How we raise puppies
Rearing a litter is a full-time job for both of us. So we don’t do it often.
We don’t breed for money. There isn’t much left, given all the expenses of rearing puppies in the way we do. We breed to keep a pup, ourselves.
We know puppies as individuals from birth. We raise them with love. (This is the missing ingredient, with commercial large-scale breeders.)
Our puppies are socialised and introduced to many training concepts with a comprehensive and scientifically-evidenced plan from Puppy Culture and Avidog.
By the time they leave us for new homes, our pups are very well-socialised and their training is precociously advanced.
Until Avidog’s sad demise, we were Avidog Associate Breeders. Whilst Avidog no longer exists, we continue to implement all Avidog protocols and we are fortunate to be able to reach out to Dr Gayle Watkins for advice.
We implement all Puppy Culture protocols, including the optional components.
If you’re not sure what all this is about, take a look below.
These are clips from one of our Labrador litters.
Days 0 - 16
Early Neurological Stimulation or ENS is a prescribed series of secure positions or holds which each puppy experiences, every day. The goal behind this is to provide slight (very manageable) stressors, causing the neurological system to develop optimally. Conventionally ENS was done from day 3-16, but more recent research suggests it might be more beneficial to delay this to day 10-16.
Early Scent Introduction or ESI exposes the puppy to one novel non-food scent each day from days 3-16, for 5 seconds each time. We are careful to include target game scent, here (pheasant, duck, deer, rabbit). This stimulates the early development of the nose and scenting abilities.
Day 0 - 21
One of us sleeps by the whelping box from day 0 - 21. The early days can be challenging in terms of ensuring puppies survive and thrive and this close monitoring is essential.
We observe how frequently each puppy nurses. We rescue pups which get stuck behind guard rails or squashed. And we believe our presence comforts and reassures the mother of the pups.
We proactively put smaller pups on the more productive nipples. We weigh puppies daily to monitor their weight increase and to identify struggling puppies early.
Day 21 - 28
When pups are about 21 days old, they begin to stumble away from their sleeping area to toilet.
We take advantage of this by giving them a different substrate to toilet on. Half the whelping box becomes a sleeping area and the other half is a toilet area. Pups start to learn that there are sleeping places and toilet places.
By the time you take them home, your pup will be almost completely toilet-trained - although you will need to transfer this training to outdoors/indoors.
Day 21 - 28
A new object is introduced to the whelping box for a few hours each day. We aim for a diversity of materials, textures, sounds. The pups are very curious and tend to explore readily. They have not yet reached the first fear period.
Day 28
By 4wks old (day 28), the pups are getting too active for the whelping box. They move to our indoor weaning pen, which takes over a room of our house.
Many breeders would move litters to outside kennels at this age, as it is the messiest time. However, it is very important for socialisation reasons that pups remain within a busy household environment. This is, after all, the best preparation for going to your home.
Along one side of the pen, are the litter trays - giving a clearly defined area for toileting. Every night, the pen is reduced in size so that sleepy pups can get up, toddle away, and go to the toilet - happily in a litter tray. This is entirely random, at first. But it soon becomes a habit to look for the tray. By the age of 8 weeks, they are almost toilet trained.
Crates are always in the pen (doors off) so pups can get used to snoozing in them. Many of our puppies need to travel in crates when they leave us - and crate training your puppy is important to ensure your house remains intact during adolescence!
Day 21 - Week 8+
Our goal is to offer an enriching environment which exposes the pups to a wide array of experiences before they leave us.
This means exposing them to items at different heights, items made of different textures, surfaces which are insecure and wobbly - and more.
This is a rich and enriching environment, for a pup.
Day 21-28
The Barrier Challenge is a Puppy Culture protocol which begins around day 21 and is repeated daily with each pup, until they are successful.
The pup is given a taste of their meal, which is placed on the other side of a barrier. The pup can smell the food but can’t reach it through the barrier. However, the barrier stops just a tiny distance away. If the pup learns to go around the barrier, they will reach the food.
This teaches pups early problem-solving and also the concept of ‘the quickest way to get what you want, is not always the most direct route’. In other words: Don’t just throw yourself at the food - or the bird(!). Control yourself and think, in the presence of reinforcers.
Managing and thinking through frustration and delayed gratification are incredibly important skills for gundogs.
Weeks 5-8
From Week 5, pups spend time during each day in their outside pen (weather dependent). This becomes another location for socialisation.
For space purposes, this can be much bigger than their indoor pen and allows for larger play items like ball pits and tunnels. They are constantly supervised whether indoors or outside.
Weeks 5-8
We teach the puppies a strong ‘default sit’ which Puppy Culture calls ‘manding’. We do this by constantly reinforcing sits and by helping with lures where necessary. We use the clicker to mark the moment the pup sits. Then we deliver the food.
We have sessions individually with each puppy but, after a short while, it is possible to train them together by simply quickly reinforcing any sits that occur.
This is an individual session where I’m capturing any sits that happen and also luring them.
The ‘sit’ is an important behaviour for most gundogs. This is again instilling the concept of self-control in the presence of reinforcers, which is a very important concept.
Often, new owners have trouble with puppies jumping up at them. We teach our puppies to ‘sit to say please’ so that new homes don’t have to deal with this. You will need to continue to reinforce sits, when they are offered.
When we appear at the side of the pen, we are often greeted by lots of sitting puppies instead of frantic scrabbling!
Weeks 6-8
We continue to stimulate the pups with new objects and experiences. Here, some 6 week old pups have great fun with the ball pit. The ball pit gets punctured pretty quickly, but it’s worth it!
Weeks 6-8
We go out at least weekly with the pups to pubs or cafés. Pups do not go down on the ground, but are able to watch from our laps. Sometimes we wear silly clothes, like this hat - to throw in some extra socialisation!
We take a couple of short car trips at 6-8 weeks, usually with a couple of pups at a time. This allows pups to experience riding in a car and the sensation of movement as well as being crated.
Since many of our puppies have to be crated whilst travelling to their new homes (if they fly or travel by ferry for example), it’s important to us to accustom them to both crates and travel as much as possible.
By Week 7, the pups all have a very strong whistle recall. This has been created gradually by blowing their recall whistle before each meal. (We use an Acme 212 but pups quickly adapt to different whistles if new homes use other pitches.)
The pups learn very early that the whistle ‘means’ food. Early learning is very powerful.
New owners will need to uphold this response by continuing to reinforce super-fast recalls with very tasty treats.
Week 7
Week 7.5
At 7.5wks, we hold the Puppy Culture ‘Puppy Party’. At this event, we invite dog-savvy friends and advanced students of Jo’s, to help us out.
The party is held at a village hall. The floor is disinfected and everyone removes shoes before entering.
After we’ve trained the pups, they are tired - and we eat dinner together.
This is also the age we carry out the Puppy Aptitude Assessments, using the Avidog assessment protocol.
We ask a fellow breeder or experienced dog person to assess for us. We use the information to match each pup to the best home for them.
We look for traits including:
Independence versus dependence
People focus versus environmental focus
Natural retrieving ability
Natural pointing ability
Resilience
Recovery from aversive experiences
Response to novelty (people, dogs, locations, objects)
There are no right or wrong results to these tests, since different types of home will have different needs.
Here, multiple training stations are set up for some organised chaos. After one round, there’s a break - then one more round.
Then the pups collapse in a sleepy huddle and the humans eat dinner and socialise.
NB: This video doesn’t use the Avidog assessment protocol because it hadn’t been devised yet. This was the assessment we used prior to Avidog’s.
Week 8+
Sometimes pups need to stay on with us past 8 weeks. This might happen for a variety of reasons, including new owners not being ready or due to pups having to travel abroad and the minimum age for this.
The Puppy Culture protocol runs right up to 16wks, so we continue with this - as we will be with our ‘keeper’ pup at the same time.
Pups will be socialised, crate-trained, toilet-trained and worked with individually throughout this time. They will also attend puppy classes as appropriate.
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