna spent with Tuomo's mum, who had been missing the little rascal and asked if she could have her for the day. Sure! They even went to the shop and bought the newspaper, which Senna proudly carried all the way back:) She actually did this with Tuomo already once and he took pictures but I have yet to see it. Our girl is growing up to be a working dog:)

The puppy course has now finished and the instructor assured us that even our ADHD dog was ready to progress to the next level:) So we'll have to enrol in the spring again. In the meantime we'll keep up the good work:) Actually, Senna made huge progress in the course, now if I think about it. From not being able to contain herself in the very beginning she was pretty focused on me (and the ham and cheese:) towards the end and she worked really well. Only thing she couldn't resist was the toys. They put toys inbetween her and me and then I was to call her. She came...but only after trying out all the toys and finally settling for a squeaky burger:) She's a real retriever after all:)

Today we're heading out in the sun and the snow. The weather is lovely and I can't wait to get out there.

Walks

2006-10-14T17:59:00.000+03:00

Senna is now doing so well on the walks that we increasingly walk her off leash, as long as we're away from roads and cars. Today we walked around the lake close to where we live. We even found this little path away from the walking path that we tried out, all the time with Senna off leash. We're now even able to stop her going into the water by calling her to us, impressive, since water is such a magnet for a little girl:)

Her behaviour at dog meetings is improving as well, there's less of the crazy behaviour she displayed in the beginning. She even managed to keep focused off leash with another dog walking behind us, very impressive! After telling her off a few times for glancing behind her, she seemed to think "oh well, if you insist I guess I could go smell the bushes and grass instead then". Also there's almost no need to put the leash on when passing people, and even kids on bikes! You just get her attention and keep it until you pass. We even managed to pass a cat today, but she didn't actually see it though:) It saw her I'm sure. I thought she might be able to smell it, but when there's treats involved they are pretty much all she cares about:)

Unfortunately there was no course this week. I now realise how much it has helped her learn how to stay calm around other dogs. The only time she really goes nuts nowadays is if there's another puppy approaching. It's like she knows it's a baby as well:)

I'm incorporating quite a bit of training into the walks. After being asked to focus for a few minutes at a time searching for treats she's pretty tired when we get home. We also do a lot of contact exercises, recall and putting treats in all kinds of strange places (tree trunks, on top of poles and benches etc) for her to work out how to get to the snacks:)

I'm also really impressed with how calm she is, no matter what. We walk a lot next to the fenced off rail roads where long and noisy freight trains pass by frequently and I have only seen her spooked by it once, when she had her head down this bush and was completely surprised by it. Otherwise she ignores everything that might seem frightening or worrying. The funniest thing is when I hover at home when she's sleeping on the floor. She shows no intention of moving when I come closer and I am actually able to hover around her. Only when I ask her to move somewhere else does she get up, "well ok mum, if you insist then":)

She's also becoming a lot more affectionate and really comes up to us wherever we are and wants to be part of what we're doing, be close and put her head on our feet etc. It is really very nice. She's always been a very independent puppy so it's nice to see that she's seeking out our company. There's nothing nicer than a wet nose gently poking your hand:)

Rain rain rain

2006-10-07T10:14:00.000+03:00

This week it has been pouring down most days. Not that Senna minds particularly, she actually quite enjoys it. After all, it is water, and water's always nice:) The lady that has the daycare says it's impossible to get her to come inside when it's raining, she prefers to sit in the garden, in the rain.

She's been in daycare 4 days this week, since we were out all day on Thursday, and you can really tell. She's been completely exhasuted in the evenings, sleeping most of the time, so we think the arrangement of taking her to daycare 3 days a week it working out well. That leaves us some dog to be with as well:)

Last week in the course she did extremely well. There was minimal launching and jumping after the other dogs and she stayed very focused on me all the time. It was raining really hard and I think most of us were feeling pretty miserable but Senna did her best session ever! Though she did think it was a bit rich of me to ask her to lay down, "nope sorry mum, won't do that today, it's really soaking wet and cold, can't you see?"

I've started walking her increasingly off the leash and she such a well behaved little girl. She always comes when called and if she's about to go off into someone's garden etc she stops in her tracks when I tell her so. It's really nice to be able to walk with her running freely. Sometimes she kind of realises that she's free and starts running up and down, jupming around and she looks soo happy:) It's a nice sight:) Last week I was walking her when she "got stuck" in this ditch, must have been a really nice smell there or something. All I could see was the tip of the tail sticking up anyway. I called her to me and in her eagerness to run to me she completely lost her footing and and the whole dog disappeared into the ditch. I was laughing so much when she finally managed to get herself out of there, all wet and GREEN. Apparently there was quite a lot of water in the ditch with lots of green unidentifiable stuff in which the dog was now completely covered. Yuck! I hardly have to say that we went straight into the shower when we got home. What a smelly dog!

She stayed with Tuomo's parents one night during this past week, and they were really surprised to see the size of her:) This is no dog, it's a vasikka (calf) they said:) She is very long legged at the moment, but at least she's getting fluffier, since her coat has grown quite a lot and the tail looks a lot nicer now, all covered in longish hair:)

Now we're off to go for a walk. The weather is still miserable but at least it isn't cold. We're going to do some training and exercises as well, since we haven't had the chance to practise much this week.

Summer's back!

2006-09-24T20:27:00.000+03:00

This week the weather has been increadible, over 20 C most days and sunny! Yesterday we went to the forest with Senna again, to the same place as last weekend, only this time we went a bit further. We combined the walk with various exercises, but she seems to tire really quickly and can't stay focused for too long, since the forest is so exciting! We successfully managed to escape once, when she went off the path, but after that she stayed close to us and didn't stray far enough for us to make it into hiding:) I think she's finally starting to learn to keep close to us. Recall is going really well and it's something we practise now on a daily basis. Even if we're on a lesh walk I'll sometimes let go of the lead and walk off. Soon enough there's "clopetti clopetti" noises behind me and a wet nose in my hand! Good girl!

There was a lake in the forest and Senna was overjoyed! Since she's been having those ear infections during the summer she hasn't been allowed in the water, but now that's cleared it was fine for her to go in. And in she went, splash splash! You really could tell just how happy she was about being in the water and she was even swimming around a bit. It might have been one of the last swims this year, so I hope she enjoyed it:)

In the course last week we did some "sniff out the treat" exercises and this is something that Senna is really good at. She managed to find the smelly Omega 3 fish treat Tuomo had hidden in no time:) We also do this in the forest with her and at home so she knows the game really well.

Today we went for a walk with a friend of mine. Being allergic to dogs Pernilla is not too keen on them and when she first saw Senna I think she though she was positively frightening:) But she saw how well behaved she was on the walk so now I think at least she can tolerate her:)

We also managed to go in the lift with a kid today without Senna going completely nuts. I was almost speachless when she sat down next to me with her back to the kid! In the past this has been a struggle, since Senna has always wanted to "kiss attack" every one in the lift before. This time it was very different! She even managed to keep calm on a slack leash when a toddler passed by behind her! I am so happy about this progress and I was really truly proud of her!

Week at home and walks

2006-09-17T15:05:00.000+03:00

This week we left Senna at home for the first time during the days. We noticed that she was always so tired in the evenings when she came home from day care that there was not much we could do with her with regards to walks and training.

So we thought we’d try to keep her home for a few days. Also, Tuomo has been working in Tampere this week, so he wasn’t going past the day care on his way to work anyway. The idea is that we see how it goes, if she’s calm and relaxed being at home we might take her to days care say 3 days a week and keep her home 2 days, so that we get some dog to work with as well. She did really well on her own and straight away when I'd come home I’d take her out on a long walk. She had a lot of pent up energy of course, but it was remarkably quickly drained on the walk. Then after a while she was also very attentive and able to focus on training. So we have been combining the walks with contact exercises, walking off the leash to train recall and other bits and pieces.

I have also taught her some silly circus tricks like sitting on her bum like a rabbit. She doesn’t seems to mind what I ask her to do though, everything is good fun as long as there’s treats involved:)

Since the puppy course was cancelled this week we took a walk around the lake with Irene and Barney instead, training the dogs to walk side by side. They seem to find this easier now, since they are getting used to one another and there’s not too much pulling on the leash in the beginning of the walk. They are now also able to walk next to each other in the middle. Wow! I think this is very good training for our little girl, who finds it very hard to contain herself around people and dogs.

Yesterday we went to the dog park with her. We didn’t intend to stay for long but ended up talking to lots of different people who kept turning up. It is also a good place to train recall since there’s lots of “noise” around. She did quite well, but I have noticed during the past week that she sometimes suffers from “selective hearing”. Hmmm. Is this the first sign of teenagehood?

Right now she’s asleep in her “proper bed” on the floor next to our bed. She only goes there when she is really tired and intends to sleep. We just got back from an off leash walk in the forest so I guess she’ll be out of it for the rest of the afternoon. We went to a new place that Johanna, Pancho’s owner recommended. It’s a path in the forest where not many people come to walk so it’s perfect. We trained a lot of recall and every time she went off exploring on her own we’d hide behind a rock or tree. Before long we’d hear galloping noise down the path, “cloppeti cloppeti, where’s mum and dad??!! I’m all alone in the forest!!” We also hid treats in tree trunks and she had to stand on her hind legs to seek them out. New place, new smells, forest walk with training, it takes it out of a little girl:)

Left on today’s schedule is grooming. We have made a habit of brushing her regularly, although it’s not really needed, as well as clipping her claws, looking into the ears and mouth. The brushing I actually think she enjoys but when I clip her claws she usually protests at first, but I still get them all clipped though and she knows that it’s not really worth making a fuss. But you can always try:)

Training progress

2006-09-05T18:02:00.000+03:00

Senna is doing better and better being around other dogs and people. In the weekend we went for a walk with my friend Irene and her husky lookalike Barney. It was the second walk together and it already went much better than the first.

When Irene came to our place we did some greeting exercises, with me feeding Senna ham so that she kept calm when Irene approached. She still got very excited and wanted to go say hi so badly but kept reasonably focused on me (or the ham rather...:) Then we went to get Barney from the car and just started walking, dogs not being allowed to play. Last time I was struggling with Senna for quite some time but I think the puppy course is really helping her in getting used to staying calm with other dogs around, because this time there wasn't any struggle to speak of. With a bit of ham in my hand anything is possible:)

We even tried putting both dogs in the middle between us while walking and that went well. The dogs were already so "in to" their walk they didn't really flinch:) When we got home Senna was exhausted, but since Irene and Barney wanted to come up to ours for a while we asked the dogs to stay calm while sitting on the floor a few meters apart. That was a really hard mental exercise. Senna fell asleep after a short while, completely shattered from having to concentrate for so long as well on the walk. Barney didn't give up so easily though:) Being a year older than Senna he was really eager to play! We figured that it would have been a bad idea though, since we quite like our flat:)

The puppy course is going well, last week Senna was really tired from playing with a new dog in daycare and was a lot more quiet than usual. When we got home afterwards she went straight to sleep and started making really weird noises, like the horn on a ship or something. Then she wagged her tail! In her sleep! I didn't even know dogs did that:) She truely lives up to the breed characteristic of being a "tail wagger" 24/7:)

In the course she's getting more and more used to being around other dogs and will do absolutely anything for ham and treats, so with that in my pocket she's usually 100% focused on me. I wanted to get her some new treats for the course last week and bought her some Omega3 fish oil snacks...My good were they smelly! I hid one for her in the living room that she got to sniff out, but when she found it she didn't eat it, she rolled in it! Yuck!

She's also worked out how to use her "dog pyramid" activity toy (you load it with treats and then the dog has to roll it around on the floor to try get them out). Now she either slaps it with her paw or kind of rolls it with her mouth and paws. Clever girl!

This coming weekend Senna's going to stay with Tuomo's dad. I am off to Stockholm for the weekend and Tuomo's also going away so we had to arrange "doggie sitter". They enjoy each other company though, so I'm sure they'll have a nice time together.

Autumn's coming!

2006-08-27T15:36:00.000+03:00

Very long time no update. No real excuse, the computer is full of new pictures, but we've had a few weeks of holiday and have spent a lot of time in Mykyrä, since the weather has been so nice. We were helping out painting a house and chopping up fire wood and Senna was of course with us all the time.

Since it has been so warm she's also been doing quite a bit of swimming, unfortunately a bit too much... She caught an ear infection that we struggled to get rid of for quite a few weeks. Poor girl was crying at night because of the pain! We went to the vet and she got some ear drops and antibiotics and now she's fine again, but we have to be really careful to wipe her ears completely dry everytime she goes into the water from now on. Aparently, since her ears are flappy, "hanging down" ones moisture can very easily get trapped inside, causing an inffection. Funny design for a water dog isn't it?

We've joined a puppy course with Senna. And I think it's a good thing, it will be quite the challenge for all of us. Senna has increasingly started going crazy whenever we walk passed dogs. People, runners and rollerbladers etc are usually no problem to pass, but when it comes to dogs it's like she's completely impossible to get through to. Unless you use the magic of ham:) In the course she finds it quite difficult to concentrate with so many new dogs and people around her and it's more a case of feeding her nami (treats) all the time, to get her to focus on me. In last week's session one exercise involved being handled by someone else. Sure she would love to be handled by anyone! She would also jump on them, kiss them in the face and try to wrestle them to the ground...so we have some work to do. Thing is, she would never dream of jumping on us, and she never goes crazy when we come home etc, since we always treat her in a very calm way. But with other people and dogs it's a different story. So we've started doing some "people meeting " exercises. I feed her ham while the person slowly advances towards her. She's not allowed to charge at the person and after a while she can say hi in a civilised way.

Otherwise she's learning new things at an incredible speed, and as long as she stays focused on the ham she does very well in all exercises in the course. In fact, I don't think there's anything she wouldn't to for a bit of ham:)

Whilst I returned to work last Monday Tuomo had another week off and he and Senna spent some quality time together, doing a fair bit of socialisation training in town, by walking up and down Hämeenkatu (the busiest street) and not saying hi to everything that moved. They also went to the dog parks and had nice walks together. Today we met with Johanna, a friend of mine from work, her Pauli and their Mexican hairless puppy Pancho. The little pup is only 3 months old and has only just received his last shots from the vet. First we did some "greeting exercises" with Senna, with me feedling her ham. It went really well and she kept herself fairly calm. Then it was time for the dogs to meet. Since the other pup was so small we kept Senna on a leash and let Pancho come up to her in his own time. As it was, he was not very interested in her and I think he thought she was quite annoying and pushy, washing him all over with just one lick, yuck:) It was a good exercise for Senna though, since she wasn't allowed to run around all the time but had to stay still.

Right now she's sleeping at my feet, completely exhausted. Before we met Pancho we'd been on a longish walk with her so that she'd be a bit calmer when they were introduced for the first time:) She's also started being more affectionate, coming up to us to cuddle on the floor and giving out kisses very generously with minimal biting involved (apart from the compulsory "retriever gripping" of hands and arms:) All new teeth have come through as well.

Tomorrow Tuomo starts work again and it's back to kinder garden for our little girl. The daycare keepers wont believe their eyes when they see the size of her! Latest measurements: 58 cm and 23 kilos!

Relaxing weekend

2006-07-23T19:39:00.000+03:00

This weekend we spent relaxing in Mykyrä. Actually, on Friday all we wanted was a weekend of rain and thunder, so we could stay inside and watch movies, read and sleep:) We’d had quite a hectic week so the prospect of going to the summer house was a nice one.

Senna had already been staying in Mykyrä for a few days during the week with her “grandparents”, Tuomo’s mum and dad. They had asked if Senna could come to stay since they were going to be there for a few days anyway. And sure she could:) She’d have a nicer time there than anywhere else. It’s strange, although we’ve only had a dog for a few months is was strangely empty when she was away for those few days. No tap tap tap running across the floor, no drink drink a drink noises and wet marks all over the floor. Not even the smell of dog when we went to bed. And I realised how much I missed that, including the smell! Anyway, she had a nice time swimming and running around in the summer house, too busy digging or chasing birds to think of us I’m sure:)

The weather was just what we hoped for, overcast and raining at times on Saturday. A lot of time was spent snuggling and sleeping together with Senna on the large blanket we put on the floor. Very cosy. On Sunday the weather turned out to be really nice, sun, blue sky and only a few fluffy clouds sailing around in the sky. We decided to go check out whether there were any blueberries in the forest. There were. And mosquitoes too. Lots of them. After picking only a handful of berries we’d had enough. Senna found a gigantic anthill that she decided to climb. Realising this was not such a good idea after all she hopped of quickly:) When we got back we picked some red currant as well, since the few blueberries we’d picked wouldn’t have made much of a crumble to speak of:). Senna was picking as well, when she realised how yummy they were! This dog really eats everything! I can’t ever remember her turning down food. Whatever food. After that she went up to the red currant bush every now and then to have some more nice berries:)

She went for a long swim as well, all the way from the shore to the end of the jetty! Then she realised that she could pick the water lily leaves, one by one, and bring them back to the shore, fun!

We did a little bit of carrying training as well with the dummy. She still wants to keep it for herself rather than return it to us, but she brought it back once at least, baby steps:)

She seems to have calmed down a bit, enough to be able to sleep next to us on a blanket and that’s really nice. We were on the floor cuddling for a long time and she’s like a warm sausage to snuggle up next to:) Tuomo settled for a snooze on the balcony when the weather was really hot one day and before long little girl was squeezing in next to him. Cute:)

Feeling hot hot hot

2006-07-09T17:30:00.002+03:00

This week has been incredibly hot. With temperatures at times reaching above 30C Senna has been extremely lethargic and has slept the best part of the week, not having the energy to do anything. She hasn't even really wanted to go outside, more than necessary, and the walks have been in slow mode:) We've been giving her ice cubes to suck on and I have been spraying her with a plant mister to keep her cool, something she quite enjoys. Everything that somehow involves water goes:) On Friday night we were all sitting on the balcony eating dinner, enjoying the warm evening. I took Senna in my lap to see if she still fit. I guess the picture says it all:) She is growing at an incredible speed!

Last night we went for a BBQ at a friend's place and Senna met her little dachshound for the sencond time. New place, new people, a dog and hot weather... needless to say the dog was done for it when we got home and went straight to bed. This morning she was still asleep when I got up at 7.30:)

Today we went to the dog swimming bay in Tampere. There's a specially designated bay for dog swimming close to where we live, where the dogs are allowed to splash around freely. When we got there there were already some other dogs swimming and enjoying the water. Senna joined in happily and had a rough and tumble with another puppy, same age as her. But she got tired quite fast and settled under a tree in the shade for a while to watch the other rascals play. It was a nice place to come and let the dog swim anyway.

Midsummer and milkteeth

2006-07-02T20:07:00.000+03:00

Long time no write, a lot of things have happened in the little life of Senna but I have been very busy lately. Last weekend we celebrated midsummer together with a few friends in the Åbo archipelago on the island of Norrskata. A beautiful place we all had a nice time albeit a bit tiring for Senna, new place, new people. She was done for it every night at 21.00. Luckily we had our own cabin were we could put her to sleep away from the hustle and bustle. And she was very happy for us to do so as she readily hopped into her bed and curled up, sighing hard, falling asleep within minutes.

She got some swimming practise as well and her swimming seems to be a bit more coordinated now, less splashing around and more peddling forward:)

Senna has started loosing her milkteeth. Finally:) Right now she has double teeth in her lower jaw at the front. I was feeling them to see if they would come out, but not quite yet. She has already lost a few and new ones have come out. She's not half as "bitey" as she used to be either, which is nice

This weekend we spent in Mykyrä. The weather has been amazing and we've had two days of lazing around, sunbathing and swimming. Senna likes to walk around in the shallow water close to the shore, splashing and blowing water through her nose every now and then:) She's been asleep for much of the time though, since it has been quite hot. Today we did some gardening work and she helped out dragging the bushes and branches around on the lawn. For every branch I added to the pile she would drag another one away from it, settling next to me chewing happily on it.

In the afternoon we found a viper on the patio, close to her outside bed! Luckily we found it before her and could kill it or she might have been bitten, perhaps thinking it was a friend wanting to play. The best thing would have been if she'd shown spontanious fear, but Senna being Senna fear is not part of her vocabulary. At least not very often:) As it was she was mildly intrigued, and we probably made her even more curious, since we insisted she stay away from it. Hopefully there will be no more of those this summer, at least not so close to the house.

I went forest strawberry picking yesterday with Senna. She was very interested in what I was picking, must be something very good surely?:) So I gave her one and she must have liked it because she went picking on her own later on in the evening. We could see the tall grass moving slightly at the place where we found the berried and when I walked up to it I could her munching noises:) Then Senna popped her head up as if to say: "hey mum, these are nice":) Let's hope she leaves us some!

Senna's been limping a bit lately after waking up and after getting the advice that the puppy food we've been feeding her might be too nutritious, making her grow too fast, we started incorporating a bit of adult food in her diet. Unfortunately last week she got another bout of diahorrea. It cleared up, only to return last night. Either she's eaten something bad at the summer house or she's reacting to the new food. We'll see how it goes this week. If it continues we'll have to try out another brand.

Sick Senna

2006-06-11T19:54:00.000+03:00

This week has not been a very nice one for Senna, or at least the start and the middle of it was not very nice, though it got better towards the end. Senna has had a really bad case of diahorrea. It started on Sunday night, when I thought something was a bit odd when she didn't want to touch her dinner. It got even more strange when I took her out in the evening and she tried to barge through the door before me. This is something she never does otherwise. Poor girl, she barely made it outside. Then she needed to be taken out in the m-iddle of the night as well, almost every night the whole week. Our poor little girl was ill! But it is amazing how good she was about telling us that she really needed out. In the middle of the night she would cry and jump at the gate to wake us up, and not once did she do anything inside, clever Senna!

Tuomo took her to the vet on Tuesday since she hadn't got any better by then. She'd also thrown up in the car a few times, so we figured that she needed medical care by now. We got some tablets to give her and she did seem to get a little bit better but then it all got worse again. So on Friday it was back to the vet again and this time we got some antibiotics. By then she had lost weight and looked very thin indeed. It was horrible, all we wanted to do was to give her lots and lots of food, but of course we couldn't, since it would have just made everything a lot worse. So now she's been on a strict diet of overcooked rice and small amounts of raw mince for a few days. And combined with the antibiotics it seems to have helped, thankfully! The diahorrea is now gone and we have started to incorporate small amounts of her normal food into the rice and mince mix. She seems really hungry all the time right now, but we still have to be careful not to give her too big portions. All through the week she's been very alert and in good spirit, though a bit drained at times.

By the end of the week we were all ready to spend some relaxing time in Mykyrä, so on Friday night we headed out to the summer house. It was so nice to be back there. Senna was already a bit better by now. She seems to have got more attentive lately. She used to be happy minding her own business in the summer house and when we went to the sauna in the evening she used to go to bed in our bedroom and stay there on her own. Not so this time:) We now had a black shadow following us around everywhere:) So we brought her basket down to the sauna with us and there she slept (well, not inside the sauna, but in the room next to it:) while we were playing cards in-between trips to the sauna, very nice and cosy!

On Saturday Tuomo's parents arrived with four (!) lobsters for dinner! Senna was introduced to one of them and I she seemed to think it was a funny looking thing and didn't quite know what to make of it:) Thankfully its claws where safely clamped shut with some plastic band! Anyway, we had a lovely meal in the sun.

The weather improved on Sunday and Tuomo took Senna for a little walk in the forest. While she was busy sniffing in a bush he took the opportunity to hide behind a tree. It was not long before she noticed that she was alone in the forest! Panic! After a while, and after a few squeaks from Tuomo she finally found him behind the tree trunk. Happiness! That will teach her to be more attentive in the future, since being all alone in the big forest is not so much fun:)

We also tried out sausage tracking:) I dragged a piece of sausage on the ground and then we put Senna's nose to the trail. She didn't quite understand what she was supposed to do, there was a delicious smell but no sausage, very strange:) But next time she will probably pick up quicker.

Now, at the time of writing she's in her basket sleeping. After two days in the summer house she's pretty tired, there are far more important things to do than sleep in the country side, like going swimming for the first time!! Tuomo went for a dip after the sauna and when he called Senna to him she jumped (well, fell more like it:) into the water and went under...for a while, before the autopilot kicked in and she realised she knew how to swim:) Splash splash:) It was only a dip and up, but at least we know she knows how to swim now, and so does she:) Unfortunately I wasn't quick enough to catch it on camera:(

Training

2006-06-04T17:53:00.000+03:00

This week has not really been very eventfull but I wanted to add some new pictures so I decided to update the blog anyhow. In short Senna's started to spend more and more time awake at the day care (eventhough this week's pictures seem to contradict that statement, but I couldn't help myself, she was sooo cute:) and now she's not the only puppy there anymore. A new addition, in the shape of a Chinese crested pup has arrived, a few weeks older than Senna, but ooow so much tinier:) And very cute as well.

Senna's training is going well. We usually spend some time every night (when she isn't too tired from day care that is;) practising tricks and commands as well as adding new ones. Now she knows sit, lie down, different contact exercises, give the paw, stay, come and no. Sometimes when we're outside I try to sneak away from her when she's sniffing at a particularly interesting smell, to see how attentive she really is. I turn and start running towards our house, and nowadays she's quick to follow. The first few times I did it, to see if she would follow, she seemed very surprised at my nerve and had a "what do you think you're playing at, running away from ME??" look on her face when she finally caught up:)

She also knows not to barge through open doors first (including car doors) but to wait for her turn, and we're also trying to teach her to search for stuff. I have hidden goodies in her basket a few times while she watches me but the first few times she seemed very confused:) "Hmmm I can smell something veeery nice here, but...it's nowhere to be seen. Strange":) A friend lent me her Dogspinny (activity toy) but Senna thought that was a hard nut to crack, at least the first time. We might try tonight again and see if she's figured it out.

Today we gave Senna her second bath. She willingly walked into the shower and sat down, since I was in there with her and shampooing and rinsing her was a piece of cake, no protesting whatsoever. Good girl. She might even have enjoyed it, at least she didn't mind. So we now have a clean-smelling and veeery shiny jet black little girl. We're also keeping up with the claw cutting. Although not a favourite pastime of Senna's she accepts it (just and just..). Actually today she came running towards me with the clippers in her mouth (still on the table since last time) so there seems to be no hard feelings towards them at least (or maybe she was actually trying to bite them into pieces:).

Nan visiting!

2006-05-30T18:24:00.000+03:00

This weekend my mum came to stay for a few days. She was of course very excited about meeting Senna and had been looking forward to seeing her since we got her. Little did she realise that Senna is no lap dog though:)

Although I had explained to her that Senna is an active large breed pup who likes to sink her teeth into next to everything, like most pups do, I think she was under the impression that there would be a small black cuddly furball awaiting her:)) After the initial surprise they quite took to each other, though mum thought Senna was a bit too much on the active side and kept asking if the puppy teeth weren't due to come out soon:) We went for short walks together and spent most of the time at home with Senna. The weather was rainy and cold so I was quite nice to relax.

Earlier in the week a friend from work brought their mini-dachshund Emmi round to see Senna. It wasn't a huge success though. After having growled at Senna and told her off for wanting to play Emmi settled in Senna's basket, chewing on a ball, not wanting to have anything further to do with the little rascal. I think Senna was a bit disappointed on the whole, though she will have to learn that not all dogs are friendly and want to play.

At the time of writing she's at my feet sleeping after a hard day playing in day care. She's starting to spend more and more time awake during the days the day care owner told us. Also another sign that she's growing up is that there are no more accidents during the night. Now she normally wakes us up around 6, and does her stuff outside. And very rarely does she have an accident in the evenings, only when we occasonally leave it too late does she pee inside. Otherwise she can go 3 hours or more without needing to go outside. Good girl!

Working weekend in Mykyrä

2006-05-21T21:20:00.000+03:00

This weekend we went to the summer house again to do some serious outdoor work. We had planned to do some painting but since the weather was rainy and quite cold we had to save that for another weekend and instead we concentrated on stacking the truck's worth of logs that arrived. And a truck load it was...Senna was "helping out" of course snatching splinters of logs here and there and then settling in the high grass to chew on it contentedly:)

Senna was completely exhausted after her first couple of days in day care:) The first day the little rascal had apparently been bugging and bothering the other grown up dogs all the time, running around wanting to play. After having been told where to go on countless occassions by the other dogs she arrived home completely exhausted, sleeping for most of the evening. We even had to drag her out from underneath the bed to go for last pee before going to sleep. The look she gave us was just saying: "oh leave me alone will you". The next day in day care she slept for the best part of the day, too tired to get up to any major mischief:) Let's see how she get's on this week:)

Surgery and day care

2006-05-17T21:12:00.000+03:00

This week has been very busy indeed for Senna! Tuomo took her back to the vet since the eye infection she had didn't clear in her left eye. So in the end the vet ended up burning the small growth off and Senna was anaestetised for the first time. She was very groggy indeed and by the looks of it the bladder was nicely anaestetised as well since she made a wet patch in the backseat of the car and on Tuomo's jacket:) Poor girl, but she was very good and the vet gave her the 3-month shot as well, so now she's all clear to meet other canines:) When I carried her into the shower to wash off the pee she could hardly stand straight and afterwards I made her bed with clean cushions and asleep she was...for a little while at least:) Before long she was her old self again, bouncing around the place, re-potting our plants:) Her eye seems to be on the mend and she will probably only have a little bit of scar tissue.

Today Tuomo took Senna to visit the day care that she will be attending on a part-time basis, when Tuomo's mum is unable to look after her. It was her first proper meeting with 3 other dogs, one papillon and two Chinese crested dogs. Apparently little miss self-confident was a bit apprehensive at first but before too long the little tail started wagging again and she had made friends with the papillon. The day care is located on the way from Tampere to Vammala and seemed to be a friendly, small scale place. The dogs are looked after in the home environment of a family who have 5 dogs of their own. Our little girl was tired beyond tired tonight after having played with her new little friends. The day care owner have assured us that they will remove her from the group at times though, so that she can get some sleep in between, since she's still only a baby really:) So exciting times ahead. First day of school for our little girl tomorrow, good luck Senna;)

Senna the office dog!

2006-05-12T18:18:00.000+03:00

So there it went. Holiday over. Three weeks just flew by. Since Senna's regular "daycare" (Tuomo's mum) is currently travelling through Europe Senna came with Tuomo to work Thursday and Friday of this week. And a good little toimistokoira (that's office dog in Finnish) she was! Apparently she charmed everyone by being such a calm and well-behaved little girl. Her basket was put into Tuomo's office along with some chews, toys and her water bowl and there she was happily sleeping for the best part of the day, not complaining when Tuomo had to leave her alone in the room for periods of time at all. She's also a lot better in the car nowadays. She now sits by our feet on the passenger's side and feels happy there, sleeping most of the journey.

We started leaving her alone for periods of time in the evening some time ago when she was tired and fed and she was so good about it from the start, apparently feeling secure in the knowledge that we would return. In the beginning left her alone for very short periods, standing outside the front door listening for whining, but nothing. Not a squeak. Now we have started leaving her when she's fully awake as well with the same result. When we return we usually wake her up, so I guess she sleeps through it. Maybe it has been really easy since she was a very independent little girl from the start, not wanting to sleep in our bedroom in her basket, preferring to be on her own in the living room. Generally she's a very confident little pup.

This week I took her on her first bus journey! That was very exciting! We were going to have picnic in the sun with some work mates of mine outside our office. She was really good all the time, being more curious than anything, sniffing around wildly wanting to say hi to all the passengers on the bus. And a lot of people were of course "ooooing and aaaaing" when they saw her:) I held her in my arms the whole trip and she settled down after a while. The picnic was even more exciting. For the first time in her life she met a group of 20 people all wanting to say hi to her! Needless to say she was very excited about all the new friends and their nice food:) I made sure to eat beforehand since I imagined I'd have my hands full trying to stop her from stealing everyone's food and giving everyone a complete facial wash:) I brought her chews and a toy and after what seemed like forever she finally settled in my lap after some persuasion. Needless to say she was already dropping off on the journey back and when we got home she went straight to sleep and didn't wake up until a good few hours later:) Zzzzzzzzz.

Housebreaking training is going well! She now realises that the lift and the landing is NOT part of outside so she holds it until we go through the doors downstairs. Not thinking about the fact that she now knows to do her stuff outside I opened the balcony door yesterday only to see Senna run out to relieve herself on the balcony:) Of course her logic is sound, it IS strictly speaking outside, and that's where you do your stuff:) Clever girl. Silly me:)

This week I have discovered that no fewer than 3 of my colleagues have recently got puppies as well! In addition to Senna there's one Newfie puppy, one Cocker spaniel and one Schnauzer! We are seriously thinking about campaigning for puppy day-care at work:)

Summer's here!

2006-05-09T07:47:00.000+03:00

The weather has been incredible the last couple of days, and luckily we made the wise decision to make the most of our visit to Mykyrä and stayed on a bit longer. Since I'm still on holiday and Tuomo works 10 minutes by car from where the summer house is we thought why not stay on a bit longer. And I think Senna thought it was a nice thing as well:)

She was a bit braver this time round, running around a bit more and not staying within sight all the time. Still though, she never strayed from the yard and we always knew where to find her. When calling for her she would suddenly pop her little head up from a bush or from underneath the wooden patio or wherever she happened to be digging right at that moment:) "Yep I'm here, don't worry":)

We had some chores to do as well, including cleaning the tennis court free from moss. And a lot of moss there was...Senna came with us to scrape the moss off, but mostly she was jumping around in the piles we raked up, spreading it around more than anything:) Or she would just lie in a moss pile, chewing contentedly at a particularly nice chunk of moss. But after a while she was tired and followed me back to the house to get some drinks and didn't want to come back to the cleaning. When we returned after and hour or so we must have woken her up pushing the rattling barbecue and she came towards us barking! Then she realised of course:)

We took her for her first boat ride in the rowing boat. She wasn't as impressed as we thought she might have been. I think she thought it was quite a shaky affair indeed and after running up and down the boat a few times, being told that she couldn't jump into the water, she settled under one of the benches under which she could just barely fit. The boat was full of nice sand though so afterwards we had a nice semi-liver coloured flattie:)

Senna did her first bit of hunting down and retrieving dead animals this weekend. She brought us half a dead bird and half a dead something else, undefinable (well, it was furry) that she had dug up from somwhere. Looks promising for the future:)

She also didn't pee inside at all during the nights! Maybe it's because we're able to let her out quickly in the summer house whenever she starts whining, but we were very impressed still. Does this mean that the bladder is finally growing?:) It wasn't to last though:) Last night she more than made up for it with 3 nice pees, (one of them being a particularly large one that I trod in during the night) and not all of them were on the news papers:)

Peaceful week at home

2006-05-05T17:19:00.000+03:00

This week has been very peaceful. I'm still on holiday from work and the weather has been amazingly nice for the past couple of days, so we have spent a lot of time sitting outside on the grass in the yard.

I bring my book sometimes and a bone or a carrot for Senna to chew on and then we relax in the sun for a while whilst watching the world go by. There's usually a lot of activity going on there as well, which is good socialisation training for Senna. Oposite from where we live there's a kinder garden. At first she was a bit overwhelmed at the idea of so many "little persons" running around but now her little tail starts wagging when she sees a kid running around. She's also familiar with the fact that big truks come into the yard and that people cycling is nothing to be afraid of. She was very suspicious of a lady walking around with a pram the other day and let out quite a bark (didn't know there WAS a bark in there:). Otherwise she's scared of next to nothing and takes everything in her stride. We're doing some lead training sometimes as well and simple problem solving exercises such as how to get yourself unstuck when you've walked on the wrong side around a lamp post. There was some panicing in the begining, "help I'm stuck!!!" But with a bit of doggy sweet and some encouragement she is starting to understand what I mean by "walk around it" and drawing a big circle in the air.

A lot of people have started recognising her in the yard and some people have come up to say that they have been watching our little black cutie from their balconies. Nice. I think puppies bring out the best in people. They make people smile and say nice things and they have this amazing ability to brighten people's day simply just by being around.

She still sleeps a lot, and she seems to have put on some weight, she weighs an impressive 10 kilos now. Quite the lump to carry around. And carry her I had to this week, all the way to the vet more or less. She's got a slight eye infection which needed to be looked at by a vet, so, being only open during the day time I carried her into town with me, putting her down once in a while when she got a bit too heavy. I was curious to see how she would react at the vet's, whether she would be scared. But she was to busy saying hi to everyone and giving the vet the biggest wet kisses all over his face to care. We got some eye drops and that was that. Later on that day Irene, my Norwegian friend and fellow dog owner (Barney's owner) dropped by to say hi with her mum. It was nice for Irene to finally see her, but Senna had had a bit too much of an exciting day and couldn't quite calm down, she was running around biting and snapping at everything, so we had to help her relax a bit by putting her into the kitchen area for a while so she could go to sleep.

We went to the cinema this week, giving my friend Jonna an opportunity to dog sit:) She had been asking for a while and since we had free tickets I thought it would be a good chance to leave Senna with someone else for a few hours to get her used to the fact that she will be looked after by others sometimes. Did she notice we were gone? Did she cry? Pff, hardly. The happy go lucky girl that she is she was pleased to have some new friends around:) She played a bit, they took her out twice and then she went to sleep. The end:) It's nice to know that she's so easy going with everyone and that she's not worried when we're gone.

Tonight we're heading out to Mykyrä again, where we'll be staying until Sunday night. The weather forecast couldn't be better, 23C and sunny! Senna might even brave it fully into the water this time, let's see!

By the way, check out my brother Rasmus's blog (in Finnish) as well by clicking here!

What’s that wet stuff?

2006-05-02T09:30:00.000+03:00

Last weekend we spent a night in the summer house Mykyrä. We were very curious to see how Senna would react to the large open spaces, the forest and above all, the lake! Since the summer house is built on a small peninsula in the middle of the forest she could roam freely. And roam she did, but all the time staying close to us to keep an eye on us, making sure we weren’t too far away.

We went for a small walk in the forest to see is she would follow us or run off on her own. But she’s still a very small little girl and the world’s a big place so better keep close to us for now she seemed to think:). She was also helping us with the weeding:) One by one she pulled up the tufts of weed growing on the patio. She was also quite efficient at jumping at and spreading around the heaps of leaves we just raked up as well:) But most of all she seemed to enjoy the pine cones, picking them up one by one and settling down to just chew at them and watch us clear up. She also had some fun with an oversized baloon. When it (inevitably) popped she wasn't scared, just seemed surprised at the fact that it was gone, "where did it go?". Very confusing:)

We took her down to see the lake early on. It seemed she couldn’t quite believe her eyes, all that water, could it really be!? And so wet! She took a few small steps into the lake at first, only getting her front paws wet and treading carefully and sniffing at it. Then after a few splashes she decided that this was actually quite fun and she launched both front paws into it, splash splash, splutter, splutter. She quickly discovered that although she wanted to get to that stick under water breathing under water was not an option:). Finally a very wet and tired pup emerged from the water (taking a “half bath”, only wetting the front part of her body, seemed to be more than sufficient as a first time experience she thought). Straight to her basket (yep it’s actually half ok sometimes nowadays:) she went and had a nice long and well-deserved sleep after all her exploring.

We went to the sauna and when we got back she was still asleep. We had been wondering if she would come seek us out when she woke up, since the sauna is some way from the main house, and had been just slightly worried that there was no dog to be seen anywhere. But all in vain, she came towards us with a bed head and a “why did you have to wake me up look”:). She was just completely exhausted and went back to sleep.

The next morning I was awoken by a wet nose in my face and a dog in our bed! Down she went quicker than quick! The bed in the summer house is a lot lower so she saw a great opportunity to get into bed with us the little sneak! It is so much easier to housebreak a puppy in an environment like that. We just had to open the bedroom door that leads straight to the patio and the garden to let her out in the (very early) morning. No balancing on one foot trying to get your other shoe on whilst holding a squirming pup in your arms. No hassle at all.

The next day Tuomo’s family came to have lunch with us and Senna enjoyed meeting them again (she had met them once before after just picking her up). But after a while, although she was enjoying herself, she couldn’t quite keep her eyes open any longer so I put her in her basket and asleep she was:). We left later on that afternoon and the little girl slept for the majority of the evening, only waking up once to be taken out. Then she wormed her way in under our bed and got back to sleep and we didn’t hear a squeak from her until the morning.

Senna's first 2 weeks with us

2006-04-28T22:07:00.000+03:00

Thanks to Senna's brother Rasmus (Thanks bro:) I found this site where I can post news and photos of our little flattie girl Senna. Senna's now been living with us for 2 weeks and it has been quite an exciting time indeed...our lives have changed a lot since the arrival of this little furry black bundle of joy:) But for the better:)

Eventhough waking up at 5am isn't all that fun all you need is to see that little tail wag to make you smile. Though I have to say she's been a very good and brave little girl from the get go. The first night we placed her basket in our bedroom next to our bed to make her feel more secure....or so we thought. Senna didn't though. She went straight to sleep under the table in the livingroom...and that was that. Not a squeek until the next morning! We were expecting crying and howling and spending the night trying to comfort her, but no need at all. And ever since she's been very good sleeping at night. She couldn't care less about the comfy basket we prepared for her. She tried it, tossed and turned in it and...no, no point. She prefers to sleep next to her beloved water bowl (in which she goes for a daily "swim", "splash splash"...and the kitchen floor is full of very slippery water and little wet paw marks:) Though she has recently started sleeping under our bed, which will become a bit of a problem very soon...I already caught her stuck sideways once, crying angrily trying to get herself unstuck. One of these days I'm sure she'll go to sleep under the bed at night only to wake up in the morning to find she's grown just that little bit more over night...unable to get out.

She seems to have grown a lot over the past 2 weeks since we picked her up. Her legs have grown a lot longer and her head is more narrow, more and more resembling that of an adult flattie. Before too long the little pup, which I used to easily be able to carry on one arm will enter the "leggy stage". She's already getting so heavy that I'm having a hard time carrying her downstairs to go pee. And she's started squirming in my grip, as if she could feel that she's really getting too heavy for me to carry. I can almost imagine her thinking: "Let me down, I can walk myself you know":) But we'll continue to carry her for a while I think, since she seems to think that the lift and the landing is "outside" and therefore an OK place to go pee:)