First puppies of the new year.

 It is January, 2022.Happy New Year ,everybody.

Here is what's new in our place.

January,7th  Nita (Shazzam of Oz Seven Notes in Black) presented us with our first litter of this year.Active , wiggly ,nice bones and heads puppies, Sired by our Stormy (GCHB CH Shazzam of Oz Solar Storm )

Nita is truly fantastic mother, very natural,and knows how to do things right. Here - pups are fed,cleaned, and it is time to take a break for her in the cool corner,while little ones are on the heating pad. Not sure  if everybody knows, but neonatal puppies can't maintain their body temperature very well, thermoregulation forms as they grow.And if they are chilled- they can't digest any food.So it is very important to keep them warm, but Mom always has to have an "escape zone" from heat. In Nita's case there is nothing in the world will make her to leave her babies for more then 2 minutes or take a rest outside of nursing box. Therefor , this is her way of chilling.:-)

January,13th individual pictures : 

little black princess, and then her 3 salt/pepper brothers

   January,20. 13 days old. Everybody almost triple their birth weight , we have it from 16.9 to 21.6oz now.

 Eyes are open, our girl was the first one to look at us in the morning yesterday, followed by boys.

ENS and ESI programs still performed.Today's scent of eucalyptus in ESI was a big hit.

In the nest box we adding a couple of big toys to challenge puppies movement and stimulate their rapidly growing brains.  You can see on video on a top of post how each pup taking different approach to the problem on his way to milk bar - go around it or climb over.

Tomorrow pups will graduate from Neonatal period to Infant , or Transition, period. More fun ahead! Stay tuned!

What is the world is ENS and ESI and why my puppies need it.

So , as promised, here is a little bit more information about ESI and ENS programs, what we use concurrently for neonatal puppies.

Early Scent Introduction program was developed by Gayle Watkins for the working Retrievers and then widely adopted by breeders of dogs involved in Scent , Field trials and Search work. There are a special protocol of introduction of different groups of scents to puppies from 3 to 16 days of their life.The idea behind it is stimulation  of areas of brain responsible for scent processing.

Puppies are born with their eyes and ears closed . They interacting with this world by smell and touch predominantly in first 2 weeks  period  .Therefor , we have unique possibility to help their brain build more neural connection for scent memories and develop better .

Once a day we introduce  new scent to puppies  and keep record of their reaction to each . Scents items can be natural - like grass in these pictures , cloth , metal , birds feathers ,  etc. Selection of scents for this program is  different then in our Socialization to Scents program what we will  run a bit later with these babies.

Another neonatal program is Early Neurological Stimulation  (ENS) - also known as "Super dog  program" and "Bio-sensor program". Based on  scientific research for military dogs , it was then  popularized by 

Dr. Battaglia . Method applies the series of specially formulated  holding positions or light tactile or thermal interaction , which provide right amount of eustress to stimulate  nervous system . Short, few seconds stimulation shapes neonatal development to give puppies more tolerance to stress , greater immune response and resistance to diseases and more .

It need to be done carefully and with individual approach to each litter and each puppy to avoid an over-stimulation. In case of this Zoe's litter - they were  great candidates for ENS to give them extra bonus in their development : this babies were born naturally , quick and easy, Mommy Zoe has plenty of milk and she is fantastic mother , cleaning and licking her pups , nursing with no problem , pups are gaining weight  right on schedule . There is no stress in their little life, therefor ENS is very beneficial  for them. Here is a couple of short videos for you , if you are interested how it is done.