Early Development
The first twelve weeks of a puppy’s life are critical in their development; behaviorally, physically, and socially.
We are gifted with this time and take full advantage of this opportunity!
We provide each puppy with the love, socialization, nutrition and training that will make them the best dog they can be.
Our pups are delivered in our bedroom, grow up in our living room and are the center of our full, happy family life. We feed our dam highly nutritious food and keep her healthy, happy and active so her pups get the best start nutritionally. Her diet includes wild caught salmon, farm fresh eggs, wild venison, and TLC Whole Life dog food. The puppies are weaned onto raw fresh goat milk and raw venison. Starting on a raw food diet builds a foundation for a healthy and diverse gut biome and decreases development of allergies. As they grow, probiotic rich fruits and vegetables and mineral dense ingredients such as kelp powder are added to their diet. If their new family plans to feed them kibble, they will be transitioned to TLC's high quality puppy food, otherwise they can continue feeding a raw food diet.
A puppy's capacity for learning during the first 12 weeks is unparalleled. We take advantage of this time and expose them to novel stimuli and experiences, provide opportunities for problem solving and exploring, teach them how to communicate, and litter train them. We train our pups using the Puppy Culture protocol and have seen wonderful progress in their learning and development. They pick up skills quickly and seem to learn intuitively.
We have lots of playtime for the pups to run, wrestle and play, both indoors and out, to facilitate strong and coordinated bodies, as well as healthy social interactions with each other, us, and the other dogs.
We have an active home with wild and free boys, so the puppies are exposed to lots of noise, including target practice in the back yard, firecrackers, wrestling and carrying on, stop motion sound effects, and general mayhem. They've been exposed to all the normal family sounds such as blenders, vacuums, food mill, etc., along with outdoor sounds like cars, tractors, trains, airplanes, power tools, dogs barking, etc. They're also accustomed to the piano and classical music. These pups are not easily phased, and if something does startle them, they recover quickly and move on. In addition, the pups get brushed, bathed and nails trimmed on a regular basis so that they are used to being groomed. They are all up to date on vaccinations, have been checked by a vet, and are microchipped.
We strive to form a strong foundation in each pup for learning, loving and living a long, happy, healthy life as an integral part of your family.
Early Neurological Stimulation
We want to help your pup be the best it can be, so each of our puppies receives Early Neurological Stimulation (ENS) from three to sixteen days of age. Mild stressors are introduced in a gentle, controlled manner to stimulate the neurological system using five simple, harmless exercises. This program was developed by Dr. Carmen Battaglia, an AKC breeder, judge and presenter. The US Military adopted the program to improve the performance of future military working dogs. The lifelong benefits of this well researched method include 1) improved cardiovascular performance, 2) stronger heart beats, 3) stronger adrenal glands, 4) more tolerance to stress, and 5) greater resistance to disease. ENS stimulated pups show greater performance in problem-solving, exploratory skills, learning, and performance potential.
For more information check out this video by Breeding Better Dogs.
