Litter period of the puppy

The first months of a dog's life will determine his behavior later in life.
When a puppy is born, he is blind and deaf. The first three weeks of his life, called neonatal phase, they mostly sleep and drink milk from their mothers. Around the 14th day the eyes will open and ears about a week later. This period, from third to fourth week of life, is called transition phase. By going to see and hear, there are many changes in the perception of the puppy!

At the end of the transitional period, we see the first adult social behavior patterns: the puppy wagging his tail when he sees people and begin actively playing with the other puppies. Furthermore, the puppy develops a control urinate and defecate, and begin to do so outside the nest. To summarize: in this period the puppy pretty quickly from total dependence to recognizable adult behavior.

 

The fourth to the eighth week (primary socialization phase)
Now is the time to schedule the first visit with the new owners. During this period the puppy will learn which species he belongs, and the behaviors that go with them. The pup is almost fearless. He must namely be open to learn what it means to be a dog.
Very important it is to learn social behavior to peers. Enjoyed litter, the mother dog, and later also possibly other dogs present, playing are an indispensable role.

Although some social connections already laid in the first three weeks of the puppies life, development and the most important social contacts and bonding processes later. The real socialization period begins in the 4th week of life, so as 3 weeks, and lasts approximately until the 12-14th week. In this period the puppy gets almost all his adult capacities in the field of sensory, motor and learning.

In the early socialization period begin to lick the puppies and drinking water, and also to chew solid food. Breaking teeth stimulates chewing activity, and also affects the behavior towards other individuals. Puppies bite during their game at each other, they often growl. They fight over food and toys, but still in a playful way. This way of playing does play an important role in establishing a social hierarchy.
We as breeders can now often see the puppies later become dominant and the submissive.

 

A puppy that is raised by only people will never be able to behave normally "dog-like" way.
Besides the presence of species, the presence of people is also essential for the development of dogs. Puppies need to learn that dealing with people are just a part of their lives. Regular human presence at the nest is an absolute requirement to give the dog a stable basis for trustworthy behavior towards people.
When a dog in this primary socialization phase is without, or not enough people come into contact, then the chances are very high that he will never learn and always anxious people will continue to behave. Among people we mean adults and children. Puppies that have little contact with other people, for example, only a breeder or caregiver, in this regard a backlog that is hardly more make up. (Very unusual) anxious behavior may result. The same goes for too little contact with children. Children behave differently than adults. The puppy will also have to get used to children at this stage. For people with (small) children is therefore important that the puppy all children accustomed when he comes home.

 

Finally, it is important for the rapidly developing puppies to grow up in a domestic situation. They are so playful and naturally meet all kinds of sounds and activities that later will hear live with them. Vacuum cleaners, meal, doorbell and telephone, children playing, radio and TV, pets, it's all in. A litter growing up in a remote shed or kennel can incur a huge backlog in its development. It can even assume such proportions that the dog can not get used to a home environment and / or people. We call this a "kennel syndrome".

 

There is, after much research, found that there are large differences in socialization of different races. Some racial groups may well less smoothly than other socialization still be healthy and socially as an adult dog. Other varieties, however, must be brought into contact continuously and thoroughly with a diverse environment in order to function as a normal adult dog. Remember never to light the importance of this (and the next fase ) in the life of your puppy

 

We as breeder play an important role at this stage in the life of the young pups. The first eight-nine weeks of your puppy, we are very intensively on the nest and the mother dog to make sure that you get a good socialized and happy puppy in your life. Your puppy will come to visit children in all age phases in contact, other dogs, household noises, TV and radio etc. We will hug him, console, play with him and love. He or she will learn to walk on a leash and when he moved abroad (and therefore will only move after 15 weeks), he or she will also join trips in the car including malls, parks, beach etc.

From you, we expect you  to give your puppy  a great, healthy, loving life.
Shih-tzu has no owner, a Shih-tzu has servants. ;-)

 

In short:
The nesting period is characterized by very rapid development. Not only physically, but also mentally. The development of the brains is largely determined by the experiences puppies. Those experiences should be adequately and they must also be good. Ample contact with dogs, people, kids, environmental sounds, etc. to give the dog a stable basis for his later behavior and are therefore essential.