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In a normal situation Mom cares for the pups totally the first two weeks. The pups' eyes and ears are sealed shut until 9-14 days old. The pups need to be kept, warm, dry, and fed. Bedding in the box needs to be changed about twice a day after the first two days. Naturally if they get really messy the bedding needs to be changed, but for the first few days the less you interfere with Mother Nature the better.
Mom wants to be clean, help her. Feed her a top quality diet, plenty of clean, fresh water, possibly some additional raw milk, cottage cheese, raw meat to help with condition and lactation. The milk can be goat milk ( preferred) or cow's milk but the key is raw and unpastuerized If pasteurized the enzymes are lost.
At about two weeks the eyes open. They can't see much yet but eyes and ears are open. At this point it will help later housebreaking if you can open the whelping box into a small pen covered with papers. The babies will begin to crawl away from their soft, warm bed to urinate and deficate. Nature intended this leaving the nest to eliminate at just about the same time the dam quits totally cleaning up after the babies. Nature doesn't want to draw predators to the nest with the scents of the babies, so they must leave the nest to eliminate. Mom is still cleaning up after them but this begins to change very shortly.
At around three weeks of age the babies are ready to sample solid food. Again, think of Nature. The Mom is going out hunting by this time and bringing home fresh food to her babies. A Mother dog or wolf has to carry this food home to her pups in her stomach so it will be served, regurgitated, chewed up, warm, and with love. So, we try to replicate this. Using FRESH ground meat, not from the grocery store, and goat's milk form a stiff paste. Warm to about 100 degrees. Form this paste into tiny, torpedo shaped meat cakes. Very tiny for little dogs, up to golf ball size for big dogs. Take one puppy at a time, remember gently and lovingly, every experience these pups have makes an indelible mark on the young pup, pick the pup up and put it on your lap. Put a tiny bit of the meat/milk mix in his mouth. This is foreign tasting and he may mouth it a little, sometimes spit it out, but usually, within a few minutes, will most eagerly seek more. As soon as you can discern that the puppy enjoys this, whistle a short two-tone whistle just as you put the meat into his mouth. Only one puppy meat cake per pup the first day should be fed. Continue with the one puppy as a time technique until each one has been fed, and, coincidentally, received his first real training lesson!
The first day give each puppy one puppy cake, second day two, third day three, then adjust quantity to the age, size, and condition of the babies. This 3 to 4 week phase feed them once a day, graduating to three times a day. Let Mom clean up any leftover food after each meal. She will also lick any excess off the pups. As they begin to eat solid food Mom will begin to no longer clean up after the pups. It is your responsibility to clean the pen, ordinarily about 3 times a day.
One thing that will make your life easier is the clean, unprinted newsprint from your local newspaper. Usually roll ends can be bought fairly cheaply and keep your pups from both inhaling printer's ink and getting it all over them. Also once you put a thick layer of paper on the floor of the pen, then shred a layer over the top. This keeps the babies from stepping in and tracking any mess that may have escaped your attention between cleanings. Newspaper tears easily one direction, and very unevenly in another. It makes your job easier if you fold the paper so it is in the direction of easy and neat strips.
CAUTION: Don't whistle a tune. With one puppy, an orphan, I whistled Mares Eat Oats. Until the day he died, at 13, he would come instantly to that tune, but not to a regular call whistle. In an emergency situation it is easier to remember a call whistle than a specific tune.
The puppy gets this wonderful food, from you, while you associate the sound of your whistle. Puppies started this way respond instantly to your whistle, even years later, and have learned their first lesson. They have begun to learn how to learn. The little connections in their brains are already better than an untutored puppy. This very early foundation is of utmost importance and cannot be duplicated later.
It is very important that each puppy have a name. They need to know, from the time they can hear, that they are individuals, and important as individuals. Each puppy should be spoken to, by name, each time he is picked up. Remember we are striving for dogs who are special, not only good physical specimens of their breed but also superior mental specimens and superb companions. Every time we touch these babies we make a conscious effort to visualize this pup growing into a great show Champion, field Champion, agility dog, OTCH, or whatever we are breeding these pups to do. If they are to be companions first and foremost imagine them next to their person as a loved companion. Projection and affirmation are strong tools use them wisely.
At about 4 weeks alter your routine slightly. Make a puppy cake for each puppy and place evenly along the sides of a bundt cake pan or one of the puppy pans made the same way. A pan can accommodate 4-5 puppies, if there are more make 2 pans. Put Mom outside and take the pan to the puppy room. Whistle and immediately give food to the pups. Increase quantity as Mom begins to dry up but use the same routine. Return Mom to the babies so she can clean them up and finish the food.
Depending on the weather and the size any type of dogs you have, and your physical set-up for the pups you can begin taking them out part of the day. Of course the pups must be fenced for safety. Don't just let them out and forget them. This is the foundation for off lead training. Even if you have direct access to outside don't just open the door and let them run. What would this teach them? This would teach them to run out the door or gate ahead of you. This is not a good trait for a companion dog to have, or any dog for that matter.
The correct procedure is to pick up a puppy and carry them outside, then put them down. Or, if your dogs are large, leash train them early. Slip on a lead and call the puppy to you and take outside. Use your whistle and a tidbit if necessary. We'll go into formal leash training later. Take each puppy out separately. If you want to leave them out to play together in a sheltered place that is fine but each one goes out separately in a controlled manner. As you approach the puppy pen, speak to the one you will be taking out first, by name, then pick him up and give him a tiny tidbit of a treat. Hold him securely against your body and speak to him kindly on the way outside. This is the perfect time to begin the “ do you want to go OUTSIDE?' training. Put them down gently and remove the leash, if you have one on, and go back in the house for the next one.
At about three weeks of age begin the registration process with the registry that registers your female. Each registry has slightly different rules. It is the breeder's responsibility to provide registration papers, pedigree, written instructions on care, spay/neuter contract, if applicable, a sample of the puppy's food, and a bottle of the accustomed water. It is also the breeder's responsibility to place the right puppy in the right home. This does not mean the first buyer with the ability to write a check. In every litter there are more rowdy pups, more reserved, noisier and quieter. Do your best to place the right dog with the right family. A quiet and reserved pup won't do his best in a home with a gang of rowdy children but the dominant one who is always ready for a game or a walk will fit right in.
Your puppies should not leave their Mom and home until at least 7 weeks of age, if being shipped 8 weeks of age. Many people mistakenly let the pups go as soon as they are eating well. By doing this they are depriving the puppy of the valuable tutoring of his Mom and siblings. From 3-7 weeks of age the puppy learns to respect his Mom's growl, to inhibit his bite, to react to people, and how to learn. The little connectors in his brain are being permanently wired up. This should be his time of most rapid learning. Pity the poor puppy mill dog who is snatched from his mother, thrown into a crate, and forced to fend for himself or die at this tender age. Even the best breed specimens in the world will suffer if treated in this manner. Our WHIZ KIDS will be well on the way to being well behaved, self confident, and trained companions and/ or showdogs before they leave their Mom.
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Part 3