Weeks 3-16 in a puppy’s life are known as “the sensitive period”. This is the time when they are particularly sensitive to environmental influences. We encourage playfulness, curiosity, and exploration by emphasizing early socialization, enriched environments, positive experiences, and confidence building. During these weeks, we introduce the puppies to all kinds of new textures, smells, sounds, sights, places, and obstacles, as well as children and other animals.
Something you may notice in our updates until about the 5 week mark… Puppies aren’t fully myelinated until 5-7 weeks. This means that their nerve cells aren’t yet equipped to effectively send signals to each other. Until those nerve cells (neurons) are fully myelinated, the puppies will be slow movers, wobbly, and clumsy. Once they are myelinated, they become faster and more coordinated. Myelin thickens with use, so we promote and reinforce coordination, confidence and curiosity as much and in as many ways as possible. During this time, we introduce the climber course, the daytime play area, balls, singing toys, light up toys and stuffed animals. We add new challenges and opportunities throughout each new week. Here is a super cute look at some playtime and puppy fights!
Synapses are the connections between nerve cells. Two puppies can have the same amount of nerve cells, but the puppy who has used and strengthened more synapses will have a more complex network and be more intelligent, have better memory, and learn faster. When synapses aren’t used, they are eliminated. (In other words, use it or lose it). Puppies can begin losing brain power as early as 3 weeks if their brains aren’t challenged! At around 3-4 weeks, we introduce overhead play and they really seem to enjoy it!
Part of their socialization is being around other animals. Shiloh LOVES all the babies and they love her.
The small tunnel is a big hit. We start them off with the small one then bring in the big one about a week or so later.
ALL of the Fluff Town Puppies LOVE their big tunnel course. You can’t tell us dogs don’t smile!
“The Noise Chamber” (as our grandson calls it) is not something they are fond of. It takes a little practice for them to get used to it. The purpose of this contraption is to start desensitizing them to loud noises.
At this young age, puppies are less susceptible to neophobia (fear of new things) if introduced to them in a comfortable environment. We do our best to introduce experiences that commonly make dogs uncomfortable, like loud noises, thunderstorms, fireworks, etc in order to desensitize them to these fears and set them up for success.
When puppies are not yet fully vaccinated, it is important to weigh risk vs benefit when considering how much or how often to expose them to new surroundings. While it is important to keep them safe from the possibility of infection, it is equally important to consistently expand their horizons. We take them off of our property on car rides as well as in the stroller for walks so they can see there is more to life than just this one place where we live!
The puppies always love getting new toys from their Nana. Animated toys are the best and stimulate lots of curiosity and interest.
And, of course, water! The puppies all become accustomed to shallow water during their baths. But, we like to teach them that swimming outside on a hot day can be fun too!
By the time our puppies reach their new homes, they have experienced a great start of a wonderful life. They are potty trained to use artificial grass. They are crate trained to be comfortable when placed in a kennel. They have met lots of people and animals. They’ve encountered new and wonderful sights, sounds, and smells! Just remember, it is important to CONTINUE this journey of helping them to grow!
Finally, here are some sweet photos of the babies socializing with friends, family, dogs & cats
