Three weeks old and all kinds of stuff is happening in the Puppy Nursery.
This is the first in a series of sound habituations that expose 3-4 week old puppies to sounds that are known to cause anxiety in dogs later in life. Exposure to these sounds during this crucial 3-4 week period (and then continued periodically during the next several weeks) significantly the maturing pup avoid anxiety during these events as it matures. FYI: Not an actual window, just a big screen with YouTuBe channel .
Sound Habituation continues with young 3 weeks puppies to habituate them to sounds that tend to cause anxiety in dogs. This early exposure does have significant results in diminishing this type of anxiety for dogs as they mature. Today is an introduction to Fireworks played on a large screen TV. It starts at a low volume. If puppies show no fright or stress, then volume is increased slightly. This is played for about 1 hour 2x a day. Volume then increased tomorrow.Expanded Puppy Pen includes low ramp and extended potty areaYellow boy and Lime girl using new potty areaFirst experience with Puppy food gruelYummy Gruel
We also have been exposing puppies to loud sudden sounds to test their “startle & recovery” response.(Hopefully, I can remember to video when we do it tomorrow!) Each day, a new sudden loud sound is done 3x consecutively about twice a day (usually in morning and then after dinner). We started with just a loud hand clap, then a loud rattle of their pen, and today a wooden spoon against a pan. All our doing great. Some don’t even startle by the 2 or 3rd “bang”, and even when startled, all recover immediately and do not demonstrated any true fear and anxiety. This is a great sign!
Videos taken over last couple of days, some from our Puppy Cam: The puppies definitely enjoy playing each other (well…wrestling, tackling, biting each other’s noses and ears), along with any new fun toys that have showed up in the play area.
As we are getting really near to due date, an x-ray was completed to get a more accurate count of expected puppies. Well…vet counted 11. Let the fun begin. Oh, my!
Learning to lap up (or bathe in?) puppy formula. Pink and Teal girls with a little after lunch play time. Red girl and Orange boy planning an escape with Yellow boy waiting to see how that goes down. Blue Boy and his cute little butt heading to the sleep nest for a nap. But whoops……
We were able to get MUCH better lighting today and, even though puppies will be puppies, most are not tooooo blurry. We also included a picture of the beautiful color they are really developing already on their torsos. Just a beautiful bunch of babies for your Easter Sunday viewing! Pictured in their birth order… Blue…
