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 puppies.

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 our 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 are some of the ways we work on socializing our puppies?

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 observe the puppies reactions and keep an eye out for any adverse reactions. 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. For safety the puppies travel in a crate.

Outside Socialization - We are often recognized when we take our puppies out of the house for socializing. We make great use of the local shops, events like markets and other amenities that allows dogs. As they will not be vaccinated when we start leaving the house we prioritize the puppies health and safety by using a puppy pram/stroller and do not let strangers touch the puppies or pram.

We are very frequent visitors to our local Bunnings Warehouse. With each litter we visit Bunnings a few times over the socialization window. Bunnings is a great experience with every visit being slight different from the last. The pups are able to see other dogs and children walking by and hear novel sounds like forklifts and the wood saw. We also regularly pop in to Raw Essentials Miramar just when the store is about to open. The puppies love smelling all the different dried treats on the wall and getting cuddles from the staff before other customers arrive. One of our favourite outings is when we take the puppies out to a local dog friendly cafe, like Beach Babylon or Spruce Goose, usually when they are around 7-8 weeks old or when they are well accustomed to being in their stroller and are happy to quietly take in the environment. Other places we will visit include: Animates (great for smells, sights and sounds), Mitre10, 4Paws Empire in Kai Tahi, The Pet Centre, Mountain warehouse and similar stores that allow dogs. We also take regular strolls along Oriental Bay, Petone Esplanade and around our neighbourhood. We will also walk the puppies (in their pram) around the local sports fields and tennis courts and sit and watch the children and adults play.

A big part of proper socialization is a game we call '“sit and watch”. This is where we pick a place/event, typically something novel each time (like a soccer field, supermarket, skatepark, etc.), park up a few meters away just close enough to see everything and open the car or face the pram towards the event and watch the world go by. We offer the puppies small treats or chews and happy words of affirmation to build positive associations with the novel event.

We make sure the pups have had a light feed, are well rested and toileted before we leave to avoid any accidents and grumpy overtired pups. With all our outings if we find the puppies are overwhelmed or are finding it hard to settle we will cut the trip short and head home.

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. Puppies that are with us beyond 8/9 weeks will start proper crate training by sleeping overnight in their own crates.

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 5 weeks old. Tash is also a local tennis coach and we are very lucky to be able to bring the puppy to meet the kids after their lessons during the week.

Cats - We are lucky to also have 3 black cats! 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 an abundance of 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 their new family’s cat.

Other Dogs - We are very grateful to have many awesome adult border collies, a senior (11yo) staffy mix and a 2 year old-3.5kg chihuahua (Izzy) that the puppies are able to play with and be around as they grow up. All our dogs have very different personalities. Some absolutely adore the puppies at all stages of their development and others prefer them when they are old enough to play tug and chase. All the dogs are fantastic at teaching the puppies boundaries. Our puppies are especially great at playing with Izzy, they learn to be gentle and give space to small dogs, and although young herself, Izzy is very good at teaching them good dog manners and play.

Grooming and Handling - By profession Jess is a dog groomer. The puppies will get weekly bathes from around 3 weeks old until they leave. We keep up with clipping their nails weekly and gently introduce the blow dryer and brushing. It is so important to us that our puppies grow into dogs that are confident and comfortable with regularly being washed, brushed and groomed. The puppies we breed tend to have medium-long coats with manageable undercoats. Handling starts with ENS and small daily cuddle sessions, every puppy gets individual attention and cuddles every day.

Training - By getting a comilo border collie you will not get a perfectly trained puppy. What you will get is a puppy that we have begun planting positive learning seeds to become confident, eager to learn and well-rounded adult dogs. At minimum by 9 weeks they are learning good manners to wait for their food, to sit (manding) for attention, to follow when called (click for come) and toileting outside begins (introducing cue words for toileting). Most dogs and puppies have a natural food drive but we like to also build a toy drive with our puppies by playing tug and luring games. This is super important for those puppies whose parents wish to do dog sports or agility with.

Toilet Training - We start toilet recognition training using astro-turf in their weaning pen to create separate toileting and sleeping areas, and once they are old enough we start talking them outside for their toilet breaks.

Confidence Building and Problem Solving - Outside we create obstacle courses and set up activities that challenge the puppies problem solving skills and build confidence. Things such as learning how to get in or out of the ball pit and climbing and interacting with the play equipment challenge the puppies minds and gently pushes them out of their comfort zones. We have foam shapes including stairs, a ramp, semicircle, a “wave”, a makeshift skateboard, tunnel, ball pit and pool as well as stepping stones/blocks with differing textures for tactile exposure. We recently purchased a slash pad too. We also do barrier challengers where the puppies have to figure out how to work around a barrier to get to their food or a person.

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

If you have any specific questions please don’t hesitate to contact us.