What do the puppies first weeks of life look like with us?
The puppies are raised in our home with love and are a part of family while they are with us. Our litters are bred for health, temperament, and longevity. Their beauty will be a bonus! All of our pups are handled and socialized daily.
Part of all the puppy’s routine includes neurostimulation and developmental exercises for smarter, healthier, and more adaptable dogs for life. “The puppy culture method”
Puppies are adorable, fun, cuddly, and playful. But to raise a confident, well-rounded dog it takes training, and it all begins with us. There are many different developmental periods a puppy will go through before joining your family.
Major Benefits of Training Your Dog
Training Builds Your Dog’s Confidence!
Training Forges a Strong Bond Between You & Your Dog.
Training Promotes Safety.
Training Sets Boundaries.
Training Makes Outings Easier.
Training Provides Mental Stimulation.
Training Is Fun.
Training Stops Problem Behaviors Before They Start!
Early Stimulation
Why we use early neurological stimulation for our puppies. We choose to use the early neurological stimulation method developed by Dr. Battaglia because it produces dogs who have confidence, greater tolerance of stress throughout their lifetimes. They have more resistance to disease, a more responsive adrenal system, and a stronger heart rate and heartbeat.
Day 1-14
Puppies are born with pink noses, ears, and paws. They are born blind & deaf. In this period, they spend all their time eating, sleeping, and cuddling with mom and their littermates to keep warm. Newborn puppies cannot regulate their body temperature, so it's essential to provide them with an additional heat source to maintain their temperature. We start neurostimulation and developmental exercises when they are 3 days old until they are 16 days old. Puppies are touched and cuddled a lot to get them used to humans early. They get dewormed for the first time at 2 weeks old with pyrantel pamoate. They will get nail trims weekly and be introduced to a bath a few times in the time we have them.
Day 14-21
The puppies’ eyes are open by day 14 or are starting to open. They can start hearing at day 21. They start learning to get around on their own, eliminate on their own, they start playing with each other. They are held a lot during this time. New toys are given to them. We start introducing them to new surfaces. Showing puppies wobbly or textured ground should be a core aspect of socializing a puppy. The puppies get quiet time, and they get time to get introduced to new sounds. They hear the everyday household sounds such as vacuuming, doors opening and shutting, water running, dogs barking, talking, Tv sounds, music, washer and dryer going, outside sounds, etc.
Week 3 - 4
At 3 weeks we introduce many things: We introduce a water bowl and goats’ milk, so they learn to drink and eat on their own. We introduce the pellet tray to start the potty training early. (The pros with a pellet tray: It does not resemble other household textiles so pups won’t get it confused with rugs and bedding. Easy to keep clean by removing the soiled litter daily and replacing with fresh.) This does not mean they will be completely potty trained when they go to their new homes, but we do make the process much easier for you.
Between week 3 and 4 we introduce soaked and ground up puppy food to their diet. As they get more used to eating, we slowly transition to the hard kibble, puppy food within a couple weeks, so they are completely on puppy food by the time they go to their forever homes and are weaned off their momma.
At this stage of their development puppies do not experience fear. They have a startle reflex, but not true fear. This is the prime time to create a very important pattern in their brain: Startle -> Recover -> Curiosity -> Exploration. We can teach them how to recover from an unexpected experience without running any risk of actually frightening them! Puppies that learn how to recover from unexpected stimuli grow up to be dogs that are not scared by unexpected, surprising situations later in life. We will use several everyday objects to startle the pups; shutting doors, dropping items on the floor, playing videos of fireworks, vacuuming near them, etc.
They get dewormed again at 4 weeks old with pyrantel pamoate.
Week 5 - 6
At 5 weeks old is when their personalities start to peak through. This is when we invite families to come visit the puppies if they would like to. We start introducing them to crates and “alone time”. (This does not mean they will be completely crate trained when they go home but it is started) We start teaching the puppies “Resource guarding”. Teaching them they can trust human hands by putting our hands in their food, touching their toys/bones, ect. They learn to guard their toys when they are young from litter mates stealing them so they need to be worked with to show them that humans can take their toys from them, and they can trust they will get them back or get something better!
At 6 weeks old is when we start prepping them to go to their forever homes. They are starting to get weaned from nursing. They have their health check up with the vet. They get microchipped. They are dewormed with Safeguard (Fenbendazole) for a 3-day course. They get their Neo-par vaccine. They get a few car rides before going to their homes, get introduce to other animals, kids, and other dogs.
Our puppies spend time with our adult dogs as they help teach the puppies the ropes and also teaches them manners and boundaries that they do not learn from their littermates!
Time to go to their forever homes!
Our puppies go home at 7 weeks. We want the puppies to get adjusted to their homes before their fear period starts at 8 weeks old. If you cannot get your puppy before it is 8 weeks old, we would prefer to keep the puppy until after the fear period is over (11 weeks old).
This is a little snapshot on what we all do with our puppies and your future puppy! As you see we put a lot of work into our puppies so they can be the best adult dogs they can be for every family, and they sure keep us busy, but the results make it worth it! Our dogs make great service dogs, therapy dogs, hunting dogs, and super well companions. We socialize these guys as much as we are able to before they go home. It is very important to continue to socialize your puppy once they go home with you, and to continue training and teaching them. The time and effort you put into your puppy will be the best investment you can make!
