More pups

Dan went back to Finland 5 days before Milja, who overlapped with the grandmums for two days. They will overlap a couple of days with my dad, my sister Maarit, her husband Vesa and their daughter Amanda.

Milja and I took Raija and Vieno for some wine and cheese tasting in one of the beautiful vineyards. As we were getting off the motorway near Paarl, two little black boys rushed to the car and showed us two puppies. I bought both of them in a hurry, not even pulling off the road. 150 Rands (about 10 pounds, 15 euros) for the pair. Raija and Vieno were gobsmacked about the quick purchase but I knew what I was doing. I'm always on a lookout for abandoned pups, or ones being sold on streets. They're all much too young to be leaving their mum, generally only 4 weeks old, and need to be taken care of properly.

Although the grandmothers questioned our purchase, Milja and I were thanked by around ten groups of people. We acknowledge that the purchase encourages little kids to sell more pups but there is no question in my mind whether we did the right thing or not. These pups needed care and I was going to give it to them.

We now have a little girl called Cinnamon and a boy called Kieran. We also have three pups from another litter. Unfortunately, their littermate died of dehydration (runny tummy) and these pups almost died, too. I'll be taught to rehydrate the pups with an IV - a skill that will come handy.