LakeHaus Kennels

Grandparent appreciation post 🫶 CH Lahrheim’s Let's Go Crazy "Sam" GCH CH Lahrheim’s Starfire "Kori" GCHB CH Eisefaust's Take A Look At Bequest "Wrath" GCH CH Bayville's Second Star To The Right JH BCAT "Tink"

4 week stacks and head shots

Week 4 Protocols Puppies are moved into a larger weaning pen with age-appropriate enrichment. Puppies are moving around on their own more and playing. They can now hear, smell, and see and their canine teeth are growing in next to their incisors. You start hearing more "talking" in the puppy pen as they begin to exhibit distinctive body language such as play bows and even growling! They become much more independent as well and the weaning process begins, so we always offer goats milk prior to nursing to help supplement the nursing as well as give the mother a bit of relief from those tiny SHARP teeth when the nurse. We gradually introduce puppy mush but we do a slow weaning ... as natural as possible ... and always allow time for the pups to nurse as long as mama is willing. At this age, puppies are also learning to control their urination and the transitional phase ends. Emotional resiliency exercises are performed giving the puppies the gift of "bounce-back" from life challenges. Problem solving games are introduced which help puppies learn to handle life's frustrations early. Crate-training starts! Crates are introduced to the weaning pen with comfy beds to encourage puppies to nap in crates. They love their little forts! We also start fun crate-games. Clicker training starts as soon as puppy can eat gruel and puppies start learning their core skills: attention, manding (asking politely), come or recall. Weekly grooming and nail trim continue and we include always associating with Emotional Conditioned Responses to make it as pleasant an experience as possible. De-worming again (continuing every 2 weeks)

Nap time 😴

Puppy Culture Protocols Week 3 The enrichment effect. The third week in the puppies' lives marks a big shift as we enter the puppies' critical socialization period. This is when the real fun begins and, as the author of Puppy Culture explains, "things are going to begin flying fast and furious at us as far as developmental periods and windows of opportunity go". The next 9 weeks will be the most powerful ones in the puppies' lives and what we choose to do or not do during this period can completely change the outcome for their futures. Puppy Culture calls it "a race against nature". A dog isn't genetically programed to be calm in public, friendly to human strangers, give up food and possessions willingly, and be a fun companion that a human can take anywhere and do anything with. So, actually, there's nothing "wrong" with an aggressive or fearful dog ... in fact, that's normal. SO, there have to be some pretty strong interventions during the puppy's first 12 weeks of life in order to shape the puppy into a dog future humans will want to live with. This is the heart of Puppy Culture, where each puppy receives an expertly enriched environment affording benefits which will last a lifetime. We introduce at least one new toy, visual object, or experience to the puppies each day during this week. (Actually, we introduce several new things to the puppies each day but we at least make a note of at least one new thing for the records). We continue this "one new thing" EVERY WEEK until the puppies leave for their forever home at 9 weeks of age. The puppies can hear now and sound becomes a very important tool in shaping their personalities. This is a deep subject that could be a whole article, but I'll distill it down - there are three basic areas of importance when it comes to sound at this age. Our goal is to balance these three types of sounds to create emotional stability and low stress levels: 1) Ambient Environmental "Centering" sounds: A recent study has shown that classical music has a de-stressing effect on shelter dogs, and hard rock music has the opposite effect. So we play a soft bed of classical music in the puppy room on and off throughout the day. 2) Startle-Recovery Response: Sharp, sudden, sounds during the 3-4 week period to encourage the startle recovery cycle. This is to build emotional resilience. 3) Habituation Noises (both live and sometimes recorded) of things like show noise, babies crying, other animals noises, machinery, engines, fireworks, gunfire, etc. are introduced daily. At 3 weeks of age, the puppies begin to become stronger and usually begin to start to stand and sit without falling over. Also, their teeth begin to come through with the incisors appearing first. Puppies begin to communicate more with littermates and their mother and begin to explore more. We have "busy boxes" with hanging toys for enrichment and stimulation. We also make sure the puppies have lots of time with each other and their mother. At this age there is little fear so we work hard on startle-recovery exercises and new sounds and sights every day. Puppies begin receiving limited visitors as socialization starts. Startle recovery exercises prime puppies for the challenges of a busy life. Litterbox is added to start the foundations of potty training, reinforcing the need to keep their home clean and that there is an appropriate place to potty. We use recycled paper pellet dog litter. We have found that the litterbox must be introduced before week 4 in order to be completely successful. This is just a peek into what we are doing this will with the puppies, and I'll be updating weekly with what protocols we are doing. Also, first puppy stacks start this coming week.

This is my favorite age with puppies. Their eyes are opening and they are starting to toddle around and explore. They begin to play with their littermates and engage a bit with people.

Most of the babies have their eyes open now and they're starting to walk around 😍