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!
T Last weekend, we removed the whelping box and created a bigger area for Jazz and the pups. This not only allowed more room for Jazz to nurse her growing 11 babes, it allowed for the next steps in their development. The sleep area is half heated still with heating mats and the other half…
Manding is an exercise from Puppy Culture which is the beginning of teaching a Puppy some positive reinforcement with treats as well as beginning social politeness training (specifically, not jumping up and deMANDING attention or treat). The MANDING exercise is often done with a clicker and treat. We don’t do clicker training, so I pair…
This was our last change to give the puppies an exposure to something totally new before they start going home to their humans so we decided to introduce them to my horse, T-Bone. 🙂
Yesterday’s round of bird exposure and first exposure to unfenced area outside of puppy pen. This time we put the kick cage with a live chucker out in our bigger, unfenced side yard and brought out two pups at a time. Our interest was to see their boldness/independence to explore as well as bird interest,…
The following are individual videos on each pup which included a couple temperament activities: come directly when called with enthusiasm/excitement, eye contact while in a “cradle” position, chasing a wing on a string and then one not attached (retrieve), individual boldness at play and interaction without littermates in play area, and being restrained on their…
Manding is an exercise from Puppy Culture which is the beginning of teaching a Puppy some positive reinforcement with treats as well as beginning social politeness training (specifically, not jumping up and deMANDING attention or treat). The MANDING exercise is often done with a clicker and treat. We don’t do clicker training, so I pair…
