The first 2 weeks are the neonatal stage of puppyhood. After the whelping and once the dam is comfortable with us (immediate household) handling her puppies, we ensure every puppy gets daily cuddle sessions. We gently touch and stroke each pup in a soothing, calming manner as much as the dam is comfortable with - for some mums, this can be from day 1 and others may need a few more days to settle into motherhood. Regularly stroking and touching the puppies during the neonatal period activates the glucocorticoid receptor (GR) gene. The GR gene, when activated, regulates and controls responses to stress. Thus, licked (by the dam) and stroked (by us) puppies grow to have a more relaxed response to stress

From day 3 to 16, we perform ENS (early neurological stimulation) and ESI (early scent introduction). ENS, is a set of stimulating exercises designed to introduce TINY amounts of stress on each puppy to aid in their development, resilience, and coping mechanisms. Days 3 to 16, during which we perform these exercises, is an important time when the puppy is in a rapid neurological growth and development period.

The exercises:

1. Tactical stimulation. We use a cotton tip/q-tip to gently “tickle” around and between the puppy’s toes.

2. Body positions;

   a. Head held erect - head up to the ceiling, tail to the ground.

   b. head pointed down

   c. supine position - holding the puppy upside down so that its spine is in the palm of our hands.

3. Thermal stimulation. Placing each puppy, feet down, on a damp cold (refrigerated) towel.

ESI is an exercise where we expose the puppies to a different novel scent each day, stimulating their olfactory system and promoting the development of their sense of smell. Early exposure aids in making less fearful and more confident puppies in new environments. This can lead to puppies having enhance cognitive abilities, being better at socialzation and more adapitble in new situations.

Our ESI scent list includes, cinnamon, star anise, soil/dirt, black tea, tennis ball, coconut, bark/wood, rabbit fur, chamomile, lamb wool, clove, leather, cat fur.

We also clip the puppies’ nails every 5-7 days to ensure the puppies’ nails are short for the comfort of the dam when feeding.

The transitional period is when they go from entirely helpless beings to seeing, toddling and drinking puppies.

The puppies eyes and ears being opening expanding their world. They also begin teething with the eruption of their tiny sharp baby teeth. At 2.5-3 weeks we start the weaning process with the introduction of sheep’s or goats milk once a day - the dams are still free feeding the puppies too.

Puppies start toddling: The puppies now have strong enough legs underneath them to move with some purpose towards things. We can now introduce tactile items into their pen - size and breed appropriate toys and enriching items. Importantly we are looking to introduce things with different feels/textures.

• big soft toys, crinkly foil toys, paper, fleecy things, rubbers, fabric, baby wipes containers, clean chip packets.

• towards the end of this period we use tiny soft toys, wool balls, etc. things that they can mouth and carry.

We are aiming for one new novelty thing or experience per day from now until they leave us at 9/10 weeks.

At the start of this week we will also establish a nest/sleeping area in the pen to help their concept of toileting away from their sleeping area. The first step towards eventual toilet training.

We are continuing to touch, stroke and cuddle the puppies for a few minutes each day.

At Comilo Collies we are very focused on proper socialization.

What is proper socialization?

Most people think of socializing their puppy as taking them out to meet as many dogs and people as they can, introducing them to new places as much as possible while they are puppies. While the basis of this may be true, there is a right way to socializing young puppies especially those under 12 weeks.

For us socialization doesn’t mean making friends with as many dogs and people as possible, it means setting our puppies up to succeed in the busy, ever-changing human world.

We are aiming to positively introduce our puppies to a wide range of new people, places, sights, sounds, smells and experiences. We look for environments and create experiences that foster positive associations and build positive relationships for our puppies to aid their development and growth into well-adjusted adult dogs. Most important to us is to follow the puppies lead, this is Puppy Lead Learning, a major aspect of the Puppy Culture program.

What do we do?

Every day in the house from when the puppies are about 3 weeks old we start playing habitual sound tracks on the tv or computer. Think, children playing, fireworks, trains, planes, dogs barking/howling and more. We actively watch for any adverse reactions and stop and slow down if there are. This sets them up well for when we leave the house around 4-5 weeks old for out of the house socializing experiences.

Cars - The puppies have their first car ride experiences around 4 weeks old. From there we aim to take them for car drive and out of the house 2-3 times per week. By the time a litter is ready to leave us most puppies are well accustomed to being in the car.

Crates - we introduce crates as early as 4-5 weeks in the pen. We start by feeding them lunch in the crates to start build positive associations. We don’t shut the doors on the puppies but we like to give the puppies the option to rest/sleep in there and get used to being in and around crates at bed time.

Children - While we (Tash and Jess) don’t yet have human children of our own we are very fortunate to have many nephews and a few nieces that live close by who love to come around and play with the puppies. They are aged between 1 and 12 years. We welcome safe visitors with children after the pups are 6 weeks old.

Cats - We are lucky to have 3 black cats as well as all of our dogs! The puppies are able to see, smell and watch them, especially the confidant boy cat many times over the course of their upbringing. We also introduce the scent of cat fur as part of our ESI scents list. A large percentage of our puppies go to homes with cats/kittens and we are proud to say that we have heard only positive feedback from their families regarding the relationships between their Comilo border collies and their cats. So many of our puppies first best friend when they leave us is the family cat.

Other dogs -

Out of the house socialization - We are very fequant visitors to our local Bunnings Warehouse.

, Raw Essentials, Mountain warehouse (and similar stores that allow dogs)

Each litter poses new challenges for us. While we have a set list of things and experiences we will defiantly do with every litter, their will always be some adaptations and additions depending on each litters needs and the needs of their new families.