 | | We feed high quality dog food. Our preference is for Diamond Natural Large Breed Lamb & |
| | Rice Puppy food. This is given to the mother for several weeks prior to breeding and through
gestation. It is also what we use once the puppies reach solid food age.
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| | Our puppies are born where the mother is most comfortable, next to my wife's side of the bed |
| | in our master bedroom. This “normal” area eliminates stress on the mom which is proven to have a
negative effect on puppies.
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| | Puppies are raised in our home. For the first 3 weeks the pups are kept in the basement in a |
| | secluded “den”. Mom can go to be with her pups as much as she likes, she can also spend time
away with the family upstairs. Pups are stimulated daily, but careful attention is paid to not
over stimulate them. By 3 weeks the puppies have gained their sight and hearing and they are
moved to either the kitchen or, depending on the season, our back porch. (Since we live on a
farm, the back porch sees a lot more traffic than any other door in our house.) Being raised in
the house allows them to become accustomed to household noises and the constant movement of
people and other pets which will be a part of their lives. Living in our family area also provides
socialization opportunities that would be lost if they were raised elsewhere. "Socialization is
the key to the puppies development. A puppy that has no human contact, but lives only with the
litter for its first twelve weeks, cannot be trained to be more than a companion. If the litter
lives isolated for the first sixteen weeks, the puppy can accept no training from man." (per
Richard Wolters, noted retriever training author) So, our recommendation is, don't buy any
puppy that has been raised in a kennel or a garage with minimal human contact.
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| | My wife is a work at home mom and our children are home schooled. Given that, our pups are |
| | allowed to go out doors a dozen times each day for play and exercise. This exposes them to all
the sights and sounds a farm has to offer, it also begins to give them the idea that outdoors is
the proper place to do their bathroom business. We’ve had many customers tell us that our pups
were so easy to house train, we must be doing something right. We are not really attempting to
house train specifically, we are just trying to minimize the messes that need to be cleaned up.
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| | I’ve been studying Early Neurological Stimulation in animals and was amused to find that except |
| | for the cold washcloth, we were basically already performing the requirements. This stimulation
is said to better enable them to handle stress as an adult. Read about Early Neurological
Stimulation HERE. (I don’t think we are going to add the cold washcloth, we are getting good
results and I’m hesitant to go experimenting.)
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| | Our pups are sent home with a small towel that has their litter mates' and mom's scents on it. |
| | This helps the transition when placed in the puppies crate to comfort them during the first few
nights in their new home.
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| | We begin crate training early in the puppies’ life. This starts out with doors left open and the |
| | puppies just naturally all pile into one crate to sleep. We encourage owners to drop off their
crate so the pup can be exposed to it.
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| | Our puppies are temperament tested but informally. We've given up attempting to use the |
| | Volhard Puppy Aptitude Test. Our litters tend to be very uniform with little variance between
top and bottom. For the test to be valid it should be done on the 7th week, generally by this
time all our pups have long been sold. Since these puppies live in our home, we can tell you which
ones have character traits you might want without a formal test. It doesn’t take much experience
and just a bit of careful observation tells us which pup is the most aggressive well before their
eyes are open. Other traits are easily discovered during the care and handling of the puppies as
they grow.
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| | Puppies receive age-appropriate vaccinations (beginning at 6 weeks of age) and are fecal tested |
| | and wormed as needed.
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| | Puppies remain with us until they reach 8 weeks of age. The reason we will not release a puppy |
| | sooner than 8 weeks is for your benefit. Most purchasers' would like to have them sooner and
some worry about bonding. (Don't be concerned with bonding, animal behaviourists know you
have till 16 weeks to get that done) Our concern is that the mom must have enough time to fully
wean her puppies. During this time she teaches them lessons only she is able to. Puppies who are
fully weaned by their mothers learn not to bite, Mom does not tolerate biting/mouthing puppies
as humans do. Letting her teach them not to nip and bite saves you work. Secondly, they learn
patience and self control. Mom teaches them that she is not always available. She will pounce on
them quite forcefully to make them understand if needed, they learn they don't always get what
they want when they want it. As a result they learn a third lesson: submission and humility, after
Mom puts them in their place and chews on them a little bit, they quickly learn to lie down and
show their belly when the Alpha dog speaks. This makes for a much more pleasant dog for you.
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| | Each puppy family is given general puppy care information, and enough food to either transition |
| | to your own quality food or to allow enough time for you to purchase some of our brand.
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