RAISED WITH PUPPY CULTURE

Puppy Culture is a program developed by Jane Killion, professional dog trainer and breeder. It is a comprehensive organized program for breeders to follow during the first weeks of a puppy’s life. The first 12 weeks of a puppy’s life are incredibly important. This is an almost magical time when a breeder has the power to change the outcome of a puppy’s life by what we choose to teach him. By doing just the right things at just the right time, we can give your puppy the best start possible.

Prenatal Period:

Making sure that your puppy’s genetic material is excellent is only the beginning. The physical and emotional health of the mother will affect the health of her puppies. Since research has shown that puppies born to mothers that receive prenatal massage are more docile and enjoy being touched, we spoil our mothers with lots of affection and belly massages. A puppy’s predisposition to form deep and meaningful relationships begins even before they are born. 

Neonatal Period: 0-14 days

Early Neurological Stimulation (ENS) begins on day 3 and continues through day 16. Research shows that tiny struggles and stresses in appropriate small doses are actually good for puppies and will help them grow into strong, healthy well-adjusted adults. Benefits include greater tolerance to stress, greater resistance to disease, faster adrenal system, stronger heart rate and stronger heartbeat. This is a gift that a breeder can only give their puppies once during the window of 3-16 days.

Transitional Period: 14-21 days

Behavioral markers are used to identify the beginning and end of each developmental period because every puppy is different and these timelines are simply guidelines. The transitional period begins when the puppy’s eyes open and ends when they first startle upon hearing sounds. 

Critical Socialization Period: 3-12 weeks

Most people think of socialization as exposing their puppies to as many new experiences as possible while the puppy is young. While this is part of the process, it’s not enough. Our goal is to raise dogs that have the emotional intelligence to connect with you. Emotional intelligence can be taught to young puppies and one of the goals of the Puppy Culture Program is to teach breeders how to do this. 

There are 7 key things that will nurture the emotional intelligence of a puppy. 

1. Communication – giving a puppy his own voice through the use of training and teaching manding. Manding is sitting, instead of jumping up, when a puppy wants something.
2. Emotional stability – the ability to recover easily from fear, as well as stress, through startle recovery and barrier challenges. 
3. Habituation – familiarity with the maximum number of things (puppy parties, sound protocols, habituation to noises, meeting different people, dogs, and other animals).
4. Enrichment – the view that novelty and challenges are opportunities for enrichment rather than things to be feared or avoided.
5. Health – physical wellness and motor skills that will allow the puppy to develop in a neurologically and physically sound way. This also includes twice daily weight checks, early grooming routines, and excellent nutrition. Grooming routines with nail trims and brushing preparing puppies for a future of regular brushing, haircuts, and nail trims. 
6. Skills – learned behaviors which allow him to function in human society (recall, manding, simple commands, litterbox training, crate training, resource guarding).
7. Love – the desire to seek out the company of both dogs and humans as emotionally positive experiences (shaping emotional responses, Happy and Calm CER (Conditioned Emotional Responses), daily cuddles with humans and mom).

Weeks 9-12: Puppies go home to their families

This gives them three weeks in that critical socialization period to adjust to their new family’s lifestyle and be introduced to new people and experiences. 

This is definitely an incredible amount of work, but it is 100% worth it! When you adopt your puppy, you will be just as thankful as we are for this program!

Early Scent Introduction (ESI)

Early Scent Introduction (ESI) is a procedure we do that helps puppies with their nose awareness and confidence. It enhances their ability to identify and react to scents. Similar to Early Neurological Stimulation, ESI is introduced at days 3-16 of a puppies life and is very beneficial for their development.

During this curriculum, we expose them to a different scent each day. As we do this, we hold the puppy close to us, and let them smell each item. After this we then chart their reaction on their neonatal care chart. The reaction is considered to be positive when the puppy shows interest in the scent, moving his/her nose towards it. A negative reaction is recorded when the puppy tries to move away from the scent. If a puppy is neither interested or uninterested in the scent, this is considered a neutral reaction.

What are the benefits?

This procedure creates a more aware and alert dog, which in return makes an even better companion, service, and therapy dog. Many times with therapy and early service dog training, the dog’s scent abilities are a characteristic that is required. Studies have shown that stimulating puppies scent ability early on has been proven to dramatically increase their scent ability later in life. 

Our approach is not just about creating puppies, it's about fostering a new generation of well-loved, healthy, happy family members.