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Welcome to our new series, The Puppy Paws,
here in Denali National Park and Preserve.
We know that all of you were really excited
to watch our puppies grow up on the Puppy Cam last summer.
What we are hoping is every few weeks we will
update a new couple of minutes of looking inside the training
that begins the day our puppies are born.
The process begins now of growing up to be
an amazing working dog here in Denali.
This is where she gave birth to her puppies
and this is where I stayed through the whole process.
So from 10:30 on I was just curled up on an insulate
pad with my head inside the house.
And the first puppy, who was a little black
and white male, arrived at about 5:00 in the morning.
After the puppies are first born I think one
of the things that a lot of people don't realize is that most of their days are spent
sleeping and eating.
This point in their lives, the puppies eyes and ears are closed. They can't urinate
or defecate on their own and they don't generate their own body heat. So they are
really entirely dependent on Mom.
I always refer to them as little heat seeking missiles. They are looking for the warmth
of Mom's body and they are trying to latch on to a teat to nurse and feed.
(puppies nursing)
One of the earliest forms of training that
we do with our puppies will usually start around age day three. We do some really basic
stress testing.
Studies have shown that by putting puppies just under a minimal amount
of stress it will actually help them to better be able to handle stress later in their lives.
When I say stress testing it just means that
we are holding the puppies upright, tilting them upside down, holding them on their backs,
and tickling them between heir toes with a Q-tip.
We do it for three to five seconds for each of those positions each day.
What it will lead to is an adult dog who handles different stresses that they might encounter
out on the trail in winter much better than a dog who hasn't been through this initial
puppy stressing phase.