When a new litter is born I try to raise them in those first 8 weeks as fearless and as bold as they can be.
The litter is born and the pups are nursed by their mother inside my home. They are raised with the constant noise of family life, right there in the background (we are a family with 3 young boys). The pups are contained in their whelping box, with their mother free to move in and out as is her want. The pups are constantly picked up and handled by anybody in my home.
My boys will sit in their whelping box for hours playing with them, holding them, letting the pups climb on them. Really just letting them be social, happy and fearless. They are being conditioned! How easy it would be to turn that tide, to make them fearful, to make them anti-social. The power is in our hands.
At around 5 weeks, I then move them to their puppy quarters. Here they are becoming more active. Here they have a warm dry area to sleep and play, as well as an enclosed run that they can start to explore. Their quarters are in the garden so they always hear and see movement of people. There is a radio in their puppy quarters that I play all the time. Sometimes it is classical music, sometimes Talk Radio and, to round off their education, sometimes it is Radio 5 Live (sport). I also have a small fenced in compound about 10 metres x 10 metres. This I leave to vegetate and grow, I never go in to cut it back, but just leave it to grow wild. When the pups are old enough -- about 6 weeks -- I start to feed them in this compound. I flatten down a small area of vegetation and feed them there. After they feed, and as they become more inquisitive, they start to make inroads into the 'wilderness’ of their compound.
Here, on a safe and secure micro scale, the pups become accustomed to the country life, facing cover, coming face to face with wild life. The sights and the smells and the sounds. The local bird population soon realise there are easy pickings to be had after and during the pups feed. On top of that, my children are more than happy to play with the pups. They run and play very easily with them, keeping them sharp and social. We also go on little walking excursions every couple of days. Walking through cover, over ditches, crossing streams into woodland. When people come to buy my pups, they will see the whole litter and are astounded at how well turned out they are. They are very social, very bold and very friendly. I always keep back 3 or 4 of these pups for myself. I am breeding them for myself. I do want to give these pups absolutely the very best start I can possibly give them. They are after all, potentially, my future Champions.
How do you raise your pups? What strategies do you use to make sure their early education is well rounded?