How We Raise Puppies
"A Dog is the only thing on earth that loves you more than he loves himself."
~Josh Billings
Early Neurological Stimulation
Early neurological stimulation (ENS) is a method that was developed to introduce mild stresses to puppies 3 to 16 days old. These stresses help to improve the growth and development of the puppies immune system and stress tolerance by stimulating the neurologic system. Puppies are taken through the 5 steps for 5 seconds once daily.
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Tactical Stimulation - The puppy is gently "tickled" with a cotton swab between their toes.
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Head Held Erect: The puppy is held straight up so that it's head is directly above it's tail.
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Head Pointed Down: The puppy is held with both hands and is held directly downwards.
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Surpine Position: The puppy is held in both hands on it's back.
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Thermal Stimulation: The puppy is placed with it's feet on a damp towel that has been refrigerated.
Desensitization
At Hope Valley, we expose our puppies to a variety of stimulus at an appropriate age, so things like thunderstorms, vacuums, small children, and other types of animals will not scare them. Some of our favorite exposure items are....
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1) Large men with beards, hats, and hoodies.
2) Children of all ages and stages
3) Loud noises! Thunderstorm tracks, firework sounds, guns firing, clanging pots, vacuuming, running water, and a variety of music and children's toy sounds.
4) Car rides, baths, nail clippings, tooth brushings, blow dryers.
5) Interesting walking surfaces, including crinkle mats, lego boards, sand, slopes, stairs and different types of flooring.
6) Steve the cow. He's friendly but could be intimidating if not introduced at the right time!
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Daily Handling
We believe the most critical part of the healthy development of a puppy is also something that is commonly overlooked by large, kennel-based breeding programs; the simple act of daily affection.
At Hope Valley Farm, not only do puppies receive ENS, daily desensitization and problem solving exercises, it is our first priority to hold, pet, scratch, play with, talk to, snuggle and love on these babies. This is the single most important thing that a breeder can do, and we have the privilege to be able to do this multiple times a day.
