Thought it was about time for a new post!!!

Just realised that it has been nearly a whole YEAR since our last blog post, so I thought it was about time we did an update! I have made a New Year's resolution to try and keep more up to date with the blog this year - fingers crossed I manage to stick to it!

Last year has been quite a busy year (with us getting married!), so hopefully we can be forgiven for the quietness on the blog (ok, maybe it might partly be laziness on our part, but we were pretty busy too!)

It is hard to believe that Inko is now nearly 2 1/2 years old - that time has gone by just so quickly. She is quite the grown up now and is definitely starting to be much calmer now. She still has her crazy moments, but she is also much more willing to lie down quietly than she was when she was a bit younger.

So what has she been up to for the last year...?

Well, she went to several shows, including Crufts. At Crufts she decided to try and put off the opposition with a LOT of barking - anyone who was there will testify to her determination to ensure that everyone at the NEC was aware of her presence! She was in an enormous class, and as one of the babies in the post graduate class (having only just moved up from Junior) she didn't manage to place, but we all had good fun, which is all that counts!

Shortly after Crufts, Inko finally decided to have her first season, aged approximately 20 months! She certainly took her time with that, and to this day has still not bothered to have a second one! We're still waiting for that, and we're hoping it won't coincide with Crufts for this year!

At other shows over the last year Inko has done better, qualifying for Crufts at nearly all of them, and sometimes beating several dogs to get into the top 3. Whilst we didn't manage any firsts with her (apart from at the Finnish Lapphund Club of Great Britain show...where she was the only one in her class!), we did manage several seconds and thirds at various shows, which was great. Unfortunately she made her presence known at all of those almost as much as at Crufts, so that is something we need to be working on for the shows this year! She just gets so excited at shows that she wants to let everyone know :)

As well as the shows, Inko also had some holidays over the last year. Jennifer and Jay, her breeders, very kindly had her to stay when Adam and I went on holiday to Scotland, and they also had her to stay when we went on honeymoon. She had a great time, because she got to play with her fur-mum, fur-dad and sister!

Inko also got to come to our wedding last year. She was being looked after by a local dog carer for the weekend of our wedding, and the owner very kindly agreed to bring her over to the wedding venue for the photos! Whilst it wasn't practical to have her there for the whole day, it was great that she could be there for at least part of it, and we have got some lovely photos of her with us :) Inko also enjoyed a trip up to Malvern with us to see Jo, George and her brother Tarkka.

More recently, Inko very much enjoyed the covering of snow we got. It never ceases to amaze us just how at home lappies are in the snow - she just LOVES it, and likes to spend as much time in it as we'll let her! As the snow began melting she would run to the last patch to lie on, making the most of every last moment she had with it! Whilst many of us are hoping it doesn't return too quickly because of the disruption it causes, she, like most lappies I'm sure, is probably hoping we get more January/February snow like last year!

That's probably enough of an update for now, but here are just a few pics...


Inko at one of the shows in the summer




And at another show, sat next to her sister, Kaija




Inko at the pub in the summer, looking like she's singing!




Inko at her second birthday party with her doggy pals Sammy, Bobby and Guiness!




Inko at our wedding




Inko on our weekend in Malvern in October




Inko and her brother Tarkka in Malvern




Inko in one of my t-shirts, to keep her calm during the fireworks




Inko in the snow this winter