
Critical early enrichment and training
When you get a puppy from us, you get a lot more than you may realize. We do a great deal of work every day with our puppies before they go home. They get daily socialization, enhanced enrichment (problem-solving experience), habituation to noises and other potentially scary things, and habituation to handling (nails, baths, vet care, etc). The first 12 weeks of a puppy's life is a critical period for learning and accepting new stimuli. Sceintific studies show that if you tak
More on environment, exercise and hip dysplasia
I came across another study detailing how important the control of exercise and environment is in a young puppy/dog to help prevent hip dysplasia. Breeders do their job by implementing good screening, breeding, and puppy rearing practices, but the work doesn't end when a pup goes home. According to this 2012 study: Puppies walking on stairs from birth to 3 months of age had an increased risk of developing HD. Factors associated with a decreased risk of developing HD included