Maui’s Chunky Babies are Three Weeks Old

Looking Back

Maui’s beautiful three-week-old puppies have been progressing rapidly this week. The puppies are becoming more aware of their surroundings and have begun to play with each other during their short “awake” time.

Maui has had lots of practice helping our other girls raise their babies, so it is not surprising that she is a fantastic mama. She is very attentive to her little ones’ feeding, cleaning, and care.

She has a smaller litter than our other girls, making it easier for her puppies to pack on the weight. They are very chunky, and I can feel a layer of fat on them. Great job, Maui!

Puppy Culture

This week, the puppies were in the Transitional Period. We continued our ENS exercises, which cause tiny stresses to benefit our puppies by increasing their tolerance to stress and disease resistance, speeding up their adrenal system, and strengthening their heart rate and heartbeat. Tuesday was Day 16 of the puppies’ lives and the final day for our ENS exercises.

Critical Socialization Period (weeks 3 – 12)

The next period for Maui’s three-week-old puppies is the Critical Socialization Period. We know that puppies have entered this period when they react to sounds. We raise our puppies following many of the Puppy Culture protocols. Following these protocols helps us reach our goal of “Raise Healthy, Calm, Confident, Well-Adjusted Puppies.”

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

Emotional Intelligence

Because Goldendoodles are companion dogs, teaching emotional intelligence to young puppies and starting them with a great beginning is essential. With this intention, we follow seven key things to nurture a puppy’s emotional intelligence.

1. Communication – giving a puppy his voice, i.e. Communication manding and attention/distraction protocols
2. Emotional stability – the ability to recover quickly 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, and meeting different people and dogs.
4. Enrichment—Teach the puppies that novelty and challenges are enrichment opportunities, not to be feared or avoided. For example, they can be introduced to new novelty items on an ongoing basis at an activity centre, car ride, outdoors, etc.
5. Health – physical wellness and motor skills that will allow the puppy to develop neurologically and physically soundly. For instance, daily weight checks, grooming, proper nutrition, fecal checks, and deworming, if necessary, vet health checks and vaccinations)
6. Skills – learned behaviours that 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 dogs and humans as emotionally positive experiences, i.e., Daily cuddles with humans and the puppy’s mom.
8. Shaping emotional responses: happy and calm CER (Conditioned Emotional Responses). For instance, treats and encouragement during puppy training.