The
first week
As all our dogs live indoors, it goes without saying that our
puppies are also raised inside and they are all born in our
living room. The puppies are given constant care and attention
from the moment they are born. They are all handled with gentle
love and affection often each day. This ensures the puppies
achieve the highest level of socialization possible. At birth,
each puppy is given a different coloured collar for identification
and reference. This also helps you find your puppy when you
come to visit. We don't name the puppies, we just refer to them
by their mom's name and their collar colour (Navy's pup with
the purple collar would be called: Navy's Purple)
Their senses are surprisingly acute at such a young age.
The puppies are born with their eyes and ears closed. The
only senses they rely on for the first few weeks are scent,
taste and feeling (tactile). Their eyes open at about 2 weeks
of age and their ears open at about 3 weeks. By the time the
puppies are 2 days old, they can recognise our scent! If their
mother is outside or if we pick them up, they will cry out.
If we place our hand in front of their nose or if we put their
nose up to our mouths, they will smell us and immediately
calm. If a stranger places their hand in front of their nose
they will continue to cry! It’s actually quite amazing!
Handling the puppies for short periods of time at such an
early age produces a small stress reaction for the puppy.
These experiences teach the puppy that although it experienced
an anxious moment, everything turned out alright in the end.
They then learn new experiences are not something to be feared,
so their reaction to new stimulus becomes more of an exploration
exercise than a frightened response. Ultimately, this technique
will produce a very stable, confident and friendly puppy.
During this time they are also weighed at least weekly, and
we have to adjust their baby collars at least every second
day. We weigh the puppies at least
once a week to track their growth.
The second and third week
We begin our deworming schedule before
the puppies are born. We have a very specific protocol and
should our pups ever have worms (which would be a minimal
amount), they are completely gone by 3 weeks of age. We have
further refined our practice and now we usually have all our
litters clear.
We begin handing the puppies more and make sure they are
completely relaxed on their backs in any position. By the
end of the third week we are beginning to wake all the puppies
as soon as one awakens so we can begin preliminary housebreaking
and crate training. This also helps us keep the puppies spotless
and ensure they don't get used to stepping or lying in their
mess. Puppies that are forced to be in wasteful conditions
can develop 'dirty puppy syndrome where they will not attempt
to avoid stepping in their stool. Usually this condition lasts
their entire life. This also reduces the number of times we
need to bathe the puppies which , done too often, can be damaging
to their coats, not to mention stressful and cold on cooler
days.
The fourth week
This is a big week for the puppies. We begin to feed the pups
dry Royal Canin Nutritional Starter food and providing water
for them as well. During the first few days they don't eat very
much, mostly experimenting and playing with the food, but by
the third or forth day they are almost experts! I am very impressed
with how well they do on the Starter and we always have healthy,
chubby puppies. As the pups increase their kibble intake the
moms usually choose to start weaning the puppies, and we leave
this up to them to decide the best time.
When they begin eating solids and the weaning process begins
(at about 4 weeks), they are taken outside to go 'potty'.
We do not paper train the puppies. We decided to be proactive
rather than reactive and work to teach them to go outside,
rather than running around the house cleaning up after them!
We have found that about 80% of the puppies do not know how
to tell you they want to go outside, so we condition them
to do this by ringing a bell at the door. When we ring the
bell, they immediately run to the door and go outside to relieve
themselves. Usually we have mastered this by the time the
litter is 6 weeks old. When the bell is hung low enough, they
will begin to ring it themselves within a week. They are not
housebroken when they go home, but they have an excellent
foundation for you to work with.
This is also when they start teething, roughhousing with
each other and their mothers, and wanting out of their crates
to roam and play with the big dogs, although it's a little
bit early for that. Next week they are much more co-ordinated
and they need a bit more time to learn life lessons
with their littermates.
We poke and prod at the pups from an early age but now we
increase the handling dramatically by checking their teeth,
cleaning their ears, brushing them, trimming near the eyes,
ears, paws and hygiene areas, and trimming their nails. The
end result is that most of the pups are remarkably cooperative
at the vet and the groomer.
The fifth and sixth week
At about 5-6 weeks old the puppies no longer require nighttime
feedings from their mother. When this occurs naturally, we begin
crate training at night. After a few days, we also start crating
the puppies during their daily nap times. Crate training is
a very humane method of training your puppy and it allows you
short periods of time during the day to get things done without
worrying if your puppy is chewing your dining room table leg
(or peeing on your Persian rug)!
The fifth week is also when we start working on bite inhibition.
Puppy nipping is a normal behavior as dogs use their mouths
to explore their environment and play with each other. We
teach the puppies boundaries; that it is not acceptable to
nip at us at all, or to chew on our furniture, or to play
with us the same way they play with other dogs. We use a variety
of techniques to accomplish these goals which we include in
our puppy package. If you are very eager we can email the
information to you in advance.
During play, we continue to work on bite inhibition and discourage
jumping up on people. At this time they also join the adult
dogs for play and socialization. The adult dogs take on a
co-parenting role with the puppies. They nurture them, gently
teach them the rules of play, and usually all the lactating
moms will nurse any puppy! This ensures the pups have well
developed 'doggie manners' and eliminates the formation of
a 'pack order' within the litter. The older dogs teach the
puppies not to challenge for the 'alpha' position in the pack.
The puppies learn about 15 words before they go home (come,
outside, inside, upstairs, crate, cookie, water, etc...).
The seventh and eighth weeks
The vocabulary your puppy learns at our house will help you
communicate much more effectively with your pup from day one,
and when you take the puppy home we will give you a list of
words the puppy already knows, along with our daily routines
for feeding, housebreaking, and crating.
At this time the puppies are microchipped, vet-checked and
vaccinated at 6-7 weeks old, and if we have even the slightest
concern about a puppy's health before the scheduled vet visit,
the pups are seen by our vet immediately. The puppies are
given their final deworming at this time. We give the puppies
a topical treatment called Revolution. It is a liquid applied
to the back of their neck which is absorbed through the skin.
This treatment is effective for one month. It is a broad-spectrim
dewormer (including Heartworm), and also protects them from
fleas, ticks, earmites and mange. It is very reliable and
saves the family the expense of a fecal exam on the 2nd shot
visit to their Vet’s. Usually Veterinarians charge $15-$20
for routine deworming for a puppy (often one oral dose of
Strongid-T). We don’t believe this medication works
effectively with only one dose so we usually suggest families
administer Revolution or Advantage Multi when they want to
deworm their pup. It works for one month and is usually less
expensive.
We have been continuing grooming proceedures since the forth
week and the day before or the morning the pups go home is
when they receive their first bath, if all has gone well.
You can choose between no bath, or a waterless bath: both
which don't compromise stripping the oils from their coats,
or we can give your puppy a full bath with puppy shampoo and
conditioner. We do not use any harsh shampoos or those that
contain insecticides.
We finish completing your 'Puppy Health Record' before you
pick up your puppy which provide dates and specific information
on the Veterinarian treatment your puppy will require in the
first year. This includes all required shots, optional shots,
spay/neuter dates, all medical history for your puppy, birth
information and how to reach us should you ever have any questions.
|
