What is Puppy Culture
Homemade Puppies, LLC strives to be your trusted source for not only connecting with your new fur-baby, but also answering the dog related questions you may have to enhance your experience with your dog/puppy. Each week our in house dog expert, Katie, answers your puppy and dog questions. Submit your canine questions to info@homemadepuppies.com.
As always puppies advertised with Homemade Puppies, LLC are always 100% raised in-home by responsible family breeders...never raised outside or in a barn, etc. No Puppy Mills, ever. We promise. www.homemadepuppies.com
Here is this week's blog from Katie!
Puppy Culture is a phrase that you will hear some breeders use in regards to how they raise their litters. So what does it mean?
Puppy Culture is a program of over 50 lessons that helps breeders raise their litters from newborn to new home. It includes Early Neurological Stimulation (https://www.homemadepuppies.com/what-is-ens), aggression prevention, beginning potty training, manding, leash walking and more!
The Puppy Culture program was developed by Jane Killion, a professional dog trainer and breeder. It's a comprehensive, organized program for breeders to follow. The goal is to raise dogs that have emotional intelligence and can form strong connections with their families.
There are 7 key things that will help nurture and form the emotional intelligence of a puppy.
1. Communication - the puppy learns he has a voice. No, that doesn't mean barking. By introducing a clicker and some easy learning games, the puppy figures out that their actions earn rewards. Manding is one such behavior that can be taught very early. Manding is teaching a puppy there are polite ways to ask for attention, instead of jumping or barking.
2. Emotional Stability - this teaches the puppy to recover from fear and stressful situations. Introducing sounds like the popping open of an umbrella or dropping a heavy object early in the puppies lives and on a regular basis helps them to recover more quickly from everyday startling noises such as a car backfiring, thunderstorms or fireworks. Another task would be for a puppy to figure out how to walk around a barrier, such as a baby gate, to get to food on the other side. This helps puppies with problem solving.
3. Habituation - the puppy becomes familiar with as many new things as the breeder can think of. The puppy is introduced to as many sounds, various types of people, other breeds of dogs and species of animals, surfaces to walk on, etc. as possible.
4. Enrichment - the puppy learns that new things are exciting and not to be feared. Puppies are continuously exposed to novelty items such as children's toys that make sounds and various movements, household sounds such as a blender or the vacuum, and even taken away from home to experience sights and sounds outside the household.
5. Skills - the puppy is introduced to behaviors that allow him to function well in human society. The breeder introduces a collar and leash, simple commands like sit or lay down, going potty outside or in a litter box, and works on prevention of resource guarding and bite inhibition.
6. Health - the breeder encourages physical wellness and motor skills to ensure the puppy develops in a neurologically and physically sound way. They do things such as daily weight checks, grooming, deworming, exercise, providing proper nutrition as well as vet checkups.
7. Love - the puppy develops the desire to seek out company from people as well as other dogs. The breeder promotes calm, happy interaction. The puppy receives daily cuddles with humans and the mamma dog.
Generally breeders that use Puppy Culture techniques, have the puppies go home to their forever families at 10-12 weeks of age. This gives them valuable time with their mother and litter mates, while still giving them time in their early socialization window to be with their new family. Usually breeders that use Puppy Culture will help you in the decision on which puppy would fit your family best. When using Puppy Culture the breeder gets to know the puppies very well, and will know which puppies tend to be more energetic or outgoing, laidback or shy. They want to do their best to match your family with the puppy that suits your lifestyle best.
Raising a litter using Puppy Culture techniques is an incredible amount of work! But it is 100% ABSOLUTELY worth it!!
Do you have a question for Katie? Submit your question(s) to info@homemadepuppies.com.
Don't forget to catch Katie's blog from last week: https://www.homemadepuppies.com/what-is-ens
