Between eight and nine weeks old the puppies enter another 'fear period' in which they can become more sensitive to new and novel, events, experiences, noises and objects. This fear impact stage may last a few hours or up to a week. Every puppy is different and will experience it differently. A puppy that has been raised well will have good emotional resilience and will 'bounce back' quickly from these experiences. Unfortuately, negative experiences during this time may affect puppy for the rest of it's life. At nine weeks old this fear period will have passed, and you are ready to get on with socialisation again.

All Elsie's puppies were microchipped at home, just before eight weeks old - before the puppies entered their fear impact stage. This ensures that their first visit to the vets which happened after this was a good and pleasant experience. All the puppies were vet checked, ready to go to their new homes and those that are staying a little longer recieved their first vaccinations.

Four of the puppies have now moved to their new homes and all of the owners have remarked at how well the puppies have settled in, how confident and resiliant they are.

Each new puppy owner was supplied with a puppy pack which included lots of information about training and behaviour as well as the Kennel Club Paperwork, insurance paperwork, pedigrees etc.

The new puppy owners are all staying in touch with me and I am on hand to offer any training, behavioural advice they may need. Primarily the advice needed so far has been focused on continuing the toilet trainning and dealing with Play Biting as we all know Labrador Puppies can be like little Crocodiles..... ;)

The Labardor Site  has some fantastic advice on;
Toilet Training - http://www.thelabradorsite.com/house-training-your-labrador-puppy/
and Play Biting - http://www.thelabradorsite.com/labrador-puppies-biting/

'The puppies are growing steadily and I have now matched the puppies to their new owners.
Many people will find it strange that I have matched the puppies to their new owners rather han them choosing which puppy they will have but there are sound reasons for this.

All the puppies in a litter will have slightly different personailities and temperaments. Some of the puppies will be more confident and boisterous, some a little calmer, some a little less confident.

The puppies new owners will also have different requirements and needs in terms of their new puppy.

One of my prospective puppy owners for example requires a confident but sound puppy who won't be daunted by new situations - as they have a dog already themselves who would benefit from having a younger more condfident companion. This owner also competes in Rally Obedience and trains for Agility also so requires a pup that would have the potential to do this.

Another prospective puppy owner has stated that she might like to do a bit of showing with the puppy so obviously we have looked at conformation here as well as temperament. Although all the puppies have good confirmation and structure one or two may stand out as being having potential show prospects. This lady also needs a slighly quieter puppy to fit in with her homelife and her other dogs.

One of the puppies right from the beginning has stood out as being a little more boisterous than the others - first to climb out of the puppy pen, super wriggly when being held, more independent....... and she's stolen a little place in my heart.....
I know I have the training skills to keep her on the straight and narrow!
I know that I can give her all the trainig and mental stimulation that she will need.... and I like a challenge ;)

Meet Miss Orange or as she will now be known 'Prudence'.

We have both temperament tested and looked at the confirmation of Elsie's pupies when matching them to their new homes.