A visit from the girl next door...

We know... Last week the girl next door, Nuna, wrote that she paid us, Bebbe, Bans, Belle, Barbie and Birgit, a visit and was complaining that there was not much playing because we were still so much baby...

 

Now, two weeks later, our favourite guide Ales let her pay a visit again and proofed on camera that for sure we can also play! One of us was even so brave to chase Nuna around the kennel... :-) But then it is also really safe to escape under Mother Donna's wings again!

 



Floppy ears, it runs in the family...

About six weeks old and I, Nuna, start to get quite a bit of attention from the guests already so early in the season.









Of course that might have something to do with my floppy ear... It looks like I inherited it from my uncle Ana... only the other way around :-)










Otherwise I had also an exciting week, because I was visiting the neighbour girls Barbie, Bella, Bans, Bebbe and Birgit. Because I'm only child and nobody to play with (except for my mother who I always tease with biting her legs...) I was quite excited, but a small disappointment, they are still so small little babies not really possible to play with them.

Abiti, following into his father's footsteps...

Yes, I made it! After weeks of hard training they finally decided I'm probably the one to follow into my father's (Black) footsteps!

The only problem was to find the right partner for me... At the moment they choose to give me Susan, my father's partner. But she is also not the youngest anymore so we have to see if she can keep up with my speed the whole winter :-)

And of course I still have to learn a lot before I'm about as good as my father, but at least they think I showed the right skills: I'm quiet before we start, go lay down when we have break and I'm able to keep about the same speed during the whole trip... I only have difficulties when leaving the kennel, I'm not quite sure yet when is the right moment to start. Susan always seems to wait for me and I want to wait until Susan starts... But when the guide finally strongly "advice" us to start running, we gooooo...

I also have one speciality, which I think is quite funny: When I cooled down my nose in the snow I shake my head with my mouth open. It makes a really funny sound :-)

Blakes first time...

The name is Blake, named after my grandfather Black :-)









And last week I was for the first time working with the big dogs!









I'm still quite a wild youngster so I probably gave my guides a hard time.








 Jari tried to calm me down, but that wasn't really working for my.









I did not really get how to act when they put my harnass on... So it was a bit of a struggle








But finally it was the right way around my body!









I was so excited that even my mother Sunny (my partner in the team) got one moment enough from me.








But I'm still young and have to earn my place. They say, end of the winter I will be probably a bit more calmed down....

All on board!



Yess! The training is in full swing.

And best of all, today we've got at least 15 cm. fresh snow. Perfect conditions :-)

 

We are so excited to run that, last week, we managed to pull one stake-out (the pole that holds the sledge) out of the frozen ground...

 

But on the other hand, some of us want to show that they earn their place as a leader and wait nice and quiet during the preparation before the start.

 

And off we go!! :-)

 

Donna & girl power!

Again? Yes, again! We know... But this time well planned!

Because both I, Donna, and my partner Kawak have great ancestors (from famous kennels in Finland and Switzerland) which were racing in big competition with high results!

We are both leaders in Saijas team and so the expectations are high, and above all they are all girls.
 

Like Asko our boss always say, girls are great leaders :-) GIRLPOWER! That also means they have to have really girly names :-)... Bebbe, Bans, Barbie, Birgit, Belle.

Adèle, a great way to show off...

As for a couple of weeks ago my father Black wrote; the new generation is ready to take over. And the next gerneration are me and my brothers and sisters.

The big question is still who the real successor will be. So we try all kind of tricks now to get the attention.

I have my own strategy and that is, among others, digging. Digging?? you ask... Yes digging! A great way to get in shape and warm up!




And even more interesting...: sometimes it happens that I'm digging so far that I'm suddenly on the otherside of the fence! That actually helps shaping you in the role of leader, because you can show off a little bit for the other dogs which are still within their fences.

The only problem is, how to get in again when you don't want to use the same hole. Luckely our caretakers are friendly enough to open the door for us so we can get in again!

oops, small accident...

Hei! I'm Anna already 10 years old but still a pretty girl. Last week I had a small accident or like the people here like to say: a nice surprise :-)

Here name is Nuna! Her father is Litch (and his specialty is nice surprises... but more about him later on this blog). Because Nuna is only child, she have plenty of food and time to eat,

but when I have to do something for myself, she makes noise for ten! Let's say that will develop her longs really well and she will be in a good running condition when she is older :-)

On these pictures she looks still a bit ugly, just a few days old. Now she is already much prettier and starts to look like me!

Timmy, growing pains

My sister and I thought it would be nice to give you a small up-date about us, since many of our readers already asked, how we are doing!

 

A few weeks ago we started to discover the world outside of the cabin. I was a little bit shy at first, so my sister Bibi tried first.

But now I'm used to it, I'm normally the first one at the fence when there are visitors coming. My sister is a bit lazy and always coming behind.

Today we shortly explored the real outside world because they wanted to take pictures!

And a good picture they made... At this one you can see how big (fat?) my sister is next to my sportive body... She claims that it is her fur that is so thick, like our mother...

Black, the Boss!

Actually I should be the first one to write on this blog, since I'm the leader of the pack. But it turned out there where more important stories to tell first. Today it's finally my turn to share my story with you.

Black is my name, born in 2000 and since loooong, loooong time the big boss of Saija's Kennel. The summers are quite relaxed, when everybody is quiet enjoying their free time and sunbathing on top of the cabins. But the winters are hard working. As the first leader you have the responsibility for all the dogs and teams following you. Not only physical a heavy job but also mentally.

Now, at the age of 13, I can take it a bit more relaxed coming winter. I have made some good offspring the last years and it looks like they are ready to take over! It's always a comfort to know that the leadership stays in good hands and hopefully in the family :-)

Harris & Ara on Beach Holiday

They told us, Harris & Ara, that next week the winter arrives in Finland. So....

We thought it would be nice to go still on a beach holiday!

 

Luckily our Swiss supporters wanted to take us there.

Thank you very much! We were enjoying the sunbathing on the beach,

little bit swimming in the lake

and of course playing in the sand!

So, we think we are ready for the winter now and looking forward to go with you for a walk in the snow...

Martta, Bodypainting or Make-Up

They where not sure did I put my make up on or my camouflage colours...

 

Anyway, it was not my meaning that they paid attention to it and for sure did not want to be in the picture!

the 6-D Siblings outdoors!

We are the 6-D siblings: Devil, Dakota, Demi, Dixi, Disa and Desi. Last week arrived a package from Switzerland with our first harnesses.

 

Reason for us to go for the first time "outdoors" on the leash.

All six at the same time! Of course we managed to make a mess of leashes and dogs...

 

By the way, Devil is already too big for the "puppie" harness :-) 

Bibi

They gave me the honour to write as the first on this blog since I was the subject of conversation today.

Let me introduce myself: my name is Bibi and was born two weeks ago. Because my brother Timmy and me were born one week late I decided to open already carefully one eye today (normally we should still wait one week, but it went quiet good!)

Of course the people hanging around here got excited about this and just when I was nicely resting they came to take pictures.

Okay, lets show that open eye for the camera...

Jeee, quite tiring this photo shoot!