How our puppies are raised throughout their stages of development. 

Day 1 - 2

Right now our focus is on Mum attending to her needs ensuring she is happy and healthy to provide around the clock care to her puppies. We keep handling to a minimum including weighing puppies daily to keep track to make sure they’re gaining appropriate weight and thriving. 

Day 3 - 13 

Early Neurological Stimulation (ENS) exercises and Early scent introduction (ESI) are conducted once daily from the 3rd to the 16th days, a period believed to be a time of rapid neurological growth and development.

From their first week into the world our puppies are handled daily in particular way tailored to their needs and development always close to our face and near our heart. Each and every time a puppy is handled, we never put them down if they are panicked or upset (except the first 3 days of life) As the puppy learns more about the world, we are laying the foundation of the relationship between canine and human. For the first 2 weeks of life we continue to weigh puppies daily to ensure they’re healthy and thriving. 

Day 14 - 20 

Around 14 days puppies eyes begin to open when eyes first open they start out with a milky, grayish-blue appearance but that clears with time. A puppy’s eyes don’t truly mature until the animal is 4–5 weeks old. In fact, puppies can see before they can hear (their ears open at around 18–20 days) 

We continue ESI & ENS until day 16, on day 18, 19, and 20, we conduct a brief “loud noise exposure” with the puppies, such as banging a spoon on a metal pan three times. At this early age, puppies do not yet fear sound, so we use this opportunity to get a jump start on desensitisation of loud noises. We worm puppies at 2, 4, 6 and 8 weeks old. 

This week we also introduce nail clipping and weighing once a week now through to 8 weeks old, always ensuring we are gentle handling puppies daily close to our face and heart. 

Week 3 

We introduce new types of music, TV shows and movies, “noise exposure” CDs, or YouTube videos each day. Additionally, puppies are exposed to quiet background noises throughout the day. 

During the “Awareness Identification” period (22-28 days), human connection is not as important as sibling and maternal time

This week we introduce whelping box novelty items during this developmental period. We place an object (unassuming and gentle) in the box and let the pups explore this novel item at their own leisure. We keep the object(s) in the whelping box until puppies fall asleep.

As the weeks go on we continue to ensure our mums are holding their weight. As puppies grow, our mums are using an extraordinary number of calories to keep them fed.

We start weaning this week, we start with just once a day and slowly introduce more as the week goes on. Feeding also give us the opportunity to start imprinting our puppy recall “our life saving recall we introduce” 

I have found that imprinting can and does save dogs’ lives. As part of the “Puppy Packet” we give on go home day, we pass along information regarding continuing education for the “puppy, puppy, puppy” recall.

Between three and four weeks old, pups will also begin toileting in a designated spot. Puppies generally do not like to potty where they sleep and will make a concerted effort to avoid this as they get older. The key to success is making sure that the toileting area and sleeping area are no more than half a meter apart, we begin toilet training on puppy pads. 

All touching up to three weeks is slow, gentle and loving. Handling at 3 weeks gets more structured and intentional with our introduction of our 10 step handling exercises. We do not do heavy petting or run our hands up their back from tail to head until 5 weeks old. We Never put a puppy down when they are panicked by your picking them up or handling them. Keep puppies close to our heart and face. Letting them smell our nose and mouth a lot (imprinting). We kiss and hold our puppies close, so they are used to and enjoy this type of intense human interaction.

Week 4 

The “Socialisation Period” starts at approximately 4 weeks old and continues until the pups are 12 weeks old. This is truly such an exciting time in puppy development, and one of my favorite stages. While puppies ears and eyes opened around two weeks old, they were not fully developed or functional. Now sight and hearing have greatly improved. Some puppies like some people, love to hear their own voice! They will practice different types of vocalizing, specifically barking. They start building muscle strength and control, which helps to develop more balanced and coordinated walking. Pups should now be able to move forwards and backwards. They will also start to acknowledge us and our voice.

The fourth week is a fun one! Puppies really come alive, they engage. They are curious and they enjoy thinking. We Let them explore and advance on their own. We Don’t push them into a situation if they are not ready. If a puppy wants to just sit and watch an entire exposure activity or refuse to engage with a particular item, we honor that (for now). We continue to lay a framework of trust and partnership, and we need them to know you will not force them into an unsafe situation. 

During this “Socialisation Period,” we

begin working the puppies in a larger, more open space just outside their whelping box to start with as the weeks go on we move to different locations. 

While puppies are “growing up,” we still need to make sure exposure items are predictable and safe.

Handling exercises increase in intensity and pressure each week. We Spend a lot of time holding pups and continue keeping them close to our heart and face. We Handle pups with tenderness and respect, while gently increasing the intensity and pressure of the “Puppy Handling Exercises.” It remains important that we never put a pup down if they are nervous or uncertain. Let them sleep in our arms, feeling safe and secure. We Spend time sitting with the whole litter picking up pup after pup to nuzzle and touch. Our aim is to water these little souls to grow into beautiful flowers. Flowers that will bloom and become heart healers. Life changers. We are building pups that know the world is safe, people are kind, and dogs are friendly, and that is essential to our program. Our loud daily noise exposure continues until pups leave us at 8 weeks old

Week 5 

During the fifth week, we try to have at least two other new people work with the pups. We conduct all new exposure activities in the puppies’ living space, it is important that we move the litter to different on-site spaces to work as well. Puppies must learn to work and problem solve in different spaces inside and outside, from grass to pavers to cement etc.

We are still continuing with our previous weeks of puppy handling exercises, noise exposure and recall. We introduce our puppies to grooming, this includes bath, blow dry and nail clip. Prior to this week puppies have been having sponge baths to keep clean and smelling nice. 

6 weeks old 

At six weeks old, puppies’ individual temperaments begin emerging. No more holding back. Water exposure, car rides, obstacle courses, expeditions. What we do and how we work with the pups is just as important as the environment we are working them in.

This period is filled with many new and exciting curriculum units. It is important that we never force a pup into doing something instead, we show them that all environments and situations are safe. Lure, adjust, change the approach or the environment and do whatever we need to do to empower and not enable. We Let them problem-solve in a safe, supportive environment. 

Puppies are born with intrinsic traits that we cannot change, such as energy level, assertiveness or submissiveness, hand shyness, and tenderheartedness, to name a few. However, we still have the ability to adjust some traits like confidence, motivation, drive, sight and sound sensitivity. When we see a puppy having an issue with unpredictable movement, we work on that. A puppy unsure of loud sounds, we work on that. For each situation, we start with the exposure at a lesser degree than what caused the initial fear/uncertainty and we build from there. We Vary the environments and items/sounds that could be deemed scary. Desensitise Desensitise Desensitise is our mission. Ensure we are promoting the correct emotional response and work the pup through the “challenges” until they are not concerned any more. While we want to make sure the exposure is creating tolerance, we do not push a pup past their threshold. We do not let them “break down.” If needed, we take little breaks to allow them to destress. Some pups enjoy playing tug. Some want to play fetch. Some might even want to nurse. Once stress has been decreased, we start again. Nice and slow. Now is the time. Patience is key, and consistency is crucial. 

Physical, mental, and emotional development is insanely fast. Experts estimate that one week of a pup’s life is the equivalent of six months of development for a human. We cannot dilly dally. Every day and every minute matters if we want to produce the best pups.

Week 7 

At an early age, we are giving your pups necessary tools to live in a complex and unpredictable world. While we can’t change who they are deep down, we can equip them with much-needed skills to more easily navigate life when they leave us. 

We begin crate training, it’s imperative that we keep crate training sessions brief just for an hour or so. We are still just trying to expose puppies to new situations, at the same time keeping all activities fun, safe, and rewarding for puppies’ mental and emotional development.

Around this time, we start to prepare for puppies to go to their new homes. The first important step of this process is go-home vet clearances, which includes a head-to-toe physical inspection, their first vaccination, microchip, worming and their first puppy groom, pet insurance organising puppy information folders and puppy packs all our puppies leave with lifetime support from us. 

Our breeding program is based of the “Badass breeder program”