Our puppies are born in the house, under constant supervision, as Laura stays up all night, if needed to ensure a safe delivery. We do not do anything with the puppies until they are several days old, as we believe that letting the mother take care of them without any interference is the best thing. Once they are 4-5 days old, we will check genders and put light, flexible Velcro collars on them.
For their first 2 weeks, we just hold them and love them, getting them used to our scent as their eyes haven’t opened yet. Around 2 weeks old they start to open their eyes, and their life changes significantly. They will start to walk around-clumsily and cautiously. We start to get them out of the whelping box to explore the house just a little and for short amounts of time. They get to meet their dad, Duke, at this point. Duke is so loving and gentle with them. The puppies are wormed at 2 weeks of age and weighed for the first time.
At around 3 weeks we start to introduce kibble and water to the puppies, but they are still nursing. They are walking much better at this point, still slow, but more stable. We hold them a lot and just love them. We introduce our Puppy sounds CD to them. The CD starts to desensitize them to sounds such as: white noise, sirens, farm sounds, and many more.
At 4 weeks the puppies have sharp claws, and teeth, so their mom will start to wean them on her own. It gets painful to let them nurse and they do a great job of weaning them. Their intake of kibble goes up and they are drinking water well. The puppies are introduced to the Great Outdoors (our backyard) where they get to experience grass and sunshine for the first time. We have an Interstate nearby, so they get to hear that often when they are outdoors. The puppies are wormed again, and their weight is recorded. We continue to play, love, and hold them. Family and friends start to come over to get the little ones used to being around strangers.
At 5 weeks, the puppies are moved outside during the day (weather permitting). They are almost completely weaned and eat mostly kibble. At this age, they go to the vet for a litter check. It’s great to introduce them to the vet office at such a young age, so they don’t develop a fear of going there. Their first car ride is with their siblings, which helps ease anxiety. The puppies are starting to get pretty playful at this age. They are introduced to toys, blankets, and other fun puppy things. We put a dog igloo in their pen for them to experience and get used to being inside. This is when their little personalities start to show more.
At 6 weeks of age, they are vaccinated for the 1st time and wormed again with their weight recorded. After vaccinations, we start to take them for more car rides, they stay outside all the time (weather permitting). We also start to get them used to the crate, so they are comfortable when we start crate training later. Puppies will start to have a harness put on and learn how to walk on a leash. We will start basic puppy commands like sit. The puppies still get a ton of affection, time with Dad, and are out romping on our property.
As the puppies continue to grow beyond 6 weeks, we continue to worm every 2 weeks, we work more on leading, crate familiarization, spending time away from siblings, really getting the sit command going strong and working on the lay down command. When they are 8 weeks old, we will bathe them for the first time-but trust me-they have been playing in their water long before this. If they are still with us, they will get their 2nd vaccination at 9 weeks old.
Our puppies can go to their new homes between 6-8 weeks, depending on when the new family would like them. Our puppies leave us with heavy hearts, but we know they are on to new adventures. The items listed below are what go with the puppies:
Once you have decided on which puppy you are interested in, we can video call or you can visit us to pick out your new family member. There is an application process, and once approved, then we can accept a deposit of $300 to hold that puppy until the go home date.
