A personal backstory: My first dog that I owned as an adult was a female black lab mix. She was the most amazing, loving dog but as she turned one and started becoming a true adult dog she began to show really bad signs of aggression toward other dogs. I was devastated and admittedly clueless as to how or why this was happening. Sadly, I've heard so many of the same stories from others who have or had a great dog, but...they're food aggressive, or they can't take them around other dogs, or they're fearful to have them around their children. And I'm not one to judge from who, where, or how they acquired their puppy at that time. I'm far from a great example of finding a reputable dog breeder--I got my black lab mix for $150 from a woman I found through craigslist. She was kind and the puppy was healthy but I didn't know any better, I was 18 years old. I firmly believe that had I done my research and found a dog that I knew had received even a small level of ENS or early socialization I would have avoided this situation. Could something have happened later in my dog's life to make her aggressive? Sure, I'm not trying to skirt blame, however, had she been raised following the puppy culture program I believe that whatever spooked her or created this fearfulness would have been mild in her mind and she would have psychologically moved past it rather than holding onto it and allowing it to grow. Creating a healthy response to the unknown or different is the exact foundation of the puppy culture program. My personal experience was the very reason I wanted to look deeper into how I can do my part as not only a dog owner and most especially when raising puppies so that they have a solid start in life and avoid developing any unwanted behaviors or idiosyncrasies. So with that in mind, here is a more in-depth look into the puppy culture program that we have adopted for whelping and raising our own puppies. Prenatal: Before Puppies are Born While this program mostly encompasses exercises for the puppies it actually starts with the dam (mom). Having a healthy dam who receives adequate exercise, attention, and a healthy diet is the most basic starting point for producing quality puppies. Our dams are fed a prey model raw diet (PMRD) to focus on clean protein and avoid the harmful and oftentimes unknowns that are in standard kibbles on the market. We also treat our adult dogs with farm fresh raw eggs, home-grown fruits & veggies, and home dehydrated lean meats. At the most basic level we also make sure that all of our dogs are current on all of their shots & dewormings. Neonatal: 3 - 14 Days Old For the first two weeks of life is when we implement the five Early Neurological Stimulation (ENS) exercises. These include tactile stimulation, 3 positioning exercises (supine position, head up, and head down), and thermal stimulation. Each exercise is only done for a few seconds each time daily but sets the scene for what comes in the following weeks. Puppies are born both deaf and blind so by handling them in these specific ways early in life helps them adjust when additional senses are added as they grow older. We've personally noticed that it helps later for puppies to have their nails trimmed, to lay relaxed on their backs, and not spook when they see a big hand coming their way in the whelping box--which I would imagine that could be quite scary if not properly introduced. Transitional Period: Approx. 2 Weeks Old - 3 Weeks Old This period occurs between the time that they open their eyes but before they begin to react to sounds. Their eyes typically open around the 2 week mark but can vary for each litter and each individual puppy. During this time puppies still sleep a majority of the time but also begin to do vocalizations and interact with their littermates. Critical Socialization Period: 3 Weeks - 12 Weeks Old There are seven key concepts that need to be covered during this critical socialization period: Communication, Emotional Stability, Habituation, Enrichment, Health, Skills, and Love. 1. Communication: teaching the puppies how to respond to a clicker, playing the box game to condition the puppies to the stimulus, and manding (sitting for attention). Jane calls these the communication trinity. 2. Emotional Stability: creating a safe environment but introducing something that mildly startles the puppy so they can calmly recover and challenging them with a barrier that they have to both mentally and physically get past. 3. Habituation: This is likely what most people think of when they hear socialization but it's just 1 out of the 7 concepts we need to touch on for this program. Habituation refers to familiarizing the puppies with a variety of different stimulus: from noises to smells, sounds, objects, animals, and people. 4. Enrichment: Create within the home, and safe adventure to areas experiences that inspire enrichment for the puppies. While exercise is important, it's equally as important to challenge their brains and promote learning and problem-solving. We do this at home by utilizing baby toys that we find at the used children's store and utilize our own property for additional adventures. On 5+ acres and with many different animals species, children, and visiting family members we're lucky that we can provide for the puppies here without venturing out far. However, car rides are an important part of this experience too so we dabble that in as well. 5. Health: We keep records of puppy's weight gain, stay on schedule with deworming's, vaccinations, nail trims, and begin grooming (including light blow drying). Our puppies are also visited by our veterinarian Dr. Teal Summit from Fox Ridge Veterinary Clinic before going home. 6. Skills: We introduce crates/kennels very early by allowing them free access to one in the whelping box, practice leash walking, potty train them to go on trays within their whelping box, work on simple commands, and keep practicing our manding. 7. Love: While this sounds obvious, the 'love' portion of the program is more than simple cuddles--although that's important too. It involves creating positive experiences for the puppies emotionally so that they find comfort and contentment in the company of both people and other dogs (cats too at our home). There are a variety of conditioned emotional response (CER) techniques that can be used but it varies from puppy to puppy on where they are at as individuals. For example, if a puppy is having emotionally seeing other dogs as a positive that can be worked on by using positive reinforcement and repetition. After 12 weeks of age the critical socialization period closes but puppy culture has much more material and resources you can use for not only our puppies when you take them home but older dogs as well. If you want to learn more, their website is https://shoppuppyculture.com/ and be sure to check out their blog posts on their partner website https://madcapuniversity.com/blogs/articles-and-product-reviews