How We Raise Our Puppies
If you are looking for what is available in now or in our upcoming litters for standard size you can jump to that page go here or miniature size go here.
The puppies are always raised right here in our home. We never kennel raise any of our puppies at any time. We believe that it is very important for a puppy to be experiencing the sights and sounds of a regular home from the very first time their ears open and they can hear, or their eyes open and they can see. We have raised a litter of puppies in every single room of our house although they are usually raised in our puppy room that is connected to our kitchen. The puppies are handled daily by adults and children alike so they are used to being handled from Day 1. My children adore the puppies and they are used to a lot of love when they come from our house. Not that we have to do much to encourage it but we make a special effort to have our children handle and play with the puppy to encourage early socialization with small children.
Week 1-2:
The puppies are born and we contact everyone on the waitlist to let them know that the puppies have arrived and send pictures. This is always a fun and exciting time!
The first few days are mostly spent eating and sleeping.
Between Day 3-5 the puppies are taken to the vet to have their tails docked and dew claws removed. We dock our poodles tail’s long per AKC standard.
Day 4-16 we start something called Early Neurological Stimulation or ENS. ENS is something that the military created for use in their canine program. It was originally a program called “Bio Sensor” and later became known as the “Super Dog Program” After years of study the military learned that these early neurological stimulation exercises would have a lifelong lasting effect. Their studies confirmed that there are specific time periods early in life when neurological stimulation has optimum results. The first period involves a window of time that begins at the third day of life and lasts until the sixteenth day. Because we do tails and dew claws on day 3-5 we begin ENS the following day after they have been to the vet. It is believed that because this interval of time is a period of rapid neurological growth and development, and therefore is of great importance to the individual. ENS is believed to give dogs a superior advantage by utilizing six different exercise created to stimulate the neurological system. I will take each puppy one at at time and complete each exercise once a day. Each exercise is done for 3-5 seconds each.
ENS Exercises
Tactile stimulation - holding the pup in one hand, I will gently tickle the pup between the toes on any one foot using a Q-tip for 3-5 seconds.
Head held erect - using both hands, I will hold the puppy perpendicular to the ground, (straight up), so that its head is directly above its tail. This is also done for 3-5 seconds.
Head pointed down - holding the pup firmly with both hands the head is reversed and is pointed downward so that it is pointing towards the ground for 3-5 seconds.
Supine position - hold the pup so that its back is resting in the palm of both hands with its muzzle facing the ceiling. The pup while on its back is allowed to sleep. Time of stimulation 3-5 seconds.
Thermal stimulation—Using a damp towel that has been cooled in a refrigerator for at least five minutes I will place the pup on the towel, feet down. I do not restrain it from moving off the towel if it desires to do so. Time of stimulation 3-5 seconds.
These five exercises will produce neurological stimulations, none of which naturally occur during this early period of life. I have found that sometimes pups will resist these exercises, others will appear unconcerned. These exercises gently stress the puppies for very short periods of time to help them learn how to recover quickly from stressful situations which really benefits them later in life. These exercises impact the neurological system by kicking it into action earlier than would be normally expected, the result being an increased capacity that later will help to make the difference in its performance. These exercises do not take the place of routine handling or play with the puppies. This is all done in addition to those things.
ENS has been shown to improve cardio vascular health, or the puppy’s heart rate, stronger heart beats, stronger adrenal glands, more tolerance to stress and greater resistance to disease, they do betting learning situations than puppies that have not had the benefits of ENS. Puppies that have had ENS tend to be more calm in test environments where they were introduced to new situation that could be stressful to them. They made less errors and vocalized their distress less than other puppies that didn’t have ENS.
Week 3-4
The Puppies move from the initial whelping box set up to a bigger weaning pen to give them more room as they start to toddle around on their wobbly feet. This happens between week 3-4 depending on the litter. Some litters start walking around earlier than others. Before they start walking I want to make sure they have a cosy environment where it is easy to find their littermates or mom and snuggle up together.
The Enrichment Effect: Puppies receive an expertly enriched environment, the benefits of which will last a lifetime. This continues every week until puppies leave.
Litter box is added to start the foundations of potty training, reinforcing the need to keep their home clean and that there is an appropriate place to potty. I use a recycled paper pellet dog litter or alfalfa pellets to begin with then when I know that they are not nibbling on it I will switch to pine pellets. Depending on the size of the litter I have several different sized litter boxes that I use.
Since I raise purebred poodles, and grooming is a very significant part of their lives, we start out with baths and blow drying this week. The first trim of their sanitary area will happen in week 3-4 with weekly grooming going forward. I do not trim my puppy’s face and feet as most people prefer the cute teddy bear look as their puppy comes home. If this is something you would like done I would be happy to do this after we know which puppy is yours at week 6.
Week 4-5
If they haven’t already the puppies are moved from the whelping box into a bigger weaning pen where they are given age appropriate toys and enrichment.
Puppies are started on Puppy Mush - This is just dry kibble that has been ground up into powder and then mixed with warm water. This helps out mom so that they aren’t completely depending on her milk although they still nurse as much as mom allows during this time.
We begin crate training this week! We begin crate training with the crates placed in the weaning pen with the doors removed. We place a comfy bed inside the crates to encourage the puppies to pick that spot to sleep.
We continue with baths and blow drying them with our high powered blow dryer. We get them acclimated to a grooming table this week as well. Our goal is that our puppies are totally comfortable with all aspects of grooming when they go to their new homes.
We begin clipping nails with the nail grinder instead of baby nail clippers this week.
Week 6 - 7
Puppies go to the vet this week and get a complete head to toe examination as well as their first set of shots and a dewormer.
This is Puppy Pick Week! Video calls are scheduled and you get to pick out which puppy is going to be yours to take home. I can usually tell you the different personalities of the puppies to help you pick out which one would be the best fit for your family. Sometimes I will have a litter with very similar personalities and it will be hard to tell them apart but there is usually a pack order of leaders and followers
Puppies are given novel objects to play with to continue expanding their curiosity and confidence with enrichment seeking abilities.
If it is nice outside the puppies begin going outside to get used to new sights and sounds.
The puppies are put on a 6 hour feeding schedule. Breakfast at 6am, Lunch at noon, and Dinner at 6pm. The puppies have had access to dry kibble at all times up until now. They like to chew on it as their teeth are coming through. We put them on a feeding schedule to help them transition from our home to yours and to help with potty training.
Baths and grooming continue
Week 8, Transiting to their forever homes
Most of our puppies will be going home as soon as they turn 8 weeks.
We continue to work on being comfortable in the crate. If the puppies are still in our home past 8-10 weeks we begin having them sleep in their crates with the door closed during the night.
The puppies continue with their 6 hour feeding schedule but the water that they have all day is removed at 8pm to make sure they have an empty bladder before going to bed at 10pm.
Baths and grooming continue
Please see the puppy supply list page so see products we recommend and tips to set up your own puppy safe play area.
To reserve your spot on the waitlist to get your own precious bundle of love please go here.