How our puppies are raised throughout their stages of development.

 

 

Days 1–2

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During the first days of life, our focus is on supporting mum so she remains healthy, calm, and able to provide constant care for her puppies. Handling is kept to a minimum, with gentle daily weighing to ensure each puppy is gaining weight and thriving.

 

Days 3–13

From day 3, we begin Early Neurological Stimulation (ENS) and Early Scent Introduction (ESI), carried out daily during this critical period of rapid development.

 

Puppies are gently handled each day in a way that supports their growth, always keeping them close to provide comfort and security. We focus on building early trust between humans and puppies, ensuring each experience is positive and reassuring.

 

For the first two weeks, puppies continue to be weighed daily to monitor their health and development.

 

 

Days 14–20

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Around two weeks of age, puppies begin opening their eyes, initially showing a soft grey-blue appearance that gradually clears as their vision develops. While they can see at this stage, their hearing begins slightly later, with ears opening around days 18–20.

 

We continue Early Neurological Stimulation (ENS) and Early Scent Introduction (ESI) through to day 16. From days 18–20, we gently introduce brief, controlled sound exposure to begin early desensitisation to everyday noises.

 

During this period, we also introduce nail trimming and transition to weekly weighing (continuing through to 8 weeks). Puppies receive routine worming at 2, 4, 6, and 8 weeks. Gentle, intentional daily handling remains a priority, always focused on comfort, security, and positive human connection.

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Week 3

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Week 3 marks an exciting stage of development as puppies become more aware of their environment. We introduce a variety of everyday sounds, including music, television, and curated audio exposure, alongside gentle background noise throughout the day.

 

During the Awareness Identification period (22–28 days), puppies naturally focus more on their mother and littermates, supporting healthy social development.

 

We begin introducing safe, novel objects into the whelping area, allowing puppies to explore new textures and shapes at their own pace. This builds confidence and curiosity in a controlled environment.

 

Weaning also begins this week, starting gradually and increasing as puppies adjust. Feeding time becomes an important opportunity to introduce and reinforce our “puppy, puppy, puppy” recall, an early foundation skill we strongly believe can be life-saving.

 

Toilet training is gently introduced, as puppies naturally begin to move away from their sleeping area to eliminate. We support this instinct by providing a designated toileting space close by.

 

Handling becomes more structured during this stage, with the introduction of our 10-step handling exercises. All interactions remain calm, gentle, and positive, helping puppies build trust and confidence with human touch while strengthening early bonding.

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Week 4

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Week 4 marks the beginning of the Socialisation Period (4–12 weeks), one of the most important and exciting stages of puppy development. At this point, puppies’ sight and hearing have significantly improved, and their personalities begin to shine. They become more vocal, more curious, and more physically coordinated as they learn to walk with greater balance and control.

 

This is when puppies truly “come alive.” They begin to engage with their environment, explore independently, and respond to human voices. We allow each puppy to progress at their own pace, never forcing them into situations they are not ready for. Building trust is essential—puppies learn that they are safe, supported, and never pressured.

 

We gradually introduce larger, more open spaces beyond the whelping area, ensuring all new environments and experiences remain safe and predictable.

 

Handling continues daily, with a gentle increase in structure and intensity through our puppy handling exercises. We spend significant time holding and nurturing each puppy, always reinforcing comfort, security, and connection. Our goal is to raise confident, emotionally balanced dogs who see the world as safe, people as kind, and other dogs as friendly.

 

Daily noise exposure also continues, helping puppies build resilience and confidence in everyday environments.

 

Week 5

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In Week 5, we expand puppies’ social experiences by introducing them to new people, helping them build confidence and adaptability with different handlers.

 

Puppies are exposed to a variety of environments both indoors and outdoors, including different surfaces such as grass, pavers, and concrete. This encourages problem-solving, adaptability, and confidence in new settings.

 

We continue all previous foundations, including handling exercises, noise exposure, and recall training.

 

This week also marks the introduction of grooming experiences, including bathing, blow drying, and nail trimming. These early, positive exposures help puppies become comfortable with routine care. Prior to this stage, puppies are gently maintained with sponge baths to ensure cleanliness and comfort.

 

 

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”