Birth:  Since we began raising puppies, every litter has been born in the den next to our master bedroom.  It is important to us to be right next to our puppies and mom.  We are present for the whelping and all of our pups enter this world in our hands.  We assist the mother if they need it, clamp and clip the umbilial ors, aspirate the mouths and noses and dry them.  They nurs until the next pup is born and we are generally doing this from the evening hours through the night.  We massage the mothers back and comfort them through the process.  Lots of love during this time.

Dew Claws;  We want you to know that we have decided NOT to remove dew claws any longer.  I always did at three to four days old, but my veterinarian kep trying to convince me otherwise.  Finally, she said she would no longer remove them for me as she felt removing their well used "thumb" was not ehtical.  Aftre speaking with another local veterinarian, he told me that their clinic has only once seen a dog with a torn dew claw and he also felt it was an unnecessary elective surgery.

Visitors:  are welcome to come after the pups turn five weeks old.  At this time, they are active and you can see their personalities forming.  We can not accommodate any visitors bringing their dog to see if they get along with our puppies.  The reason being, our pups are not immunized until seven weeks of age and they won't be fully immunized until two months after that age.  We just cannot risk a puppy being exposed to numerous other pets that may visit public dog parks and other areas.  They may be vaccinated but they can easily bring in viruse on their paws that my pups would not yet be immunized against.  Thank you for understanding.

Five Weeks Old:  at this age, we move them to a central part of our home.  This is a perfect opportunity to integrate them in to our daily life and develop their socialization skills.  They hear the sounds and experience the smells they will live with the rest of their lives.  Each day I begin my morning with them.  I crawl into join them, clean the area and play with them for a long time, until they take their first nap.  Throughout the day their parents play with them, touch noses if they are not out of their play area and learn to chew on good things.  We put a small kennel or two in their area to accustom them to crate training, but the doors are off the kennels.  They love to sleep and play in the kennel, but they also crawl all over them.  They are piddle pad trained here which will help with house training.