Our Puppy raising
First Steps
For the first few weeks of their life, our puppies are isolated from the other dogs and the traffic of the house. Mom and puppies are in a quiet environment while nursing, with slow introductions to the rest of the house as they grow, open their eyes, and start to explore.
ENS and Early Introductions
All puppies follow a basic ENS protocol. As we gauge their reactions, we may choose to introduce more into the mix. This may be smells, different textures under their feet, or unstable surfaces (like a fit disc). Everything is reaction based, and tailored to the individual puppy.
Early Expansion
While still isolated from the other dogs and the rest of the house, the puppies are introduced to new toys, things to climb on, and expanded room to explore. This happens around 2-4 weeks, coinciding with the first weaning steps.
Mid-Expansion
It's a drastic change going from an isolated pen with mom, to weaned & placed into a larger, busier pen. In the 4-5 week area we start with bringing the puppies out into the living room and letting them run loose. They get to experience the house (with adults other than mom away), and then go back to their quiet area to think about it. This helps bridge the two areas with less worry for the puppies.
Full Expansion
Around 5 weeks the puppies move to a much larger & busier pen. At this point they are weaned, with only occasional supplementing from mom, and much busier/curious. This is where we start to introduce a lot of concepts, such as climbing, tugging, crates, integrating with various toys & hanging objects, independence when walking around the house, sitting calmly for treats, recall foundations, and much much more. This seems like a lot, however we keep our puppies until 10 weeks, so this is 5 weeks of exposing and introducing the puppies to as much as possible.
Raising Protocols/Programs
We do get asked a lot: What puppy raising programs or protocols do we follow.
We do a combination. We don't rigorously follow a program such as Puppy Culture or Avid Dog, instead we combine multiple programs: general puppy raising, raising sport/hunting dogs specifically, and raising scent dogs. We find this to be more robust in socializing and exposing our puppies to various things, and setting up future sport dogs for success.
Additional program highlights
Scatters are something we use a lot to release endorphins, dump excess adrenaline, and help ease into a settle - specifically between hard play and bed time. However, sometimes they tip their bowls and make their own!!!
Various fit equipment is rotated through the pens, from pivot bowls to fit bones, klimbs, donuts, and more. This helps teach them confidence as they explore.
Wings and small game birds are introduced around 4-5 weeks. Recently, we started introducing full sized mallards at 8 weeks, a little earlier than we used to. First, they watched mom retrieve one, then getting one themselves. Monkey see, monkey do. We noticed this built a lot of confidence in the puppies that went on to hunting and retriever sport homes.
Impulse control by sitting patiently for a treat is something we start around 6 weeks. Puppy culture calls this "manding", and its a great start. We take it a step further and build in an intro to recall. Shake a bowl of food, puppies come running. Then running to you and sitting patiently. Then running to you from another room, around obstacles, through gates, and sitting patiently. This bridges nicely into foundation recalls.
Self entertainment with appropriate toys is highly praised, the puppies always have a wide variety to choose from.
Snuffle mats are used to introduce basic problem solving to the puppies, and for the same benefits as a scatter.
