{"id":4235,"date":"2022-01-16T10:25:07","date_gmt":"2022-01-16T15:25:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/alkemi.org\/blog\/?p=4235"},"modified":"2022-01-16T10:25:07","modified_gmt":"2022-01-16T15:25:07","slug":"thirteen-days-old","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alkemi.org\/blog\/?p=4235","title":{"rendered":"Thirteen Days Old!"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Mr Pink is first to have eyes! A couple of others look like they will open their eyes in a day or two, but he’s first:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Soon the super fun “Mr Magoo” stage will start. We’re also checking a couple of times a day to see if they can hear yet. One of the most important things I learned from Puppy Culture is that there’s a period of about a week when puppies have a startle reflex to sound, but don’t have a fear response yet, If you can trigger that startle reflex several times during that period, the puppy may grow up to be less sound sensitive. Anything you can do to help a puppy have a better life is worth doing!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Now that they are quite mobile, I have added a little bumper mat as a bed for them. It’s also something novel in their environment!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From days 3-16 I perform Early Neurological Stimulation<\/a> on my litters. This is a “can’t hurt\/might help” thing, since they get a lot of handling anyway, but I’d always rather err on the side of having done something than wish I’d done it later. Orange Girl didn’t start until day 5, because I felt she had enough stress just gaining some weight.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are five exercises designed to stress specific things and hopefully help the puppy develop a more robust response to stress as an adult. It’s like astronaut training for puppies, although we usually call it their ritual abuse. Tactile stimulation (a Q-tip on the pads), vertical position (head up), head pointed down, on the back, thermal stress (a damp towel that’s been in the fridge). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here is Purple Girl with her ENS today:<\/p>\n\n\n\n