We've added this page to give you an idea of how we raise our puppies from birth to eight weeks old. We feel the first eight weeks are critical for exposing puppies to new experiences to set them up for the best possible future. We use Puppy Culture, Early Neurological Stimulation, expand on the Rules of 7 and have invested in countless toys/enrichment items for the puppies. We hope you enjoy the videos below. Please fill out the form on our puppy page if you would like more information for our upcoming Fall 2019 litter.
Puppies are born in the bedroom where mom has privacy for the first three weeks of their lives. Babies are weighed daily to ensure that everyone is gaining and at the same time receive Early Neurological Stimulation (you can read more by clicking below)
We spend a lot of time in the room with mom because 1. Our girls are spoiled and 2. C'mon -- they're Puppies! At this point, only close family members are allowed to peek in at the babies and household dogs are not allowed to meet the kids yet. Basically mom gets her quiet room to relax with her kids and we take a million pictures and try to keep our puppy families updated.
They are just starting to explore their surroundings a bit more now and we will add different items into their environment to climb over, under, through. We start early and add often throughout their short lives with us, offering them lots of new experiences so that later in life, it's normal to them.
A variety of toys continue to be offered and babies are
also offered a place to potty. They instinctively want to keep their "house" clean and usually will take to the new idea pretty quickly. They are dewormed for the first time this week and, depending on the weather, may take a quick excursion outdoors. This is a big week for the kids because they move from the bedroom out to the kitchen and experience a whole new world of sounds, smells, etc. They also are able to see the other dogs in the family at this age.
Adventures in the great outdoors! At four weeks, the trips outside continue and babies get introduced to the tunnels, slides and the teeter. They haven't met any of their new families yet to dazzle them with their newly-found skills, but puppy visits are right around the corner!
At this age, we continue to try to come up with new experiences and situations for the kids and because this is what they've always known, if they do falter, they recover very quickly. We try to exceed the Rules of Seven and always ensure positive experiences for the crew.
Between five and six weeks, the puppies are ready for their family visits. We ask that you let us know who your favorite two or three puppies are at this time.
Puppy placements are not finalized until after their structure is evaluated at 8 weeks. We may owe a puppy back to daddy's owner or to mom's breeder or may be keeping someone ourselves. We rarely place show/breeding puppies as we both feel that a pet or pet/performance home is the best home for a puppy. Structure is also important for any potential performance homes.
At 8 weeks, puppies take a road trip to Beaverton to be evaluated by Pat Hastings (www.dogfolk.com) and to Clackamas to a canine ophthalmologist for eye testing (CAER). Sometimes we even do all of this in one day, with a stop off at my work. Luckily we've set the babies up to not only accept, but enjoy new situations.
We make every effort to ensure that one of your favorites is the puppy that goes home with you. We don't know as newborns who will love to live in a busy household and who would prefer a quieter existence. For this reason and the reasons above we will not make final choices until babies are eight weeks old.
Do you have a blue merle girl with blue eyes?
When we have puppies, I will often get this email. It tells me nothing about the person, nothing about their lifestyle, and really nothing about which puppy might be a good fit.
I may have a blue merle girl with blue eyes. She may be available. She may even be the best fit for you either of us could ever imagine in our wildest dreams. But I probably won't respond to the email.
Case in point would be Kendra to the left. She had a lot of people wanting her. We could have placed her a dozen times over. Because she was stunning -- still is. But that pretty blue coat, rich copper and vibrant blue eyes isn't really who
you live with. Lurking inside that beauty queen is a mind that wants to work. She may have done well with an active family on the go, but she is thriving in her performance home. She stayed with me until she was 4 1/2 months old when that home came along and they are a phenomenal team.
That "plain" puppy without a lot of flash may just be your heart dog. Think about the temperament you want to live with and then send us a note. We'd love to hear from you if you've put your heart into your search for your new family member. We owe that to our babies, but we also owe that to you.