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Miika now lives with his forever
family, Jane & Mark Treasure, in Somerset where he
enjoys walks along the beach.
Now I could write loads about Miika
telling you how great he is but I thought why should I?
Instead I thought it would be far
more honest if his new owners were to tell you all about
him so I asked Jane and Mark to send me a couple of
hundred words to sum up what living with Miika was like
.... Click here to
read about their first few months with Miika or here to
read of their first year with him - In 2012 Jane
sent me an account of Miika's 2nd year and it can be
seen here
and I have just received her latest article about Miika
as a 6 year old, it can be seen here.
Miika – Having the Time of his
Life
Recently Simon asked me to write an
update about Miika and when I checked what I had written
before I realised it had actually been some time since I
put pen to paper or rather fingers to keyboard. So
where to start on an update, where I left off
presumably:
Which was when Miika was two years
old, he is now six!
As Emmi settled into the household
life settled into a pretty simple and happy routine, up
early for a walk, breakfast, rest, watch mum work,
another walk, play time, rest, dinner, zoomies, rest,
evening walk and bed – not a bad life.
Once Emmi was six months old she
started her career in the show ring and of course, Miika
would accompany us. By this point Miika had been
neutered and was a much calmer lad. It seemed a real
shame for him to come to the shows and not go in the
ring so we sought permission from the Kennel Club and
Miika restarted his career in the show ring. You may
remember from my previous notes that Miika has never
taken showing seriously, to Miika the show ring is just
another playground. However, sometimes, Miika will
surprise us and actually behave like a real show dog.
It is always very exciting showing Miika as you never
knew whether you were going to be handling Miika the
Show Dog or Miika the Clown. As time went on though
more often than not we had Miika the Show Dog so much so
that he started to get good placings at shows.
In December 2013 we added to our
little family. Another little girl but this special
girlie, Jaana, came from Sweden. Miika was delighted –
another female, he now had the makings of a harem. As
with Emmi, Jaana was allowed to do whatever she pleased,
Miika adored her from their very first meeting. As time
has passed it has been interesting to watch the
relationships between Miika and the girls. I think Emmi
will always be Miika best friend, she is the one he
seeks out for support, they still play but less than
they used to as Emmi is not one for a lot of playing,
but they still cuddle. However, Jaana is Miika’s
playmate, she is the one always ready for a romp.
Having three dogs has changed the
dynamics in the house, it is now a pack and fascinating
to watch them work out their individual roles within
that pack. Emmi is the pack leader (after us), then
Jaana and then poor Miika. However, despite being at
the bottom of the ladder, Miika will always take charge
if he feels his girls are in danger – god help anyone
who threatens Miika’s family.
Miika is still very vocal when anyone
comes to the door. At the end of last year we moved
house, in fact we made a complete change and moved into
the countryside, just as we had always wanted to do.
Our new home is a converted 200 year old barn with only
a few neighbours. We share a gravel drive with our
neighbours and of course, Miika along with Emmi just
have to tell us (and everyone in about a ten mile
radius) every time anyone drives or walks up the
driveway. Other than that though Miika is still a calm,
quiet lad, very chilled about life.
The joy of our new home is that we
are surrounded by beautiful countryside and lots of fab
walks. This also means we are surrounded by wildlife
too. Miika and the girls love our new life and they
love looking out for deer, foxes, rabbits and hares as
well as some super birds, heron, buzzards, egrets,
shelducks, swallows and lots of others.
Miika has continued to take part in
dog shows and has now started to have some success.
In 2015, Miika was Best of Breed at
the Pontypridd Open Show and then was awarded Pastoral
Group 3 – his first ever group placing. Mark handled
Miika at this show as I was handling Emmi - I am still
apologising to everyone for my scream when the judge
pointed to Miika in the group, thankfully the judge
found it hilarious as did most of the people who were
still at the show.
Miika got his second Group placing
this year at the Mid-Somerset Agricultural Show where he
was Best of Breed and Pastoral Group 4.
Earlier this year we attended Three
Counties Championship Dog Show, our breed do not have
CC’s at this show but it is a show that we love and try
to go to every year. Miika won his class so was in the
challenge for Best Dog, he had his Show Dog head on that
day and after the Best Dog was awarded we had to move
around the ring again as the judge, Andrew Brace, chose
his Reserve Best Dog. Imagine my shock and pleasure as
out of the corner of my eye I see the judge coming
towards me with the card. Oh and yes I am happy to
admit I did shed a delighted tear.
A couple of months later Miika was
strutting his stuff again at Paignton Championship Dog
Show for judge Stuart Mallard. He was entered in the
Open Dog class and was placed second. Ok so he didn’t
win his class but what being placed second means is that
he was awarded his Stud Book Number and what that means
is that he is now Crufts qualified for the rest of his
life. Yes another or maybe more tears were shed that
day – we have always thought our Miika was a stud muffin
and now the Kennel Club agrees!
The thing about Miika that judges
seem to love is his happy attitude to life, every
critique Miika gets mentions what a happy dog he is.
Mark’s photos confirm this as Miika’s tail is always a
blur because it is wagging nineteen to the dozen!
There are other strings to Miika’s
bow too. Miika has passed his Bronze and Silver Good
Citizen Awards as well as earning his Silver Versatility
Award from the Finnish Lapphund Club of GB. At the
Spitz in the Park weekend he had a go at agility, it
didn’t take him long to work out what was required and
was soon jumping, running through the tunnel and weaving
the poles like a pro.
Miika loves doing “stuff”, regardless
of what it is, if it means he is having fun and he is
with us or his girls then he is totally happy, which in
turn makes us happy.
We are still as much in love with
this special boy as we were the day we collected him
from Simon and Louise. Oh and he gives the bestest
cuddles and kisses – just be careful what he has been
eating beforehand!
Jane Treasure
October 2016
Miika is a One Year
Old
It is hard to believe
that Miika is now a one year old, the ten months since
he came to live with us have flown by so quickly.
I mentioned in my last
missive that Miika had just completed his first Dog
Show, well; he is now a seasoned exhibitor. He has been
shown at several Championship and Open Shows and has
amassed a lovely collection of rosettes. Unfortunately
Miika does think that the shows are just very large
daycare centres and wants to play with the other dogs
and of course uses his high-pitched squeal to inform me
of his disgust when I tell him “No”, although once in
the ring he does quieten and perform like a gentleman
(well, most of the time).
Miika winning Best Puppy in Breed at Windsor
Miika is the easiest
puppy I have lived with, nothing fazes him, he even
remained asleep in the garden today whilst the next door
neighbour was using a very noisy chain saw on his
trees. He does not join in when neighbouring dogs bark
although he does go nuts with his very deep manly bark
when someone rings the doorbell. Not a bad thing really
as those visitors that do not know him are very cautious
until Miika has given them a good sniff and decided it
is OK for them to enter; hence cold callers are
despatched very quickly. Miika travels with us to most
places but when we do need to leave him at home he is
very happy to curl up in his crate with a small treat
and his toys, admittedly we do leave the television on
for him as well.
Miika with his mum Kiva at NWP July 2011
I now work mainly from
home and Miika divides his time between my upstairs
office and the garden. Strangely, whenever I go
downstairs to check on him, he is generally on his way
upstairs, maybe to check on me? We have been very lucky
so far as Miika has not dug any major holes in our
garden; mind you he does enjoy a bit of gardening and
will “prune” shrubs, including thorny roses, if he gets
bored of his hooves or bones.
Miika gets lots of
exercise, as well as his early morning and late evening
walks he gets a long walk during the day, normally about
4-5 miles every day. This means that he has lots of
muscle and therefore, is a very good weight however; he
does have a waist to die for. Being a Lappy, Miika is
very intelligent; he knows where each and every cat
lives or hides out in our local area.
From the first day
Miika arrived our three cats have moved upstairs. We
have tried to get them to accept Miika but this is very
difficult when all Miika wants to do is chase them and
get them to play. Unfortunately he pushed his luck a
little too far with one of the cats recently and ended
up with right hook to the jaw, followed by a swollen and
infected lip. Did he learn his lesson? Erm – No.
However, he goes give that particular cat a slightly
wider berth than he did. We are now doubling our
efforts to get them all together and have noticed that
Miika is beginning to be a little calmer with them.
Fingers crossed.
It was becoming obvious
over the last couple of months that Miika was starting
to leave puppyhood behind – he discovered girls! Whilst
on a Lappy Walk in Greyfield Woods, High Littleton,
Miika fell in love with Minna and Taika, if we couldn’t
locate him we just had to look for either of the girls
and there he would be. Apparently it is the same at
daycare, Miika chooses his “girl” for the day and sticks
very close to her all day.
So, Miika has his first
birthday this week. Mark and I are taking the day off
work and will be taking Miika out for the day – a good,
long run, lots of cuddles and treats and a big bone.
Happy Birthday, Miika!
Life with Miika
We were introduced to
Kiva, Simon and Louise at a dog show by Liz Mowatt (TabanyaRuu)
when we were still investigating Finnish Lapphunds and
started to follow her progress very closely right from
conception!
October finally
arrived and we went to collect Miika – a very happy,
emotional day. I still couldn’t believe that he was
actually going to be ours.
Miika fitted very
smoothly into our lives. From the very first night he
slept in his crate all night without a peep. He quickly
learnt that “quiet time” meant a treat and time to chill
out in his crate, whilst “bed time” meant time to sleep.
As I work three days a
week Miika attends Doggy Daycare. He is collected after
I have left for work and spends the whole day playing
with lots of other dogs, although apparently Miika
struts in and decides who is going to be his playmate of
the day and then spends the day with that one friend.
When he comes home he is shattered and sleeps all
evening until Mark wakes him for his evening walk.
When it comes to
walking, Mark and I quickly worked out a routine – as I
am a morning person I walk Miika at 6.30 each morning
and as Mark is a night person he does the evening walk
and on the days that Miika is not at daycare we all go
out together for the midday walk. We have also joined a
few Lappy Walks which Miika loves; it’s a great
opportunity to meet with other Lappy families and to be
able to put faces to names.
Miika loves everyone
and very soon became well known in Clevedon. Whilst out
one day we were stopped by someone wanting to touch
Miika, when I told them his name they replied “Oh, so
this is Miika, I’ve heard of him!”
One of Miika’s
favourite hu-friends is Kim, who works at our local pet
shop, as soon as we get close to the shop Miika starts
pulling to get there faster and then pushes past anyone
else in the shop to get to Kim and the treat that she
always has ready for him.
Miika has just
competed in his first dog show, with Mark being the
handler. I must admit I was very nervous about how
Miika would behave – would he just think it was another
larger Daycare session and want to play? In fact Miika
was very well behaved; he was quite happy for the judge
to examine him and was very self-controlled in the ring,
although we are thinking that I will have to be the
handler at future shows as Miika spent most of the time
in the ring either looking for me or looking at me!
Since Miika came to
stay our lives are so much richer, he gives
unconditional love and so much joy. Miika makes us
laugh with his high-pitched squeal when playing
tug-of-war and his disgust with Mark if he tries to show
me affection! We have found that our priorities have
totally changed since Miika arrived – I used to be a
shopaholic, now, I can’t remember the last time I went
shopping for anything other than groceries or for dog
food/toys/treats!
Our lives revolve
around Miika and his around us – we thank the day Mark
telephoned Liz and started our journey into Lappydom and
we thank Simon and Louise for the fantastic start they
gave Miika, which is the reason I believe that Miika is
such an amazing little lad. We are so very proud of our
boy, Miika.
Jane Treasure
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