Cute is not the primary term you think of when describing puppies who are just born. The puppies cannot hear or see sport smushed-in eyes and tiny bodies that twitch and appear to the world like little aliens. Separated and distant from another world, they are now within their solar system and seem to be seeking warm, milky warmth and the rough touch of their mother’s voice. Of course, nothing can be further from the reality.
From the moment they are born, pups collect, process, and synthesize vast quantities of information from the environment all around them. Although it’s generally accepted that children require intensive socialization once they depart from the human caregivers behind for their new homes, there isn’t much discussion about the significance of thoughtful, continuous exposure to new stimulation during the first eight weeks of existence.
However, certain breeders who are forward-thinking believe that, while a person’s temperament is hereditary, early experiences can drastically change the brain’s development and stability, stress tolerance and the ability to react. The basic principles of potty training, attention towards a handler and the ability to recall are all programmed by some at an inordinately young age.
A long-time judge, breeder and educator, Pat Hastings of Aloha, Oregon, the writer of another part of Puzzle: Puppy Development (Dogfolk Enterprises 2004, 2004), has witnessed firsthand how environmental factors can have on a dog’s genetics.
“I believe very strongly that you are born with your temperament, but you can modify behavior,” she declares.
“I am convinced that, with pups, nurturing is greater than nature. There is so much in it.”
Hastings is well-known for her dog evaluations, where she evaluates entire puppies of 8 weeks old in addition to conformance (physical form) and temperament. An example is the puppy litter that included Parson Russell Terriers, which she recently assessed for a breeder who devotes much time to engaging her puppies.
Along with her eight puppies, however, she took one that was three days younger and had the same genetics to be similar to her other pups. The breeder had crossed the mother of the puppy and the sire of her entire pedigree. However, the puppy was born and raised by a different person who wasn’t exposed to the same care or socialization her well-behaved pups had. “You would think it was a different breed,” Hastings declares.
Reputable breeders have an end goal: their ideal brood or show dog and the future master hunter or even an agility superstar. The primary goal is to produce stable, easy-to-train temperaments, no matter the final goal of a puppy.
“It’s very important to end up with really good pets,” Hastings adds.
In this regard, Here are a few methods that breeders who are progressive employ to increase the neurological and behavioural growth of their young explorers wearing their fursuits. They all share the same philosophy that providing safe and enjoyable activities for puppyhood – so that they can broaden their perspectives, strengthen their minds and bodies and discover that innovation brings positive outcomes – is the excellent choice breeders could make in their puppies’ initial eight weeks.
Never Too Early
Numerous breeders enthusiastically advocate using early neurostimulation, based upon the “Bio Sensor” or “Super Dog” program created through the United States military in the 1970s. (There are various opinions on the effectiveness of this military programme and people who came up with the rules. However, numerous breeders swear by these guidelines.) From 3-16 days old, puppies will be exposed to these five activities for three up to five seconds per session. The exercises are designed to provide a safe and brief exposure to the puppy to brief periods of physical strain so that he can recuperate.
With the puppy held in only one arm, the owner rubs between the puppy’s feet using a cotton tip swab.
By grasping the puppy’s head using two fingers, the person handling it will hold the puppy parallel towards the floor (that means holding his head up, directly over the tail).
Holding the puppy in two handles, the dog’s handler carries it on its back, and his head is pointed towards the ground.
The person who is the handler carries the puppy’s back with his hands. This ensures that the puppy can sleep.
The dog’s owner puts its feet on the floor and then an untidy towel that was refrigerated and kept for at least 5 minutes but doesn’t stop the puppy from walking.
Breeders who practice this type of early stimulation for their brains claim that their pups are more adjusted and have higher anxiety tolerance and lower levels in the face of obstacles.
“I have seen unbelievable payoff with it,” Hastings states. “I probably know 40 breeders who have done it to half their litter to see what the difference was – and the difference was mind-boggling.”
— Hastings refers to her breed, her breed, her Doberman Pinscher, as an illustration. “Dobies are working dogs, but they don’t work in bad weather – they don’t do cold or rain,” she says with a smile. “But I have never seen a Dobie puppy whose breeder did early stimulation that had any issue with weather.”
– Hastings insists, however, that breeders must take only a little stress. “Too much stress can have a negative effect,” she advises. If breeders decide to begin neuromuscular stimulation early, the procedure should be performed every day only for a few minutes, not more than 3 to 5 seconds suggested.
What’s Your Problem
Lise Pratt from Huntington Station, New York, is a veteran agility trainer and Golden Retriever breeder and co-founder of Avidog, the company offering puppy training and other products and encourages puppies to overcome their challenges at just the age of a couple of days. However, this may seem counterintuitive for breeders whose primary goal is to benefit puppies to get the warmth and nourishment they require as soon as possible.
Intervention is necessary for puppies that aren’t healthy; Pratt; Pratt suggests that healthy, strong puppies should have the chance to discover a solution to their own needs.
“If you think about puppies in a whelping box, and you see a puppy who isn’t where he wants to be, most breeders will pick the puppy up” and put the puppy in a place that is close to a nipple or the warmth of a mother, she adds. “At this moment, your puppy is already in the process of learning. If the puppy isn’t healthy and does not need to burn calories, then let him start learning at around five days old.”
When the puppy reaches a certain age and is trapped in a doorway or a series of stairs, do not succumb to the temptation to “rescue” him unless the situation is dangerous; in the meantime, Pratt recommends giving the pup a chance to work out the problem by himself and raise his self-confidence throughout the process. A few experts in the field of behaviour would suggest that they favour rescuing the dog when he is distressed by his situation.
Common Senses
As a form of smell-intense, Pratt introduces her puppies to different scents daily for around three days in the early stimulation of neurons. This includes tree bark, plants, grass, fruits, and other things to train with, such as tennis balls and a pheasant.
Linda Hartheimer of Grayhart Weimaraners in Saddle River, New Jersey, says that exposing puppies to smells early prepares them for hunt tests, which they’ll later be a part of. When she goes through her refrigerator to find frozen wings for pheasants and ducks, she’s amazed by how her pups react.
“At three days old, their chests are heaving with the scent of duck,” she says.
Once puppies can hear, Pratt starts capitalizing on this sense to develop an emotional memory when the ears open, around 10 to 12 days.
“When mom gets in the whelping box, we say, ‘Puppy, puppy,’ in a high, happy voice, or blow a whistle,” she declares. “When they leave us, they have a rock-solid recall to both, because we start at an age when they never forget it.”
Exposure to new sounds is also essential, such as the clanging of cooking pans and pots, the squeak of a vehicle along a road, the whine of the leaf blower of a landscaper, and, obviously, the vacuum’s roar. Puppy puppies raised in the quiet of cathedrals are likely to be spooked whenever they hear those sounds throughout their day routine. As background noise, Pratt plays sound-desensitization CDs from various situations the puppies will encounter later in life, such as the din of agility and obedience trials or the sound of gunshots in the field. Commercially-produced recordings of thunderstorms, fireworks, and city streets are accessible.
Kid Power
Chris Walkowicz, judge and writer of Successful Dog Breeding (Howell, 1994) and a previous German Shepherd Dogs and Bearded Collies breeder, says that kids and puppies could be the perfect match, particularly from the breeder’s viewpoint.
“I think everyone who breeds dogs should have kids, or rent them,” she quips in a half-joke. Children are not just keen on spending lots of time in the whelping area and always being watched and supervised, naturally and enthralled by their imaginations playing with puppies. The dog-savvy children can teach pups to be jostled or swayed, confined and held in many fascinating postures. They also train their companions to fast movements and loud sounds, provided their interactions are constantly observed and constructive.
One of the most significant issues with children is that they will eventually get older. In the case of Walkowicz, it was about a decade between her two children and her final two. So when her youngest children went off to college, her elder ones were having grandchildren and began another cycle. Breeders without children or have empty nesters can invite neighbours or their nieces and nephews often for visits.
One benefit to having kids within the family is that toys from their playtime could be excellent hand-me-downs to puppies. “My kids had a plastic toddler slide that was two feet long,” Walkowicz recalls. “I put that in the puppy pen, and they all loved it.”
No Flat Earth Society
Like the puppies of Walkowicz’s, the puppies are incredibly active and love to climb up and over all sorts of obstructions. (This includes pain breeding professionals, the edges of the whelping boxes, and the exercise pens used to hold the puppies.) They aren’t playing with their toys. They are creating new neural connections and wiring their brains to tackle problems and to be able to handle new issues.
“I think it’s really important that puppies are never raised on a flat surface,” Hastings states. “We know that challenges in a puppy’s environment activate a part of the brain that deals with coordination.”
In the beginning, when puppies are tiny and unable to walk, towels rolled up can be obstructions that the puppies have to walk across. When the pups are old, satisfying, and mobile, breeders can include objects that can move or change, like an infant-sized sawsaw or balance board. (You can build your own by attaching an object of wood onto the end of the PVC pipe or by placing a tennis ball into socks to the wooden board.)
The more things you can do, the more, Hastings claims; thus, the pen is a “jungle” of stimuli.
To “literally grow puppy brains,” Avidog’s Lise Pratt and her sibling Marcy Burke developed The Adventure Box, a 30-inch-square frame with various fascinating and interactive items hanging off the frame.
“I wanted to get puppies to be bold and go through something, so I made a wall of noodles,” claims Pratt about the well-known foam-filled pool toys. Walking through the aisles at Home Depot inspired some exciting items: empty paint containers, pieces of garden hoses, funnels made of plastic, and those popular with people looking to become weave pole stars – lengths of PVC pipe. Pratt introduces her pups in their Adventure Box almost as soon as they can walk, according to the particular litter.
Find the search term “bottle pool” on YouTube.com. You’ll see captivating footage of puppy dogs launching their bodies into child-sized pools full of empty soda and water bottles. They’re making dazzlingly high-pitched noises while swimming around among the plastic cylinders.
Hartheimer purchased a childdie Sandbox to raise Hartheimer’s litter of Weimaraner puppies, especially for this purpose. She then gradually introduced the pups.
“When we first introduce the pool, we put them inside in pairs, with lots of food, and just a few bottles,” she adds. “As they age and become more comfortable, we will include more empty bottles of water They will remember the food, and begin exploring. Once there’s enough bottles, they begin to dive in.”
The bottle pool may be an enjoyable experience for dogs and adults alike, but it can also provide long-lasting benefits, particularly for puppies heading into homes designed for performance. “It desensitizes them to pressure on their bodies and different noises,” Hartheimer says. Hartheimer, in the summer, may add some water to the pool to add aspect. “It’s not only all about the bottles. There’s the entire environment in that area.”
The Rule of Sevens
Pat Schaap, a Shetland Sheepdog breeder from Clarksville, Maryland, is acknowledged for the following checklist of events, people and activities every puppy must be in the first seven weeks of life. The puppy reaches seven weeks old:
Seven distinct surfaces are Carpet, concrete vinyl, wood dirt, grass, and wood chips.
Seven kinds of play toys: Big balls, small balls, soft fabrics toys, soft toys with a squeak, paper or cardboard objects, metal objects, sticks or pieces.
Seven locations: Front yard, backyard, basement, kitchen, car, garage, laundry room, bathroom.
Seven people are new:
- Children and older adults.
- Someone who uses a cane.
- A person using a wheelchair or walker.
Seven challenges:
- Aim for a ladder.
- Jump off the box.
- Walk through the tunnel.
- Go up the steps.
- Descend.
- Go over hurdles.
- Play with hide and seek.
- Move into and out of the doorway by stepping either way or play with the fence.
Seven different food containers: Metal, plastic, cardboard, paper, china, pie plate, frying pan.
Seven dining locations: Crate, yard kitchen, basement, living room, laundry room and bathroom.
Naturally, seven can be one of many numbers you can limit yourself to. Pratt claims she puts her Golden Retriever puppies to over 100 people before their departure after eight and half weeks. However, the amount is less significant than the idea: exposing puppies to the world of novelty as soon and frequently as possible can broaden their perspectives and increase their willingness to be open, perhaps even eager to change.
The most crucial part of the socialization process Pratt uses for her pups is what she refers to as “woods walk.” At approximately six weeks of age, “when the instinct to follow starts to kick in,” Pratt and her breeder, Gayle Watkins, will take their pups on lengthy walks through the nearby land trust. These walks do not just improve proprioception – the puppies feel more connected to their body and the wider world. They also lay the foundation for solving problems if a blockage gets in the way when humans cross it. The dam leaps or jumps over it, leaving the pups to decide what to do next.
“Most people have never let their dog take the responsibility of figuring out where you are,” Pratt clarifies. “The dog never learns to make the choice.” This is evident in the agility arena, where dogs leave their handlers without knowing connections. At the point when her puppies depart, however, they’ve been walking in the woods for about an hour and a half, making sure they follow every move.
Potty Talk
Breeders can make incredible inroads to prepare their pups to ensure their housetraining is successful long before leaving for a new home.
The first step is to eliminate the piddle pads and newspaper. They’re not just filthy and inefficient (there is nothing more disgusting than a dish of dirty New York Times after a puppy’s poop); however, they don’t teach puppies how to go to a designated place to eliminate themselves.
“Puppies would like to be clean, and if you give them the opportunity to be, they are clean,” Hastings states. “Among the easiest puppies to housetrain are those that are litter-box trained, because from day one they have always been taught to go somewhere else to pee and poop.”
Wood pellets are one of the most used substrates for litter boxes for puppies. These are those that are used in stoves that burn wood or used as bedding for horses. Compressed to about the size of pill capsules, wood pellets are non-chemical, and once they get wet, they break down and become sawdust. When placed on the pellets, each time they pee or vomit, most puppies recognize the sensation of the pellets under their feet, which affects their body functions, and start to look for them each time they have to remove them. Feces and saturated pellets can be removed easily using a sand-loving plastic scoop, keeping the smell and mess minimal.
The Final Analysis
As with breeding, raising puppies is an art and science. It’s crucial to gather as much as much information as possible and then experiment.
“After every litter, I re-evaluate and see what worked, and what needs tweaking,” Hartheimer says. Hartheimer, a special education teacher, is amazed by how the space she designs expands and stimulates her impressionable puppy’s brain.
When the puppies leave their home and are taken to the outside world, it’s the responsibility of the care providers who take them in to begin the next stage of their development.