Puppy Conditioning

I don't like to brag, usually. But I want you to know that it's not myself that I'm bragging about, rather, it's my dogs. 

I can say without any reservation at all, that my German Shepherds are the BEST German Shepherds for your family. 

I can say this because I put so much time and effort into making sure that all my dogs are healthy, and that they have excellent pedigrees. I can say this because I put in hundreds of hours with each litter, that I match each puppy with each family, and I have the proper combination of working line confirmation and temperament that suits the average family and do not breed super driven working line dogs that are only suitable for police work or competition.

I pride myself on continuing my education almost on a daily basis. And this is one of the reasons why the dogs that I produce are far above my competitors.  Every single thing I do is done with a purpose. There is a reason why the whelping room has a south window. There's a reason why I have a full spectrum light bulb in that room. There's a reason why I have a pressure sensitive puppy heating mat under the whelping blankets rather than just a heating pad.  There's a reason why I spend an hour and a half making homemade puppy formula instead of buying the canned variety.  It's all these little things that can make such a great difference.  Then there's the big things like the Service Dog Puppy Program. I've been using this to raise my puppies for almost 20 years. I know of none of my competitors that do the same. The following is an excerpt from the beginning of the program. You will see how important it is to do all the things that I do with these puppies from day three on.

Puppy's First Night to First Year

Note: The purpose of the puppy program is to condition the puppy to learn, and that learning and doing things are fun. The program aims at preventing problems rather than correcting problems later. This purpose of "puppy program" must be fully understood. Therefore, DO NOT attempt to program any puppy until you are familiar with Clarence Pfaffenberger's "The New Knowledge of Dog Behavior".

Day 0: Puppies whelped

Day 3: Start taking puppies outside on a clean blanket for a couple of minutes a day, then take them inside again.

The First critical period, Days 1-21

Newborn puppies are undeveloped. They do not hear or see. Their senses of smell and touch are functioning. The puppies should be handled a little bit, like for weighing every day. Subject the puppies to small amount of stress, e.g. different undercovers, cold temperatures. Also, they can be conditioned to certain smells at this age.

EEG (Electroencephalograph) tracings show that the puppies waking brain-wave pattern is identical to their sleeping brain-wave pattern. This means that they do not have true consciousness - and they will remain so until the 20th day of their life. While their "conscious" brain cannot yet be programmed, this is not so with certain reflex pathways in their spinal cords (work researched since Pfaffenberger's book). The first reflex which can be conditioned is the pannus (or cutaneous) muscle reflex. Conditioning of this reflex, so that it becomes abolished, or inactive, or non-responsive to human touch, begins it critical period at Day 14 and finishes at Day 28. We call this "The Critical Period of Touch Conditioning".

Cutaneous muscle, under the skin, all over the body, will twitch (startle response) when skin is touched, throughout life, by human beings of whichever sex do not take part in touch conditioning. In adult dogs (over 4 months), we see this as a dog which will not stand still and be willingly touched (examined) by any men, or by any women, whichever it lacked in its conditioning in this period of 14-28 days. This is the dog (or bitch) which has to be shown "only under female judges" or "won't let a man touch him/her". No type of later "training" will reliablybring a touch-shy dog out of this too frequently seen behavior fault. So do not fail to program your puppies for both male and female touch! This is imperative for pets, show trials, guides, police, etc.

Take the puppies outside on a clean blanket for a couple of minutes each day.

Day 9 - Day 12: Eyes open during this period, but puppies cannot focus, nor is there any conscious awareness of anything "seen".

Day 11 - 13: Ear canals begin to open for function, but are not "hooked up" for conscious interpretation of sounds. No sound conditioning is possible until day 23.

Day 14: Begin touch conditioning. This is done by having a man and a woman each handle each puppy for 2-3 minutes twice daily. Handle head, muzzle, neck, body, legs, and tail. Touch and rub back against hair gently. Remember to wash hands first!

Day 15-21, week 3: The puppy goes through a lot of physical changes. The baby teeth erupt at about 15 days. Do touch conditioning and expose the puppy to mild stress. Take the puppies outside every day.

Day 20: On this day all puppies brains are slowly (some faster than others) awakening. Begin observing continuously. Note which of each sex "wakes up" first. Mark these two, for example by cutting a small patch of hair on their backs, or marking with nail polish.

Day 21: CONSCIOUS LIFE BEGINS NOW. Touch conditioning. When you do your touch conditioning on this most exciting day, watch the faces! For the first time they react consciously to your presence. You have looked at the puppies many times, but today you are seeing them as never before.

Im sorry if I have made this post too long. But I want you to know, that if you are lucky enough to get a Guardian Angel Shepherd, you are a privileged few.

I believe in my dogs and I believe in the families that I have picked to adopt them. I trust you to continue on with the puppies educations from eight weeks on and you will have a dog like no other. A dog that will be the one you compare all others too.

Best wishes for the New Year. 

Mary Ann