Puppy Culture

I am proud that my puppies are raised with Puppy Culture. As a puppy buyer, you may have read in your research that you should look for a puppy from a breeder who uses Puppy Culture. That being said, it's often unclear WHY you want this. While creating my website, I chose to include some information explaining what exactly Puppy Culture is, and why it's so important.

Puppy Culture is a program of breeding and raising dogs that was put together by Jane Killion, a professional dog breeder and trainer. With 50 years of experience behind her, she designed a systematic approach to raising well adjusted and happy puppies. Many components of her program are backed by scientific research. The best part of the Puppy Culture program, in my opinion, is how the developmental markers of pups are paired with certain events and task for a breeder to complete with their litter. There are checklists in each chapter and milestones to help a breeder verify that they are prepared to give their pups everything they need. Before I delve into the content itself, let me outline the developmental markers that section the program: the Prenatal Period, Neonatal Period, Transitional Period, and the critical socialization period.

The prenatal period is just as it sounds, a period of time before the puppies are born. There are many things to do and consider before you have a litter. You need to plan your breeding. Part of planning your breeding is to do health testing on the bitch and stud. Generally speaking, you will want to match them to improve faults. Some dogs should not be bred and it is something you should consider well before progressing. Once you have a good match with dogs, you will want to line up many other things. Some of those things are to network with other breeders, line up emergency and regular vets, stock up on supplies (such as whelping box, whelping equipment, raw goat milk, easy food for you since you won’t be able to leave during the vital times, supplies if you need to resuscitate or supplement any puppies, etc.) and to plan out the time frame of her heat. Another important thing to consider before breeding is the potential for birth defects and fading puppies. This is all important information that many don't consider, so the fact it is covered in her program is outstanding.

Once she is in heat you will want to do ovulation timing. This is especially important, and the program does cover some of the why. One reason for ovulation timing is to know when the pups are conceived. Puppies are not conceived when the dogs tie. Vets go by ovulation date. If there were an emergency and a c section is needed, without having an exact ovulation date, many vets would not be comfortable doing the c section. The reason for this is, puppies can still be underdeveloped. For example, you may have bred her 63 days ago, but the pups may really only be 58 days. Once you see ovulation, you can breed. You will need to confirm the pregnancy, which many choose to do with an ultrasound at 28 days. Once it is confirmed it is time to set up the whelping area and game plan. You will want to start checking her temperature on day 57 so you can be prepared and know when to expect the birthing.

The neonatal period occurs 0-14 days after the puppies are born. During the neonatal period, you will want to weigh the puppies everyday. On day 3 you will start ENS (Early neurological stimulation). The program shows on a video how to perform the ENS, the amount of time it takes for each puppy and the reasoning/importance behind doing ENS. The Neurological stimulation should be done every day from day 3-16—as long as there is not excess stress on the litter. For example, an emergency c section where the mother is not doing well accepting the babies, or breeds that need docking, cropping or dew claw removal. These things already put enough stress on the puppies and any more could actually be detrimental. Luckily, the program covers how long to wait on starting ENS if such things do occur.

ENS is backed by science and there are many studies out there that can help you understand the importance. When done correctly, research behind ENS shows that the small stressors and struggles are good for puppies; it has been proven to give them a larger tolerance for stress, resistance for disease, a stronger heartbeat and rate as well as a better adrenal system. ENS studies show that the window for success is 3-16 days of birth.

Next, comes the transitional period; this is generally from 14 -21 days. Puppies do all develop at different speeds, so a good way to identify when a puppy goes into the transitional period is to be alert to eyes opening. This is the time to start having individual cuddle sessions with the puppies, and to introduce new tactile objects (being sure they 're age appropriate enrichment items). Ideally, the breeder will want to introduce a new objects/experience once a day. Weaning will also begin in this phase.

Once the breeder notices pups starting to hear, they will move into the next phase: the critical socialization period. This period lasts from 3-12 weeks, but the program breaks it down into further segments: socialization week one through socialization week 10. Additionally, this is the time you will start the litterbox/potty training. There are different tasks for a breeder to do with the puppies during each week, new milestones to achieve, and enrichment to be done. The purpose of the critical socialization period is not simply to ‘socialize’ the puppies by introduction of new experiences and items, although this is very important as well. You are teaching the puppies emotional intelligence by including several vital things in the time period.

What are these vital things?

Love is taught by conditioning and shaping emotional responses (the puppies will want to desire companionship and see humans/animals as positive experiences).
Emotional stability (being able to recover from stress/fear and overcome challenges).
Health (daily weight, grooming, vaccinations, worming etc).
Communication trinity (puppies naturally communicate with biting, crying and jumping up. We want to teach the puppy other ways to communicate—using a clicker and positive rewards are recommended).
Essential life skills (puppy will learn recall, simple commands, kennel, litterbox training, leash walking, resource guarding, etc).
Enrichment (the puppy will learn that new things are adventures and fun, not scary and to be avoided).
Habituation and desensitization (here is where you want to build the standard of socialization and introduce as many sounds, sights, items, people, animals and experiences as you can in order to make it an easy transition when the puppy goes to live with a new family.)

Of course, there is so much more to Puppy Culture; I have only briefly summarized the main basic program. I also choose to utilize the add-on programs: "Killer Free Stacks," "Attention is the Mother of All Behaviors," "Stack and Deliver," "When Pigs Fly," "Puppy Scent Games," "Puppy Fitness," and "Puppy Party."

There is a lot of work and love poured into each and every litter, but every moment is worth it. By following this program, I help my puppies become the best they can be in the 10+ weeks they spend in my home. It will help them transition into a new home, adjust to future stress faster, be better companions and just happier well-rounded dogs overall. I do suggest that new owners look into Puppy Culture for owners as well!