Month: February 2025

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Four Weeks Old Today, How Time Flies

It is hard to believe that our puppies are already four weeks old. They have progressed so much in such a short time.

A lot has happened this past week! The puppies’ milk teeth have erupted, their hind legs have become stronger, and their awake time has gradually increased. The puppies still sleep much of the day, but when awake, they love socializing with their littermates through play.

Starting to Wean

Orange collar boy showing off his new teeth
Now that the puppies’ milk teeth have erupted, it is time to start weaning and introduce solids. Piper started nursing in the standing position. It is so cute watching the puppies try to balance on their hind legs to nurse.
Piper has a large litter and has done a fantastic job feeding all her babies. On Monday, I decided to help her by starting the puppies on a formula supplement. The puppies happily lapped up the milk and soon be ready to begin eating puppy food. 

Time to Begin Potty Training

The puppies have been using a washable potty pad in their whelping box this week. On Monday, we enlarged their whelping box with the potty box extension. This addition has litter boxes filled with pine pellets. We have raised our puppies using this method for several years. 

Puppies must learn that they cannot “go” anywhere. We teach them that “there is an acceptable place to go potty.” Teaching them this at a young age will prevent them from developing bad habits that later need to be broken. This effort will benefit forever families by making housebreaking easier for them when they go to their forever homes.

 

Checking Things Out

The puppies were curious about the new area. They poked their heads in and smelled the pellets, but none ventured in.

Adorable Babies

A look back at week four

Looking Ahead to Week Five

  • Move to the main floor
  • Puppies will continue learning to use the potty area
  • Start on puppy food
  • Awake time will increase as the puppies socialize with each other through play 
  • Introduce toys
  • Mama will add the invaluable teaching phase to her caring & protecting responsibilities over the next weeks.

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Pipper’s Three Week Old Puppies Are Adorable

Pipers’ adorable puppies are now three weeks old and have progressed rapidly this week. Not only do they continue to gain weight and grow bigger with each passing day, but their eyes have fully opened, and their vision is improving. Also, the puppies’ ears have opened and are beginning to hear and react to sound. 

The puppies are more aware of their surroundings and have begun to play with each other during their short “awake” periods. During this time, they become quite noisy as they practice vocalizing. However, they still sleep much of the day and night.

Puppy Culture

This week the puppies were in the Transitional Period. We continued our ENS exercises which cause tiny stresses to benefit our puppies with greater tolerance to stress, greater resistance to disease, faster adrenal system, stronger heart rate and stronger heartbeat. Friday was Day 16 of the puppies life and the final day for our ENS exercises.

Critical Socialization Period (weeks 3 – 12)

The next period for Piper’s puppies is the Critical Socialization Period. We know that puppies have entered into this period when the react to sounds. We raise our puppies following many of the Puppy Culture protocols. These protocols helps us reach our goal “To Raise Healthy, Calm, Confident, Well-Adjusted Puppies“.

Over the remaining weeks we will be working on new experiences for the puppies by exposing them to as many new experiences as possible in order to raise the best possible companion for their forever families.

Emotional Intelligence 

Because Goldendoodles are companion dogs, it is important to teach emotional intelligence from young puppies and start them on a great beginning. With this intention we follow 7 key things that will nurture the emotional intelligence of a puppy.

  1. Communication – giving a puppy his own voice i.e. Communication Trinity: power up clicker, box game, manding and attention/distraction protocols
  2. Emotional stability – the ability to recover easily from fear as well as stress i.e., startle recovery, barrier challenges etc
  3. Habituation – familiarize the puppies with the maximum number of things during their Critical Development Period. In particular, Puppy Parties, sound protocols, household noises as well as meeting different people and dogs.
  4. Enrichment – teach the puppies that novelty and challenges are opportunities for enrichment not things to be feared or avoided. For example, ongoing introduction of new novelty items, activity centre, car ride, outdoors, etc.
  5. Health – physical wellness and motor skills that will allow the puppy to develop in a neurologically and physically sound way . For instance, daily weight checks, grooming, proper nutrition, fecal checks, and deworming, if necessary, vet health checks and vaccinations)
  6. Skills – learned behaviors which teach the puppy to function in human society i.e. recall, manding, simple commands, potty box training, crate introduction, resource guarding, bite inhibition etc.
  7. Love – teach puppies to seek out the company of both dogs and humans as emotionally positive experiences: i.e., Daily cuddles with humans and puppy’s mom.
  8. Shaping emotional responses: happy and calm CER (Conditioned Emotional Responses). For instance, treats and encouragement during puppy training.

Changes to the Whepping Box

  • Now that the puppies can void on their own, they have an instinct to move away from their sleep area to go potty. To encourage the puppies to “go in one spot, “ we have divided the whelping box into a sleep/play area and a potty area with the addition of bolster beds and washable potty pad
  • Notice the “wet spots” on the potty pad – it shows the puppies are making significant progress. 
  • The next step in potty training is to expand the whelping box with the Potty Box Addition. The puppies are not quite ready to climb through the door and into the new section, but they progress quickly and will soon be able to master this. 
  • This is when we begin using litter boxes with pine pellets.
Watch Grey collar boy using the potty mat. He woke up and walked over – yeah, such a smart boy!

The Puppies Get A Visit

Tuesday, Nash came to visit the puppies. Soon after, Piper stepped in and warned him he was too close.

Over the next couple of weeks we will introduce our adult dogs to Piper’s puppies.

Puppies at play

This week, the puppies have become more aware of their surroundings. The video shows them interacting with their littermates.

They wake for a short time, play and go back to sleep.

Look at Piper’s Three Week Old Puppies

In this video we show each puppy and their markings.

  • Most of the litter, as all Goldendoodles, will experience clearing (lightning) as they age. We can see this beginning when the puppies are around five weeks old.
  • Please take a look at the FAQ tab on our website. The clearing process is explained there, along with pictures showing the progression of the puppy’s clearing from birth to adulthood. 
Correction: 😬😂 These are Piper’s puppies (not Willow’s as I mistakenly credited at the end of thie video)

Looking Ahead to Week Four

  • Puppies will still sleep much of the day/night as they continue to grow rapidly
  • Interact with littermates through play which will help develop important social skills
  • Whelping box will expand with the introduction of litter box
  • Becoming steadier on their feet
  • Practicing walking on all fours strengthens their hind legs
  • Hearing will improve 
  • Puppy milk teeth will erupt
  • Puppies will be moving to the main floor towards the end of the week
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Puppies Are Now Two Weeks Old

2 -week old puppy huddle

Wonderful Mama Piper

AMAZING MAMA

Piper continues to be a wonderful, attentive mama. She now enjoys extended time away from her puppies to play outside with a couple of our dogs. Piper loves to come back in to cuddle with me on the sofa.

It is incredible how mama dogs gradually begin letting go of their puppies. When they are eight weeks old, she knows her puppies are ready for their lives and happily says goodbye. But for now, she has lots of caring and teaching ahead of her.

After an extended break, Piper returns to the whelping room to check on her puppies.

Daily Cleaning

As we stated before, newborn puppies are susceptible to disease. For this reason, we must keep their area clean. We put the puppies in the basket when we clean and disinfect their whelping box.

Disinfectant
Puppies in basket while we clean their whelping box
Piper is waiting for her babies to return

Vet Bedding

In addition to the daily cleaning, we will replace the Vet Bedding when needed, sometimes twice daily. As you can imagine, this makes for a lot of laundry.

What is Vet Bedding? At first glance, you may think it is sheepskin. It is a manmade version of a sheepskin. It’s made from artificial fibres and has two sections: first, an underlying mesh, similar to the “skin” part of a sheepskin, and second, the comfy, soft, springy artificial fleece part that is attached to the mesh.

Vet Bedding is a costly investment, but when we began our breeding program without reservation, we knew we needed to provide our puppies with the best. Undeniably, vet bedding provides excellent traction for our puppies and keeps them warm and dry. Proper traction while nursing, moving around the whelping box, and learning to walk is important, as this traction protects the puppies’ growing joints.

Notice the puppies’ feet while they nurse. The vet bedding provides traction. Without this traction, they would slip, which would cause undue stress on their developing joints.

Puppy Twitch

While watching the video below, notice the small movements made while the puppies sleep. (Note that the video plays at two times the speed) These movements are called “Puppy Twitches” and are signs of a healthy puppy.

Why do puppies twitch?

A quote from the Puppy Culture Program we follow while raising our puppies explains Puppy Twitches.

“This twitching actually has a functional purpose – “activated sleep” helps build muscle and form the connections that will allow the puppies to develop motor coordination. This is why twitching is a key indicator that the puppy is healthy and developing normally.”

Puppy Culture

Milestones

When raising puppies, we watch for Milestones to gauge their progress. This week, Piper’s puppies reached two milestones.

Weigh-In

The puppies’ first milestone this week was doubling their birth weight. We unquestionably pay close attention to this milestone because when a puppy isn’t gaining enough weight, it indicates a problem.

Grey Collar Boy was this litter’s first puppy to double his birth weight on Day 10. Over the next four days, the rest of the litter also doubled their birth weight. Good job, Piper.

Eyes Opened

Another milestone was reached later in the week—eye-opening. The puppies’ eyes opened between Day 10 and Day 14. Our Black Collar Boy was the first puppy to open his eyes on Day 10. Soon after, and day by day, the rest of the puppies’ eyes opened too! So exciting!

Notice the progression of Black Collar Boys’ eyes opening over a five-day period. The eyes start to unseal at the inner corner and continue over several days.

Day 10
Day 11
Day 12
Day 13
Day 12

Socialization

In addition to handling the puppies on my part through daily cuddles and ESN exercises, our grandchildren also provide this interaction with the puppies. They love to hold and cuddle the puppies. At first, it was just the watching stage until we felt Piper was comfortable with everyone. Then, they got to hold the puppies. 

Transitional Period

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 them. By doing the right things at the right time, we can give your puppy the best start possible.

Piper’s puppies are now two weeks old and have entered the Transitional Period from day 14 – 21. Each litter is different and enters the next period, The Critical Socialization Period, when the puppies “first startle” at a sound.

A look back at the puppies’ second week 🥰

Newborn puppies eat, sleep, and repeat. The puppies spend ninety percent of their time sleeping.

Looking Ahead to Week Three

  • ENS exercises will continue until day 16
  • Puppies will continue to eat and sleep most of their day
  • Sight will become clearer
  • Ears will open and they will begin to hear.
  • Puppies will practice walking on all fours, strengthening their hind legs
  • They will become more aware of their littermates and start to interact
  • Puppies will start to vocalize

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Piper’s Adorable Puppies are already Week One Old

One week old already….It is hard to believe that seven days have passed since Piper’s babies arrived. We have had a busy week because raising newborn puppies is a 24/7 job. 

Whelping Day

It was a long night of Piper being restless. I drifted in and out of sleep, checking on Piper. When morning came, Piper went out for a potty break and rested calmly on the couch with me. She wanted outside again, but this time, she went under our deck stairs in the yard and wouldn’t come when called. I put my coat and boots on and headed out to coax her. But no luck, she refused to come out. I finally attached the leash to her collar and, with great effort on my part, pulled her out. 

Piper was now very dirty from digging, and I was exhausted. The plan was to put Piper in the whelping box while I recovered with my first cup of coffee. Then, I would take Piper in the shower to clean her off.  I had coffee with my daughter, and thirty minutes later, at 9:45 am, we headed upstairs to check on Piper.

Part-way up the stairs, my daughter said, “I hear puppy squeaks; she has had a puppy.” We quickly headed to the whelping room, discovering that Piper had delivered four puppies.  

We quickly acted, trying to replace the dirty vet bedding before another puppy arrived. Piper was a little protective of her new babies, so I decided to wait before checking them out. While Piper delivered the next puppy, I took the opportunity to check out her first four puppies. This is when I made a mistake. I had three brown puppies and must have looked at one puppy twice. I recorded four male puppies when, in fact, we had three males and one female. It wasn’t until after I sent the announcement out and we put collars on the litter that we discovered my mistake. 

The rest of the whelp went on very smoothly. The fifth puppy arrived at 10:18 am and the sixth at 10:31. Piper then had a seventy-nine-minute whelping pause. This is a common occurrence in larger litters. It gives the mama a rest and a chance to care for her puppies. Piper delivered her last four puppies, the seventh and eighth, at 11:50, the ninth at 11:58 and the tenth at 12:24 pm. 

It is hard to say how long the whelp took because I didn’t observe the first four puppies’ arrival. However, I do know that Piper did a fantastic job delivering her ten babies. She was so calm and delivered each puppy effortlessly and without a sound—just like her Grandma, Ruska. Well done Piper!

Can you find all the puppies?

Six boys, Four girls

Caring for Piper

It is essential to care for our mamas so that they, in turn, can care for their babies. It starts with prenatal care, which includes feeding high-quality food and continues with postnatal care.

Special Treats

After whelping, our mamas don’t have a big appetite. We want to encourage them to eat to regain strength and care for their babies. 

Their first few meals are boiled chicken breast. We also made a special treat called Mother Pudding. It is full of protein and calcium to give her energy and help her regain her strength. All our mamas love this pudding and are willing to eat it even if they are not ready to eat anything else yet.

Оху Momma

We start our mama dogs on a supplement called Оху Momma, a postnatal Vitamin that supports lactation and recovery.  High-quality food and plenty of fresh water are a must to produce milk to feed her ten babies. Piper made a quick recovery and had a good appetite soon after birth. 

Caring for the puppies

Before puppies are born, they receive immunity and everything they need to grow from the placenta. After birth, newborn puppies do not possess immunity. A mother’s first milk, colostrum, is a protein-rich, nutritious, balanced, and protective food. The special milk provides passive immunity, which can last several weeks and protect them from various infections and diseases. For this reason, in the first twelve hours after birth, the puppies must nurse frequently and build up their passive immunity. (Passive immunity is short-term immunity that results from introducing antibodies from the puppy’s mother. Compare this with active immunity – the immunity which results from the production of antibodies by the immune system in response to the presence of an antigen

Expert Nursers

Puppies are born with their eyes and ears sealed shut; they cannot see or hear. They must rely on “smell” and “touch” to find their mother. Puppies are born with a natural instinct to nurse, but they become more proficient as the days pass. The puppies are now experts at nursing! As you watch the video below, listen to the cute little sounds the puppies make as they nurse – so precious’s

cute little puppy squeaks

Piper is a dedicated mama. She has a large litter of ten puppies and is doing an amazing job feeding them. For the first two weeks of their lives, we weigh them daily and keep records to track their progress. All the puppies are doing very well and gaining weight daily. Good job, Piper!

Keeping the puppies warm

Newborn puppies cannot regulate their own body temperature, so they depend on their mother and littermates for warmth. For the first few days, Piper spent all her time in the whelping box, feeding and caring for her babies and keeping them warm. 

The whelping room has an electric heater that keeps the temperature around 28 degrees. Under the whelping box, there is a large heating pad. This keeps the puppies warm when Piper is away. 

We gradually reduce the room temperature as the days pass. 

Now that the puppies are a little older, Piper will rest on the elevated bed outside the whelping box. She also spends some time downstairs with us for a little break. It is not long before she wants to head back to her babies.

Puppy Pics

 Neonatal Period

The puppies are in the Neonatal Period which is from day 0 to day 14. During this period, puppies spend their time eating and sleeping. On Monday, day 3, we began ENS exercises (Early Neurological Stimulation) which will continue through until day 16. We preform ENS daily during our weigh-in time. Research shows these tiny struggles and stresses in small doses are good for puppies. Research shows that benefits from ENS 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 during the 3 to 16-day window.

Puppies continue to receive lots of handling to become accustomed to the human touch. Part of the “Puppy Culture Protocols” that we follow when raising our puppies is socialization. I am blessed with a large family that love to hold our puppies. 

LOOKING AHEAD TO WEEK TWO

  • Much the same as week one – Eat, Sleep, Repeat!
  • Puppies will continue growing
  • Puppies still crawl; hind legs will become stronger
  • Eyes should begin to open towards the end the week – so exciting !!!