Our Family

When our mama dogs are giving birth or whelping, we are there every step of the way, allowing her to follow her instincts but stepping in when she needs assistance. Every puppy is gently handled after birth, weighed, checked over, identified with a collar color, and recorded on our charts. We minimize handling at this time, opting to let mama lick and nurse as she’s able, and only offering assistance when needed. We believe this helps establish a bond between mama and her puppies, something that is so crucial for their development in these early days.  As the puppies grow, we continue their care with daily checkups, weight checks, and collar changes. Their necks grow so fast that we want to ensure their collars are never too tight or dirty.

Puppies also begin the first part of their schooling in this early stage. When they turn three days old, we begin Early Neurological Stimulation ("ENS") and Early Scent Introduction ("ESI"), with them. These are two things that have been proven to produce happier, healthier, stronger, and more resilient puppies and dogs, and we believe it truly gives our puppies a great start in life.  We opt to minimize handling during these fragile first weeks, something that is not always easy when they are so adorable! Puppies can easily startle and we don’t want to stack stressors for them. If any puppy is struggling to thrive, we do not work through curriculum with them until they are improving. Our goal is for them to know that the world is safe and people are kind; by limiting their stress we hope to give them this foundation. When we do handle the puppies, we do so slowly and carefully, and always hold them close to face and heart.

Delivery assistance, including resuscitating puppies, keeping them warm after birth, and clamping cords as needed  Gentle handling for health check, gender check, weight check, and ribbon identification  Meticulous record keeping on each puppy  Daily checkups, weight checks and ribbon changes  Early Neurological Stimulation  Early Scent Introduction  Minimal handling and always with care and love

As puppies near the three week mark, their ears and eyes begin opening and they are able to explore the world around them even better. Their footing becomes more sure and they become curious about their surroundings. It’s vital that we use this period to desensitize them to things that could cause fear later in life. This is also the time we begin introducing them to potty training by giving them a litter box separate from their sleeping area. Dogs don’t use their “den” as a bathroom if given the choice, so we try to instill this idea from a young age.  We consider this time a sort of “preschool” for them--gentle and mild, a small taste of what is to come. Puppies have “graduated” from ENS and ESI and are ready for the next step. In our program, that means they begin noise exposure, a gentle handling exercise and whelping box exposures. We introduce noise exposure as soon as their ears open to begin that crucial desensitizing to loud noises. Too many dogs hide under the bed during a thunderstorm or cry when the vacuum runs, and our hope is to raise our puppies to be confident in the face of something that could cause fear. We also begin playing classical music for them to signal time to sleep, something we encourage our clients to continue doing after puppies go home.

This is the age when we begin our unique puppy handling exercises. Puppies are taken through a very gentle 10-step “puppy massage” that begins the process of getting them familiar with all sorts of touch, all while enforcing the idea that the world is safe and people are kind. We don’t want to release our puppies into the world, where touch isn’t always gentle or familiar, and cause them discomfort or fear. The goal of our handling exercises is to increase their resiliency to all kinds of touch--from young children, groomers, vets, and anyone else they may encounter that they are unfamiliar with.  This is also the time we begin a gentle “puppy school,” which we call whelping box novelty item exposure. Puppies are introduced to safe and gentle items while still in the safety of their whelping box. Things like small stuffed animals, various fabrics and textures, fake plants and flowers, and other household items that don’t make noise or move are all things we introduce to the puppies. By placing these items directly in their whelping box, where they are familiar with the sights and smells, we bridge the gap between spending all their time with mama and their siblings and doing “big kid school.” It gives them a nice and easy transition in a time when they are still quite small and unsure of themselves. The goal of whelping box exposure is to introduce puppies to safe items they can investigate without fear. They can sniff, look at, mouth, nudge and crawl over these items in the safety of their home. This helps develop their brains and also instill confidence.

• Loud noise exposure  
• Classical music to signal time to sleep  
• Gentle handling exercises - “puppy massage”  
• Weekly weight checks  
• Introduction to potty training  
• Whelping box novelty item exposure 
•  Handling always done with love and care

After puppies have completed a week of “preschool,” we transition them slowly to more of a “kindergarten.” Puppies are bigger at this stage and able to handle more challenging situations. We still proceed gently and at their pace, but the goal of our school curriculum is to get them to gain confidence, overcome obstacles, and meet challenges without fear.  School takes place outside of the whelping box now. In fact, puppies are moved from the whelping box at this age and have their own stall where Mama can visit them for nursing sessions. They begin eating soaked kibble a few times a day so Mama can slowly start weaning them.  For school, puppies encounter more challenging obstacles than they did in the whelping box. We begin with things that have no movement, such as stuffed toys and ropes, then move to items with gentle movement, like ping pong balls, and finally to objects with larger movements like big balls. If puppies are hesitant to explore new items, we gently coax them with our voices and hands. We never put a puppy into a situation that causes them fear or “do” an activity for them. It’s very important for a puppy’s development to do things for themselves. We always strive to empower puppies, never enable them.  

• Loud noise exposure  
• Classical music to signal time to sleep  
• Gentle handling exercises increase in pressure  
• Weekly weight checks  
•  Soaked kibble several times a day 
• Puppy “kindergarten” outside of their home  
• Handling always done with love and care  
• Empowering, not enabling

After two weeks of a mild puppy school, most pups are ready for something more challenging. We’ve been working with them from birth to increase in confidence and our goal is always to empower not enable. Now is the time the fun really starts!  We begin to ask more of them in school during these last few weeks that they’re in our care. Puppies are encouraged to walk over a grate, investigate things with wheels (like a skateboard), complete an obstacle course, try out balance pods, explore dog brain games, and work through overhead exposure. They get exposure to all sorts of fun things like a ball pit, a kiddy pool of water, car rides, meeting new people and expedition walks. When they’re not in school, they play either inside or outside with their siblings and a variety of toys we keep in their stall for them.  Mama continues weaning during this time and pups are fully weaned at six weeks. We work to imprint our puppies with the lifesaving “Puppy, Puppy, Puppy” recall whenever we feed them. All of our clients get information on how to use this recall if their puppy is ever in danger. After they are six weeks old, we begin keeping a log of the puppies’ temperament traits. We don’t do this before six weeks because puppies can change so much during those early weeks. By six weeks, their unchanging traits are more fixed and easier to observe and take note of.

• Loud noise exposure 
•  Classical music to signal time to sleep  
• Handling exercises increase in pressure each week  
• Weekly weight checks  
• Kibble twice a day  
• Continue potty training 
•  Advanced puppy school  
• Exploring new locations  
• Handling always done with love and care  
• Empowering, not enabling