Many people have asked , “What do you do with your puppies while they are at your farm?” The following is some of the things I do:
1. I am there at birth and assist if needed but let the mother do her job. All are born in the whelping room (heated or cooled as needed).
2. I start handling the puppies at birth weighing measuring making notes and observations.
3. The puppies smell me second to the mother and in 24 hours I can see that they know my smell as well as the mothers.
4. After the first 48 hours, and depending on the mother, I handle the puppies many times a day. This is continued until they leave here at 8 weeks of age.
5. I expose the puppies to all different kinds of surfaces. So far with the winter ’09 litters: carpet, hay, rubber, wood, towels, smooth dirt, grass short and tall, plastic, concrete , gravel, leaves , water, and snow.
6. I have 5 grown dogs here, including the mothers, and one 15 week old puppy, horses, a gator, trucks, lawn mower, leaf blower, ducks, friends, children.
7. I teach the puppies to come and the word “no” and what no means!
8. They live outside weather permitting and inside the whelping room or my home depending on the weather.
9. I spend each and ever day with the puppies playing.
10. At 4, 6 ,7, and 8 weeks of age I test the puppies on ducks for herding, prey drive, fear and how they handle fear.
11. They are brushed weekly, nails trimmed starting at 2 weeks, and wormed every two weeks starting at 2 weeks of age.
12. These puppies started wanting to eat kibble at 2 weeks so they were fed a mash with goats milk and water and graduated up to kibble at 4 weeks. If it is real cold, I still treat them to hot broth over the kibble.
This is only part of the list ….I will be happy to answer your questions about what I do and why …Kay
