We wish all of our our friends, both furry and "skinny" a very Merry Christmas! The Christmas card photo of Syyti was taken a month ago in Pudasjärvi.

Possu, aka Sepe, saved the day last weekend when I visited my aunt with my cousin and our dogs. Shortly after we had arrived, I lost my car keys. Apparently, I had dropped them somewhere on the yard. But, as snow covered the ground, it was nearly impossible to find a single key with no keychain attached to it.

No worries, I took Sepe out of the car and told him to find "an object". Since he has been trained to find things that smell like human when asked, he started to sniff my tracks around the yard. And in no time, he tucked his muzzle into snow and pulled it back with the key between his teeth. And I'm 100% sure that if my aunt had not witnessed the whole thing by her own eyes, she wouldn't have believed that Sepe was the one who found the key. All the dog people are not surprised at all, obviously :D

Here is Sepe, the hero of the day, with Syyti in my aunt's neighbourhood nearby Syöte fell area.

We had friends staying over last night. Syyti was thrilled as he had chance to play long and hard with one of his favourite "girlfriends", Noppa the Finnish Lapphund. These two ran around in the garden and a few times to the field behind our house. Today, we went for a walk in the forest and fields covered with fresh snow. When we returned home, Syyti continued his flirtation and most of the time he behavied like a gentleman.

Kiss me once kiss me twice,
come on pretty baby kiss me.
- Mick Smiley -

And we are back... it just took some time. Meanwhile, the autumn slipped past and winter seems to be coming.

It snowed first time a couple of weeks ago. I took dogs to the field where one of the old sheds that used to belong to Vänttilä farm stands. Well, it looks a bit beaten-up, but, it will protect our firewood from rain and snow for coming years. We got a huge pile of birch trunks from a friend. Now the pile needs to be chopped into logs...


After I took the photo above, I let the dogs run free and hunt mice and voles and such. Then, suddenly, there was a wedge of whooper swans flying over the field. Even if I don't have a telephoto lens, I caught the beautiful birds as they flew low enough.

Poor Syyti, he's sick. He threw up a few times in the afternoon and I thought it was just because of the warm weather. But in the evening it was apparent that he might get dehydrated because of recurring vomiting after drinking. He wouldn't even play with Hirmu, who came to visit us, together with Miia and Retku.

Hopefully it's nothing serious but I'm a bit over-cautious after the knickers-eating-bowel-blocking incident that happened to another Muttaburra border collie some time ago. We are very lucky as we have a vet living in a neighbouring farm. She injected liquid under Syyti's skin.

Our patient is now tired...


...very, very tired...

Family is like fudge...
mostly sweet with a few nuts.

We had a lovely time last weekend when we met Syyti's siblings in Helsinki. The annual Specialty Show of the Finnish Border Collie Club was held in Tuomarinkylä Greyhound Stadium and Syyti's breeder Miia had arranged a lovely picnic meeting for all of us.

It was great to see the brothers and sisters to play with each other. Even if the little sister Iina was a bit shy to join the rough game, Syyti (on the left) and Nappi surely had great time.



Later, Syyti got a chance to play again, this time with his sister Kinna. They were alike in temperament and looks, too.


Kinna also did Syyti a great favour by "removing" his lip wart by accidentally biting it. The vein was damaged and a couple of days later, the wart fell off without leaving a trace. Now we don't have to take Syyti to the vet and have him anaesthetized. Thank you Kinna!


I took some portraits of the siblings as well, here are the head shots of Iina, Kinna, Nappi and Syyti. The wind was blowing hard and therefore some of the pups have their ears up.

Our little puppy is not so tiny any more. Syyti and his siblings turn 5 months today. Syyti weighs now 14 kg and his withers height is ca. 45 cm.

Syyti has been testing our nerves lately, by getting himself into trouble such as crawling under the house to do some digging work. As our house is a traditional log house, there's a gap in the stone foundation wide enough for a man, not to mention a dog. The problem is, that there's no one big space under the house but a number of maze-like tunnels. And naturally, Syyti has to go in the far end and bark there, pretending that he cannot find his way out. Until now, he has come out by himself every time, but I'm afraid that one day he will get stuck somewhere and we have to take apart a piece of the foundation to get him out. I'm now planning on building a not-too-ugly net to cover the gap.


Syyti has had also other new experiences. We travelled to my brothers wedding and stayed a couple of nights in a shed which was the only puppy-proof room at the manor's estate. Or, so we thought. Syyti managed to chew chips out of the floor and scratch the door when he decided to be bored enough.

We have continued our herding classes. Minna the coach has been satisfied with Syyti's performance, with mine, not so much... After tonights class, Minna will decide whether we should continue, or have a few weeks break. I still look forward to see the similar reaction in him we witnessed during our first class. With the permission of the Zi's owner Jarmo, here are the photos. The time difference between the first and the last photo is only 1,5 minutes. In the beginning, the tail and head are held high, in the last, they are lowered and the 4-weeks-old puppy controls the sheep with her stare.

Yesterday, Syyti saw sheep for the first time when we participated the herding class for young wannabe-sheepdogs. I was gladly surprised when he was more interested in sheep than their poop. In truth, he ate some poop, too.


First, I took Syyti around the pen in a leash, after the sheep. I took Syyti out as soon as he showed the first signs of tiredness. He's still so very young and his span of attention is extremely short.



As Syyti didn't show any fear or aggression towards the sheep, I could let him free for a couple of times when he attempted to go around the flock. During the second session, Minna held Syyti while I walked in front of the sheep. As for the handling, I need at least as much practise as Syyti does.



There were four other young border collies training herding, too. It was instructive to watch them, but it was sheer magic to see a puppy, younger than Syyti, running with her tail high and a minute later finding her herding instinct and starting to eye the sheep in a traditional BC pose. If I get a permission from the owner, I'll post the photos of the magical moments here.

On Thursday I took Syyti for his first "official" obedience class. A half-an-hour session was fun for both of us. Afterwards, Syyti played with one of his "classmate", an eight months old Border Terrier.

Syyti has grown fast. During the last four weeks he has gained 3 kg and now he weighs already 10 kg. Luckily, Sepe still outweighs him easily and there's no hierarchy problem in sight, yet. I surely do hope that Syyti won't grow up too fast and too strong-minded as then there will be trouble ahead, for sure.

But, for the time being, the two are living happily together. It's wonderful to see how Sepe enjoys playing with Syyti. He's acting like a young dog, running around and teething the little fellow.


And I'm so very happy that we now have a real garden for the dogs. A year ago we still lived in the one-bedroom apartment with a tiny backyard. But then, we found our home. I disagree with a Finnish proverb "Kell' onni on, se onnen kätkeköön" which means that one should not show her happiness. I'm happy and so are the dogs, apparently...

I finally added information on the individual pages of our three dogs, including Silva, who passed away in 2008. It was lovely to go trough old photos of her and this one is definitely one of my favourites.

Silva was as much a couch potato as a border collie can be. If it was a rainy day, she just yawned on the couch and didn't bother to come out for a walk. I dig in to the archives and post more memory-filled photos later.

It has been wonderful four days, even if both us and the dogs thought that the weather has been a bit too warm. Sepe has been crawling in our stream cooling himself and catching bubbles. Syyti has mostly just kept eye on him, except once, when he reached a bit too far and fell into the water. As water is very shallow, he climbed up fast, and has stayed on the shore ever since.


Today, Syyti started his training for a tracking dog when Pasi made a first "sausage square" for him. Syyti ate about half of the sausage pieces before Pasi took him away. Sepe got to eat the rest of the treats.

Sepe and Syyti are getting better and better along every day. For a couple of days now, Sepe has played with Syyti even indoors, not just outside. We are truly greatful that he takes care of Syyti's morning and evening hullabaloos, and thus saves our nerves.



From time to time, Sepe seems to treat Syyti quite roughly but, occasionally, the little one gets on the top, too.

Syyti had a lot of new experiences during the Mayday weekend. On Saturday we first met his "granny" Pirkko and "aunt" Maija at Haukipudas market place. There were a crowd and log of noise but gradually Syyti got used to them. Later, when we went to Muhos to see the motorcycle parade, he was not at all frightened by the roar of the bikes, nor the crowd.


On Sunday, we were visited by Noppa the Finnish Lapphund and her family. Syyti and Noppa rallied around the yard and the house for a couple of hours, and besides playing, Syyti got a chance to practise big boys games ;) Noppa got tired first, but after she left, Syyti slept through the afternoon and night. More visitors like this, please.

At the same time when I cry for the loss of a dear friend, Nasta, I also cry still for our beloved Silva, who we lost more than a year ago. I do miss her greatly, but at the same time, I can remember all the good times we had.

Silva photographed by Katja Sulkala in September 2008


It's so, so very hard to let go our dear friends and family members. But what could be the greatest way to love than to do them the last favour and let them go. It's us who suffer when we can't keep them with us forever. I'll rather suffer myself than let my love to suffer. This poem puts my feelings into words.

From friend to friend

You're giving me a special gift,
So sorrowfully endowed,
And through these last few cherished days,
Your courage makes me proud.

But really, love is knowing
When your best friend is in pain,
And understanding earthly acts
Will only be in vain.

So looking deep into your eyes,
Beyond, into your soul,
I see in you the magic, that will
Once more make me whole.

The strength that you possess,
Is why I look to you today,
To do this thing that must be done,
For it's the only way.

That strength is why I've followed you,
And chose you as my friend,
And why I've loved you all these years...
My partner 'til the end.

Please, understand just what this gift,
You're giving, means to me,
It gives me back the strength I've lost,
And all my dignity.

You take a stand on my behalf,
For that is what friends do.
And know that what you do is right,
For I believe it too.

So one last time, I breathe your scent,
And through your hand I feel,
The courage that's within you,
To now grant me this appeal.

Cut the leash that holds me here,
Dear friend, and let me run,
Once more a strong and steady dog,
My pain and struggle done.

And don't despair my passing,
For I won't be far away,
Forever here, within your heart,
And memory I'll stay.

I'll be there watching over you,
Your ever faithful friend,
And in your memories I'll run,
...a young dog once again.

- Karen Clouston -

Syyti's granddam and Sepe's aunt Nasta "Pikkupaimenen Creme Vanilla" left us today to join other dear dog friends already at the rainbow bridge. Kiss Silva for me, Nasu.

Today, the dogs and I walked to the upstream of Vänttilänoja to see the rapid. To see it flooding, I should have go there a week earlier. The current was quite fast still so I didn't dare to take dogs too close.


There's not that much snow left any more and Syyti finds it a bit hard to pee on bare ground. But running along forest paths is super fun.

It was about to time for Syyti to meet some new dog friends. Saku, who's a bichon frise mix was a bit cautious, but Rölli, a young Tibetan Terrier, played with Syyti so furiously that my camera couldn't follow... Finally, Syyti fell asleep, but only to gather strength for the next session.

During this week, Pasi has recorded some of the dogs' playtimes with his mobile phone. In one of them Sepe runs around the house twice followed by Syyti. The third time he has to return to see where the little lad disappeared :D

Sepe has finally budged, even if just a bit. He has now started to play with Syyti a few times. A couple of days ago, after we returned for a morning walk, I caught one of their playtimes with my camera.

Today the last fortress of the peace, our sofa was conquered by Syyti. He jumped up and seemed to be at least as surprised by his success as I was. Sepe won't be happy... Until now, he has been lying on the sofa in the evenings when Syyti has been playing on the floor.

I have lifted him up only when I wanted to cuddle him on the sofa. I hope he will become a lap dog such as Silva used to be. I adore to take a nap with the puppy. Pasi is sure that he grows out of it :(

Photo by Pasi Perkiö

Today Syyti also met some strange creatures, at least from his point of view. Our neighbour has Finnhorses and today it was the first time Syyti met them. Raili the filly was as undecidedly curious about Syyti as he was about her. The stallions, well, they were amused...