Developmental stages

Some animals, like horses, are born precoccial. This means that almost immediately after being born they can walk, hear, and see. Others, like dogs, are altricial. This means they are born helpless and can’t see, hear, or walk. Puppies don’t gain these faculties until 2-3 weeks after being born. But that doesn’t mean there’s nothing going on in the brains of the little fluffy buttercups. In fact, there’s a lot going on. Instead of just leaving the puppies to develop without support during this period, we use Dr Carmen Battaglia’s neurological stimulation program to help boost and stimulate their nervous systems.

Prevention of common dog-related problems begins at 2-3 weeks old. That’s not a typo. If a puppy doesn’t begin its training at least at 3 weeks old, then it is immediately disadvantaged. The training it needs to receive requires a great deal of tact and finesse, as a puppy can also be irreversibly damaged emotionally at this age. Training of a 3-week-old puppy does not involve using a leash and pulling on it to get the puppy to sit or walk. It involves specific, carefully executed scientifically sound methods of communicating proper and improper behavior to the puppy. It’s at this time that puppies either are imprinted to cooperate with humans, or to be in conflict with them. We implement very specific problem prevention protocols to ensure the best possible start for our puppies.

Since a puppy starts to be able to use its senses and locomote at 2-3 weeks of age, it begins at that time to learn proper social cues and responses. We take advantage of this period by using our decades of training and behavioral experience and education to help the puppies learn what is and isn’t appropriate behavior for living in human company.

The critical socialization period begins at 3 weeks and continues until the puppies are 12 weeks old. The work—or damage—that is done (or not done) to a puppy’s social and emotional development during this period determines who the puppy is as an adult and can set the puppy up for failure or success. The work done at this stage can take many, many months, or years to change, if it can be changed at all. For example, a puppy that isn’t properly socialized can easily turn into a fear biter. If you ask any qualified trainer, she or he will tell you that fear biting can take a very long time to merely control, and it often can’t be completely eliminated. This translates to lost quality time with your dog, increased cost of long-term interventional training as well as increased exposure to financial and social liability.

Socialization isn’t merely introducing puppies to people. That’s part of it, but that also has to be handled with tact. For example, I’ve seen breeders who say their puppies are raised in a day care they also run from their home. That can be a great thing, or it can be very bad for the puppies. If the child-puppy interaction is carefully timed according to developmental stage and carefully monitored the entire time the child and puppy are interacting, then it can be a good thing. If the kids and puppies are simply left together—even if the puppies are in a separated pen—it can be very detrimental. Kids can be scary to puppies. They need to be properly introduced in controlled situations. Even if a puppy interacts with a group of children just fine for a week or two, if the puppy then enters a developmental fear stage, then something it was previously fine with can turn into something that is emotionally scarring. We implement very specific socialization protocols with very specific safety guidelines as we begin the socialization process with each puppy.

Socialization also includes specifically timed enrichment, problem-solving, and exposures to help introduce puppies to sights, sounds, smells, textures, and experiences. Truly good socialization requires a knowledge of puppy developmental stages, a knowledge of scientifically sound dog training methods, and a knowledge of how to tactfully present experiences to the puppies.

We take specific steps to help avoid potential future aggression in our puppies. Aggression most often stems from frustration. Have you ever noticed someone working on a car or construction project get mad and throw a tool on the ground? Barring some serious deep-seated psychological problem, that aggressive tool-tossing is almost always preceded by severe frustration. It’s similar with dogs. Frustration typically precedes aggression.

So we have very specific protocols we use with our puppies to teach them frustration tolerance. This includes problem solving experiences. Many breeders put toys in the puppy pen and call it “enrichment.” That’s part of it. But a larger part of enrichment involves planned problem-solving experiences. Teaching solid problem-solving skills to a puppy produces an adult that has a much higher frustration threshold, and therefore reduces the potential for aggression and increases the emotional resiliency of your puppy.

An added bonus of the way we socialize and train our puppies is that it provides a way for puppies and dogs to communicate with us. Obedience isn’t a one-way street. Dogs are not just little robots that listen to everything we say. They are living, sentient beings. They have feelings and emotional needs. Our training methods teach our puppies not only how to listen, but also how to properly communicate with us if they need something. That’s not to say your dog will approach you and say to you “dear human, I am feeling bereft of the ability to discern whether my interactions with you are true and right, or if you care not for me and am facing wanton despair.” But she will, for example, come and sit in front of you and let you know she wants attention or affection. Or to play. Or needs water. Or lead you to the door to go outside. Expression and recognition of a dog’s emotional needs is another way we help avoid frustration and the problem behaviors associated with frustration.

​

It's critical to understand that your puppy needs to be socialized through it's first year of life, so you should be providing regular socialization experiences for your puppy's first year. Once or twice a week is an ideal minimum.

Dogs under about 5 weeks of age do not experience fear. Incredible as that sounds, it’s true. Fear is of no use to a young puppy since it’s altricial. It can’t run away. It can’t fight. It’s not a useful emotion at that stage in its development. But as a puppy develops, fear does become useful and important. Fear will keep a puppy from straying too far from its mother. It will keep a puppy from approaching a large predator. It will keep a puppy from jumping into a deep pit.

Five weeks of age is about the time a puppy goes through its first fear imprinting period. While fear is useful and important, it can also be harmful and damaging. It is critical that a breeder understand this, recognize the onset of a fear period, and know how to properly respond and support a puppy through it’s fear periods. If done properly, support through a fear period can actually produce added confidence and emotional resiliency in a puppy. If done improperly, it can produce fearful, frustrated puppies and contribute to severe future behavioral problems. We have specific protocols and exercises we use with out puppies to identify and guide puppies through this critical developmental window. (An additional fear period occurs in the 7-9 week age range, which is why we typically don’t allow puppies to go home before 9-10 weeks of age, sometimes longer.)

Biting, growling, jumping, resource guarding, and other behaviors are all very natural and normal dog behaviors, and puppies start exhibiting these behaviors as young as 3-4 weeks of age. There can be a surprising amount of vicious-sounding growling that comes from a puppy pen full of itty bitty 3-week-old fluff dumplings! But many of these behaviors aren’t appropriate for dogs who live closely with humans. Our protocols include specific science-based non-confrontational interventions to help teach puppies what is appropriate behavior for living with humans, and what is not.

Juvenile dogs are trying to figure out their place in their family and world. Like with other species, juvenile dogs will be trying to figure out their behavioral boundaries.

Structure and consistency support them through that process, and this is a great time to begin a socialization and training program.

You can expect to see the largest increases in height during the juvenile stage.

This is also the time when your puppy will start to develop sexually, so keep an eye open for sex-related behaviors, such as lifting a leg (male) or coming into season (female).

Their coat will change from a puppy coat to their adult coat. There may be some extra shedding during this period, even if you have a non-shedding dog, as the old coat has to come out to make way for the new coat. Adult teeth are also coming in, so lots of chew toys will help prevent potential destructive behaviors. 

​

As always, we provide lifetime breeder support, so please contact us if we can help as your puppy transitions to an adolescent.

This is the period when your puppy will really test her boundaries and see if all the rules are in effect. It's important to be consistent and firm at this age. Your puppy may decide not to come when called for the first time ever, or decide not to play a game he previously loved. If you have questions as your puppy tests these boundaries, please call us so we can help you provide the best environment for him.

​

Be aware that if not spayed/neutered, your dog can be fertile as early as 6 months of age.

You may discover that your dog all of a sudden is acting more apprehensive about new things or is suddenly acting shy or timid around new environments or people. This is normal. 

​

You don't want to reprimand your dog for this, but at the same time you don't want to totally coddle him. The best way to help your puppy is to be quietly and confidently supportive. Confidence-building activities, such as clicker training, can be very helpful. During this period, do not expose your dog to overwhelming situations if possible, such as loud outdoor events, airline cargo travel, or fireworks displays. 

Once a dog is socially mature, and assuming you provided a supportive home, training, and enforcement of impulse control, you can consider your dog an adult and start exploring the possibility of more freedom, such as time out of the crate when unsupervised. Start with short periods (15 minutes or so) and if successful, work up from there.