How We Raise Our Puppies
HEALTH-TESTED PARENTS
At South River Doodles, our journey begins with healthy, happy parents. Our parent dogs are extremely well-mannered, have great temperaments, and undergo not only genetic but physical health testing.
A healthy puppy begins with healthy parents. It is important that our parent dogs are the best examples of what an Australian Labradoodle or Bernedoodle should be in order to breed the best puppies.
Pregnancy & Whelping Care
At South River Doodles, our dams are given the best care throughout their pregnancy. From vet visits, extra nutrition, on-call vet services, and more, our Moms are well-prepared to bring their puppies into the world.
Once their due date approaches, Moms are integrated into their whelping area. At this point, they receive daily massages and grooming care. During whelping, our moms receive delivery assistance as needed.
ENS & ESI
Once puppies are born, we begin ENS (Early Neurological Stimulation) and ESI (Early Scent Introduction) at 3 days old. This is performed on days 3-16, including gentle handling and daily weights.
ENS is known to improve cardiovascular performance, stronger heartbeats, stronger adrenal glands, more tolerance to stress, and greater resistance to disease. ESI improves nose awareness and confidence.
10-STEP HANDLING
At 3 weeks old, we move into a more advanced curriculum with our puppies. We begin a “10-step puppy massage” every day and increase pressure weekly.
We use our 10-step handling exercises to ensure our puppies are exposed to various types of touch, handling, and sensation. This includes eyes, nose, inside mouth, around collar, tummy, down back, pull tail, tug on ears, and tapping nails.
Curriculum
At 3 weeks, we also begin socializing our puppies to different sounds, sights, textures, things to climb on, run through, and more. We believe in empowering over enabling our puppies. We set them up to conquer physical and mental challenges every day. By doing this, we build our puppies’ nerve strength and confidence as well as problem-solving skills.
Our goal is to provide our puppies with a stable and enriching environment for the first 8 weeks of their lives.
TEMPERAMENT TESTING
At 7 weeks of age, we conduct a puppy aptitude test on each individual puppy set forth by the Badass Breeder Program. During the test we focus on 12 important puppy temperament traits to help make sure you get a puppy that fits you, your lifestyle and your needs as well as honoring who the puppy is.
Once temperament testing and vet checks are complete, families will be able to choose the perfect puppy for their family on go-home day. Picks are made in order of placement on the waitlist on go-home day, NO EXCEPTIONS.
