Our puppies are whelped and raised in our home. Mama takes care of washing and feeding for the first few weeks, we take care of Mama, making sure she is fed a healthy diet and always has fresh water available. Her bedding is changed and the whelping box wiped down daily. We keep a heat lamp on she and the pups to make sure they are warm enough. We weigh the pups when they are born and identify each with a different colour ribbon. The first week we weigh them each day to make sure they are growing as they should – this also gets Mama used to us handling her babies. If all are doing well we go to every other day the second week. By 2 ½ weeks they are ready for their first nail trim and depending how fast the nails grow, we do this every 2 weeks. At week 3, 5 and 7 they are wormed. They are also introduced to puppy mush at week 3. This lessens the demand on Mama. Eyes are all opened by now and we start welcoming visitors.
At this point some moms will stop cleaning up after their pups when they poop and that is when my job gets a lot more demanding. By 7 weeks they are pretty well weaned. They are puppy tested at 7.3 weeks (or as close to that as possible) and from there we help you choose a puppy best suited for your family. Pups are vet checked, micro chipped and receive their initial vaccines between 7 ½ and 8 weeks.
We let our puppies go to their new families at 8 weeks. Pick ups are preferred but we will ship at 9 weeks if we can get a direct flight to your destination, the extra week helps us get them used to a crate. Make sure you or another family member will be home for the first few days you have the puppy. Once the eyes are opened we encourage friends and family with children to visit. We also encourage puppy buyers to visit as well if they live close enough. This helps us get the puppies socialized.