How We Raise Our puppies
Holistic Puppy Raising
- Dew Claws intact - http://www.mcrehabilitation.com/blog/the-function-of-dewclaws-101
- Puppies weaned on a raw food diet.
If you plan on feeding kibble at home, that is fine and we can work to set the puppy up for a kibble diet. - No vaccinations or deworming while in our household. We follow the Dr. Jean Dodds Vaccine Protocol.
- Owners should vaccinate their own puppies at 10-12 weeks and 14-16 weeks as this is when the maternal antibodies have faded. Titer test the dog throughout it's life to verify if more vaccinations are needed.
-Please see this link for more details and specifc recommended vaccinations:https://www.animalhealthfoundation.org/blog/2017/12/dr-jean-dodds-dog-vaccine-protocol/
- Fecal samples are performed at 4, 7, and 10 weeks to check for worms. If there are worms present, then the entire litter will be dewormed.
- If you personally would like your puppy to be vaccinated, we can arrange for that to happen on an individual basis.
- House is free of toxins. Everything is cleaned with non-toxic disinfectants.
We have a wonderful vet in Fort Worth that we work with who supports this method of puppy raising.
Leerburg is a well-known kennel that has raised hundreds of puppies. In the breeders experience, less interfering with the puppies is better.
What this doesn’t mean: our puppies are neglected. In fact, its quite the opposite because I put more care and diligence into preventing the issues from happening instead of just throwing medicine at the puppies to “fix” the issue. We are very very careful with the puppies and preventing parvo and other dieseases from being brought into our house. Because we perform fecals, we know for sure if our puppies have worms or not instead of just giving them medicine and hoping they don’t. We also take all our dogs into the vet for proper treatments when issues arise. When dogs have had accidental injuries (like Lu jumping at the fence and hurting her toenail) we still take them in and get them on antibiotics. If any puppy was to be sick, straight to the vet we would go. All our puppies go home with a vet check.
Puppy Culture and ENS
Early Neurological Stimulation:
Dogs that receive ENS as puppies have:
- Stronger adrenal glands
- Higher stress tolerance
- Greater resistance to disease
- Stronger heart beats
- Improved cardiovascular performance
The five exercises of Early Neurological Stimulation are conducted for 3-5 seconds each. These exercises are listed below.
- Head held erect
- Head pointed down
- Tactile stimulation
- Supine position
- Thermal stimulation
Puppy Culture:
Puppy Culture is a socialization and training program specifically developed for puppies from birth through the end of their critical socialization period, with age appropriate protocols and lessons laid out in an organized format.
https://shoppuppyculture.com/pages/what-is-puppy-culture#:~:text=On%20the%20top%20level%2C%20Puppy,out%20in%20an%20organized%20format.
Early Scent Introduction
We begin introducing new scents to the puppies starting on day 3.
Scent is the way puppies experience the world. Introducing natural scents early on can help:
- Introduce puppies to new scents in a controlled way.
- Improves scenting ability in later life.
- Enhances confidence and stability as adults.
- Reduce behavioural issues in the long term
Research has shown that when puppies are exposed to scent at this early age, they have an association and a recognition towards that specific scent.
https://www.avidog.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/Avidog-Baby-Noses-Transcript.pdf
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