Early Behavior Imprinting

 

 

 

What is it and WHY is it so important?

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Animals raised in enriched environments have been shown to have many physiological benifits over animals raised in standard handling conditions.  

 

•Larger brains

 

•More new brain cells and neural connections

 

•Better brain cell survival

 

The result of these physical changes in brain structure result in the following intellectual and emotional benefits:

 

•Improved ability to learn and remember

 

•More emotional stability

 

•Better resiliency to stress

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Too much stimulation and challenge can be as harmful as not enough. Something that is extremely beneficial one week of a puppy’s life could be detrimental in the next, so the perfect balance is needed. 

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Evidence shows that animals of any age can benefit from an enriched environment. Even if your dog or puppy was raised in poor conditions, they can grow new brain cells and form new neural connections. Why do I prefer to jump in and start so early?  The critical socialization period is such a short window of time where I have an opportunity to make an impact on their behavior, compared to even a few weeks later in the puppy’s life. This period lasts from about 3 weeks through 12 weeks to lay the proper foundation work for their future.  I want to give my puppies all the brain power I can so that they can absorb as much information as possible during this critical socialization period. 

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Training & socialization is an important part of bring home your puppy. I highly recommend the Puppy Culture series to help you better understand the critical stages of raising your puppy and to continue with this protocol thru their 12th week & beyond. Included in this series is crate training, manding (learning to ask for things) recall, leash walking and steps to help prevent resource guarding & separation anxiety. The book, When Pigs Fly, is also a great training tool. All are available thru the Puppy Culture link at the bottom of this page.

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Please step inside my world and take a peek below at just SOME of the reasons our puppies are different.