Visitors! And Socialization, and Fear Periods

 I think everyone has heard how important it is to socialize puppies.  But not everyone understands what that means.  Sure, it includes exposing the puppy to lots of new experiences: new people, new animals (including other dogs), new places, etc.

But what's even more important is that those experiences must be positive. In other words, if the puppy isn't having fun then you're not going to get the result you hoped for.  You may even trigger a fear response that will undo a lot of the work you've put into socializing the pup.

This is complicated by the onset of what is called "fear periods".  A fear period is a developmentally NORMAL process for puppies, during which they may have a heightened fear response to new experiences.  Sometimes they even become afraid of something they weren't afraid of previously.

The difficulty is that fear periods don't happen at the same time for every dog, nor do they always last the same amount of time.  Typically, pups go through a fear period sometime between 8 - 11 weeks, and again later, between 6 to 14 months.

The fear period doesn't last that entire time, these are just typical ranges for when it might happen.  The fear period itself might only last a few days, or sometimes a week or more.   Often, the owner doesn't even know that their puppy is going through/has gone through a fear period, if during that time the puppy isn't exposed to something it finds threatening.

But this doesn't mean you should just leave your pup at home, and isolate him in case he's going through a fear period!!  Far from it - you always want to keep socializing the puppy.  But if you find that he's suddenly acting scared of something that didn't bother him before - or if he seems scared or hesitant about something new - the rule is NEVER FORCE THE PUPPY TO APPROACH SOMETHING HE'S AFRAID OF.  Give him space, and encouragement sure - but never force him.  If after a few minutes he wants to approach the scary thing that's fantastic, and he should get an award (always keep treats in your pocket when you're with your puppy).  But if he doesn't, that's OK.  Try again another day. 

But back to our pups, and the visitors they've had.  We are having the pups meet as many different people as possible, different ages etc.  No puppy is ever forced to interact with anyone, but generally if the visitor gets on the ground then the pups are all over them.

Pups got tired out!!

Grateful for small (or in this case, large) things

We had our kitchen totally remodeled 3 years ago, and it's been great.  But back then, when we requested a large sink, we were not thinking of washing giant puppy feeding bowls.

But it's worked out great! :-)

 

Litterbox training

 All dogs have a strong instinct not to soil their sleeping area, whether it be a den, a crate or a comfy bed.  This is what makes it possible to housetrain our dogs - the trick is to teach them that the concept of "sleeping area" includes the entire indoor space.

This can start quite early.  The main thing is to keep the puppies and their area as clean as possible.  As you might expect, puppies who have to live in filth quickly lose the impulse to keep their sleeping area clean.

The first evidence of this behavior starts very early, before the puppies' eyes are even open.  As soon as they are able to void their bladder and bowels independently, after nursing they will turn and toddle a few inches away to relieve themselves.  At this age the mother is still cleaning them, but sometimes she has to stretch a bit to reach them!

At this point we can put a pee pad of some sort a few inches away from the mom.  This makes it easier to clean up anything the mother dog misses.

After the pups' eyes open and they start walking better, we put out more pee pads.  Since we planned to use pine shavings for our litter boxes, at this time we sprinkled a few shavings on the pee pads to get the puppies accustomed to the smell and feel of them.

The next step is some sort of container for the shavings.  At first, something like a crate pan works very well. The main thing is the litter pan/area needs to be very, very easily accessible to the pups, and also close enough that when they are toddling away to potty they "accidentally" find themselves in it.  

As the pups get more mobile, the litter area can be moved a little farther away.

We then started using plastic wading pools for the litter boxes - one side cut down so the pups can easily get in, but the sides of the pool really help contain the litter.

Here they have 2 crate pans with shavings nearly surrounding their sleeping area - "next door"
 is a play area with another litter box.

The pups are now 5 1/2 weeks old, and are almost 100% consistent with using the litter boxes!  Since this is such a big litter, they have 2 potty areas, at either end of their play area.  Their sleeping areas area still near the litter boxes, since the first thing they have to do when the wake up is pee.

 

The next step will be to start getting them used to sleeping in crates, and going potty outside!  More on that later.

3.5 week photo session

 We had some friends come to visit the pups, and they helped us get some pictures!

 

 

Black collar boy

 

Blue collar boy

 

 

Green collar boy

 

Grey collar girl

 

Hot pink girl

 

Light blue collar boy

 

Lilac collar girl

 

Lime collar boy

 

Pink collar girl

 

Purple collar girl

 

Red collar boy

 

Yellow collar girl

The different colored collars are so we can tell them apart!!  This is a very consistent litter, which is nice but we need all the help we can get to tell who is who!

It's a tough job...

 I've been talking a lot about how difficult it is to care for a large litter of puppies (for that matter, smaller litters are a ton of work too!).  Worry, sleep deprivation, aching back... but there are definite upsides!!

Like getting to cuddle puppies every day.

2.5 week old blue collar boy checking out Ronnie's beard.

Early Neurological Stimulation

 ... also known as "E.N.S.".  This is a well-researched and documented method of introducing TINY, and very well controlled amounts of stress to neonate puppies.  This has been researched for 20+ years, and has been demonstrated to result in adults who tolerate stress better, and have healthier immune systems, etc.  

The process is very well standardized.  Starting at 3 days of age, and progressing until Day 16, the following 5 things are done to the puppies.  Each of these things subject the puppy to a small amount of stress, since they are not experiences a puppy would normally have. Each stressor is applied for 3 to 5 seconds, and if a puppy becomes distressed the stimulus is cut short, and the puppy is soothed.  The purpose is NOT to frighten the pups, in fact lots of the time they barely react.  More is not better - the amount of stress applied is very small.  And if a puppy is ill, or is under some other kind of stress the ENS is not done.  Again, more is not better!

With this litter, we started the ENS on Day 3 as planned, but then when they all began developing diarrhea a few days later (see the "Challenges" post) we stopped until the diarrhea was cleared up.  Not only is diarrhea hard on baby puppies, but they were also getting a lot of extra, unusual handling during this time anyway (being dosed with Clavamox, getting baths pretty much daily, etc).

But then we were able to resume the ENS and proceeded until they were 16 days old.

This is what it looks like:

1) Tactile stimulation.  A cotton swab is rubbed gently between the toes of one foot for 3 - 5 seconds.

2) Head up.  The puppy is held in an upright position for 3 - 5 seconds.

3) Head down.  The puppy is well supported in a head down position for 3 - 5 seconds.

4) Supine.  The puppy is held on its back for 3-5 seconds.    

If the puppy starts to struggle, the handler can stroke it to soothe it.  The puppy isn't allowed to flail or panic - if stroking doesn't calm them, the action is stopped.

5) Thermal stimulation. The puppy is placed on a damp, cold washcloth for 3 - 5 seconds.

The puppy is not restrained, and is allowed to crawl off the cloth if they want.  Usually they just stand up like "Wow"!  This is the one you usually get the most reaction from.