Our goal at L.A. Doodles is “To Raise Healthy, Calm, Confident, Well-Adjusted Puppies”. Ethical Breeding starts out with a complete understanding and knowledge of the breed and the desire to better the breed for future generations with a willingness to constantly learn. As I continue to strive to be a responsible, ethical breeder, I am always on the look out for any new information that I think could improve our breeding program. We are excited to add the well-known Puppy Culture Program to our puppy raising process. Our previous litters have been raised with most of these protocols but we look forward to adding a few new ideas to our future puppies.

Puppy Culture is a program that helps engage puppies and teach them some of the most important skills they’ll need in their lives. This includes stress responses, problem solving, and more!

What is 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 them. 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. Research has shown that puppies born to mothers that receive prenatal massage are more docile and enjoy being touched, so, we spoil our mothers with lots of affection and massages. A puppy’s predisposition to form deep and meaningful relationships begins even before they are born.

Neonatal Period: Day 0-14

ENS (Early Neurological Stimulation) begins on day 3 and continues through day 16. Research shows that tiny struggles and stresses in small doses are 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 during the 3 – 16 day window.

Transitional Period: Day 14-21

Every puppy is different so “Behavioural Markers” are used to identify the beginning and end of each developmental period. 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: Week 3-12

Socializing puppies by exposing them to as many new experiences as possible while the puppy is young is only part of the process of Socialization. Our goal is to raise dogs that have the emotional intelligence to connect with you. Emotional intelligence can be taught to young puppies and is one of the goals of the Puppy Culture Program. There are 7 key things that will nurture the emotional intelligence of a puppy.

Communication – giving a puppy his own voice i.e. Communication Trinity: power up clicker, box game, manding and attention/distraction protocols
Emotional stability – the ability to recover easily from fear as well as stress i.e., startle recovery, barrier challenges etc
Habituation – familiarity with the maximum number of things (Puppy Parties, sound protocols, household noises , meeting different people, dogs etc.)
Enrichment – teach that novelty and challenges are opportunities for enrichment not things to be feared or avoided (Ongoing introduction of new novelty items, Activity Centre, car ride, outdoors, etc.)
Health – physical wellness and motor skills that will allow the puppy to develop in a neurologically and physically sound way (daily weight checks, grooming, proper nutrition, fecal checks, and deworming, if necessary, vet health checks and vaccinations)
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.
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.
Shaping emotional responses: happy and calm CER (Conditioned Emotional Responses)

Weeks 8-9: Puppies go home with their families. This gives them three to four weeks in that critical socialization period to adjust to their new family’s lifestyle and be introduced to new people and experiences.

Weeks 8 and Beyond: If you would like to continue on with the Puppy Culture program after you take your precious puppy home or just want learn more about this philosophy, see their website for more information at Puppy Culture for Puppy Owners

Why do we put so much work into raising our puppies?

As you can image, raising our puppies is an incredible amount of work! So, why do we put so much work into raising our puppies? .

We want to give each puppy the best start at a long and happy life with their Forever Family. We spend the first two months of the puppies lives, loving, caring and teaching them. It is worth all the effort we put into each puppy when our Forever Families give such positive feedback as they continue to raise their puppy. It brings us joy to know we have started each puppy on the road to be a happy, calm, confident, well adjusted dog.