How are our Puppies Raised?
We have a very simple schedule that we raise our puppies with. From day one, they receive the utmost care and love. Coming from a family that raised, bred, and showed both cats and dogs I have developed a schedule that works well with our babies.
Week 1-4
Week 1: Puppies are so adorable and although it is extremely hard to keep 4 kids and grandparents' hands off the pups, we generally do our best to let Mom rest and the pups simply snuggle and nurse. We do observe the puppies every day for many hours watching to make sure the babies are nursing and Mom is being gentle with them as she keeps them warm, potties and rearranges them to her liking. We have yet to have issues with Mom not doing what Mom's do best.
Usually on day 3 we take Mom and babies to the vet for tails/dewclaw removal. We take Mom so that the babies and mom have as little stress as possible. We have an hour drive to our vet so on the way, mom lays in the back of our van with a box of puppies beside her. We don't allow the pups to be loose in the car. We are able to lay our back row of seats down so we generally lay half down and put one of the older boys back there to sit beside mom and babies. This helps in case of a rough turn or quick halts. Once we get to the vet, we take the puppies in with the box and after their visit, we place them in the back of the van with Mom to nurse and be comforted after the stress of the visit. Then the pups are placed back in the box for the ride home.
Week 2: Now, we get to start being an active member of the puppies lives. At this time we handle the pups daily, usually while Mom is out pottying. Mom's appetite generally picks up at this time and she spends more time eating outside giving us more time to snuggle the sweet babies. Our children are only able to hold babies when they are sitting down "just in case".
Week 3: The puppies have now been weighed and received their first de-wormer. It is vital to maintain parasite free pups for their own health. This is why Mom, Dad and any other dogs/cats are on monthly flea/tick/heartworm control. We also spend a LOT of time cleaning up the yard. Living on a ranch with over 600 acres you may think we shouldn't have to do much, but we keep all droppings up so that our animals don't pick up something from a coon, skunk or other varmit running around here. This daily ritual of seeking and cleaning feces is on our older boys chore list. For the puppies we keep them on Momma milk as long as possible so even though vets agree that the pups can start gruel, we don't even consider it yet.
Week 4: Puppies are weighed and de-wormed again. We like to name our babies early on and use some form of a collar to tell which are which. This is important to us because we like to monitor weight gain. We have a wide range of sizes in our little ones so we don't worry if they are small so long as they are gaining a percentage each weigh in.
Week 4-8
Week 4: This week is the beginning of all things new and exciting for puppies. Assuming the weather is good, the puppies get to explore their world. Grass is scarce around here but we have lots of dirt lol. The puppies are able to walk well at this point and we begin feeding gruel twice a day. We don't use the least or most expensive dog food, we don't care about brands. We do care about the protein/corn content. Because we want what is best for our babies we look for food high in protein and with the least amount of corn possible. We have found that Sam's brand is one of the best. We use Exceed for our babies. They get VERY little dog food even at this age it is mostly warm milk over the Exceed that they lap up, but it is important for them to learn to lap liquid as they are now given fresh water at all times.
This second stage of our time with the puppies involves a lot more time playing than loving, but we try to make it a point to love on them every day. Our children have "lap time" with each puppy to ensure they have all been snuggled and recieved one on one attention. This is usually done on our couches while the kids watch TV. The puppies LOVE this time as they get a chew toy, towel/blanket and a nice comfy lap to lay in. Once they have tired and slept a little we swap out puppies. This is also good family time for us, we get to sit together and talk about puppies and other things.
Week 5: Lap Time continues and we add a 3rd gruel feeding. The puppies begin to actually eat the food instead of just lapping up the milk. Now the puppies are pretty crazy when they play and for the safety of our children we keep them in an enclosed pen inside our yard with grass/shade/food/water access. Mom is usually ready for a break from her babies as their teeth, nails are pretty sharp so this works best for her too. We let her in and out as she pleases. The puppies also get run time where the older boys take the puppies on a run around the house/grounds to be exercised and get used to following/listening to us. The puppies still sleep with Mom at night in our heated/cooled kennel.