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HOW WE RAISE OUR PUPPIES
The Badass Breeder Way
Our puppies start their journey in our puppy nursery. That's where they bond with mom, with minimal handling from us for the first few days. The more they grow, the more their area gets bigger, the more things they're exposed to... all while having fun!
As we are always looking at improving and making things easier for us and our adoptive families, in 2022 we started following a program called “Badass Breeder”, in hopes of turning breeding from bad to badass!
That program allows us to raise more confident, well-balanced, fearless (bulletproof) puppies by doing handling exercises EVERY DAY, and following these :
EARLY SCENT INTRODUCTION
From day 3 until day 16, we do early scent introduction (ESI). For those 14 days, we individually introduce our puppies to a different smell every day, and note their reaction (negative, neutral, positive).
BENEFITS :
Introducing them to new smells early on in life enhances nose awareness and confidence, and opens up new opportunities, like placing one of our puppies as a hunting, tracking or diabetic alert dog, etc.
EARLY NEUROLOGICAL STIMULATION
Early neurological stimulation (ENS) is also done from day 3 until day 16. Every day for 14 consecutive days, we perform these exercises with our puppies :
1- Tactical stimulation (tickle between toes)
2- Head held up
3- Head pointed down
4- Supine position (on their back)
5- Thermal stimulation with ice pack
BENEFITS :
Improved cardiovascular performance (heart rate)
Stronger heart beats
Stronger adrenal glands
More tolerance to stress
Greater resistance to disease
EXPOSURE ACTIVITIES
Throughout the 8 weeks that the puppies are with us, they are exposed to all kinds of different novelty items (on top of being introduced to potty training and crate training).
At first, items are things that don't move, and are gentle and safe.
When the pups reach 5 weeks of age, we introduce them to more interactive toys, games, etc, all while monitoring stress and startle recovery!