Raising Trinkaurity Pups

Trinkaurity Early Days: I pride myself on my socialisation program that Trinkaurity pups are exposed to.  Here is just a glimpse into the critical first 8 weeks of a Trinkaurity Pups life.

My aim is to get them to be as ready for the big wide world as much as I can.  I work hard to ensure they have the opportunity to explore, at their own individual pace, within a routine that allows for a variety of structured/goal orientated sessions, free play, rest and reducing the intensity of the stimulation.  I noticed there was a gap in the socialisation, habituation and enrichment of puppies, that I was keen to research and fill.

The Trinkaurity Socialisation, Habituation & Enrichment Program includes:

• Early Neurological Stimulation (day 3 -16)
• Early Scent Introduction (day 3 – 16)
• Relaxation and massage
• Car training
• Introductions to clicker training
• Crate training
• Introduction to house training
• Basic obedience beginnings
• Let’s get grooming daily sessions from 2 -8 weeks
• Brain games
• Sensory sessions
• Food manners daily from 4 weeks
• Enrichment through exploration
• Hetty the hoover and her friends!
• What’s that sound?!
• The big wide world – safe sessions outside
• Learning through our paws! (various surfaces from soft, hard, cool, water, sand, grass, gravel, rough, smooth, reflective, fluffy, carpet, laminate, lino, plastic, reflective, newspaper, rubber, non-slip, tile etc)
• Vet ready practice sessions
• Festive fun!
• ……& more

I undertake the Early Neurological Stimulation ‘Super Dog Program’ or ‘Bio Sensor Dog’, which is a set of 5 different activities, performed once daily for 3-5 seconds, for neonatal puppies aged 3 -16 days old.  This period is when the puppy would not otherwise receive any form of such neurological stimulation.

This program is heavily researched and evidence identifies the outcome of these gentle exercises, albeit just once daily, have life long positive lasting effects in the pups ability to tolerate stress, their trainability, confidence and overall socialisation and well-being of the puppy.

This super dog program is widely used for police and working dogs, and I have found this has promoted the welfare and development of Trinkaurity litters.

Neonatal puppies aged 3 – 16 days are very ready and able to explore the world by smell, and as a Breeder, I can take advantage of this to enhance and improve their capacity to engage in scent work.  I will expose each pup individually to a different unique scents, 1 per day for 5 seconds and record their interaction with the scent as positive, negative or neutral.

Taking the time to deliver this program, will benefit the pups long term even if they are not going to be working or engaging in scent work activities.

Studies on pups who were exposed to ESI were proved to gain greater achievement in much quicker time frames (often years ahead!) in scent work and obedience compared to puppies not exposed to ESI.

Exploring the world through play is a wonder way for our pups to learn about the world around them.  The variety of stimulus will be ever changing at Trinkaurity Cockers, which in itself, supports puppies to develop the ability to tolerate change from an early age.  Whilst their routine will be familiar (feed/nap/formal input), the sessions I set up for our pups will change.

Once Trinkaurity puppies eyes are open, they receive daily enrichment to encourage them to discover the world through play and exploration.   The power of enrichment for our pups both when they are little and older is hugely overlooked.  Thinking dinners is one of my favourite enrichment activities, encouraging your pup to work for their food using their brains, develops neurological pathways to a more trainable pup.

Trinkaurity puppies are used to household objects and every day sights and sounds that is part of a busy family home.  From noisy cooking, pots, pans, hoovers, mops, dustpans and brushes, to umbrellas, pushchairs, fans, pumpkins, different surfaces and dressing up…our pups are very much ready for the life that goes on outside their Trinkaurity home!

I expose pups to a wide variety of ever changing experiences where they will learn through their paws from various surfaces.  For example, they will be exposed to surfaces such as: soft, firm, solid, cool, wet/water, sand, grass, gravel, rough, smooth, reflective, fluffy, carpet, laminate, lino, plastic, reflective, newspaper, rubber, non-slip, tile, stone, coarse etc.

I undertake this to encourage pups to be as ‘paw ready’  as they can be when they arrive at their forever homes, I can never predict what flooring each family will have in and around their home.

Trinkaurity puppies are only ever fed from a bowl during the very initial stages of weaning onto solid food and always for their breakfast (they often ravenous for breakfast!).  However, lunch, tea and dinner will be delivered daily via ‘thinking dinners’.  Puppies as young as 4 weeks are very capable and able to engage in the vast variety of thinking dinner activities from puzzles, feed balls, lickimats, scatter feeds, hidden food exploration, kongs and by 1:1 work with myself etc.

All Trinkaurity pups are exposed to a carefully structured and bespoke Trinkaurity Car Training program.  I created this program to slowly introduce and ready pups for their journey home at 8 weeks, however far in the UK they needed to travel.  Trinkaurity pups begin with 2 sessions per week, gradually building up to 4 car training sessions per week.  Pups will always travel in a secured crate in the boot of my car.  I combine the car training with socialisation and pups will follow a bespoke program where they will take mini adventures (within the safety of the car!) and  I will arrive at a number of destinations.

These include, and are not limited to: train station, bus station, ferry port, beach, children’s play grounds, multi-storey car parks, motorways, gravel/tarmac/concrete roads, school runs, local Asda/Sainsburys where I begin introducing pups to the sounds of the shopping trolley going past the boot of the car.  It just so happens that when we go to many of these locations, very delicious chicken appears from nowhere into the crate!

I have found amazing success in car training all Trinkaurity pups.  However, the hard work must be continued with new puppy parents, as they get used to the smell, sound and experience of your car and crate.

I whole heartedly encourage Mama to interact, play and raise her pups.  She is allowed to move freely in and out of the whelping pen as she is comfortable.  Once pups start teething, Mama will often naturally begin weaning them.  I have found that as soon as pups eyes are open, Mama begins to entice and encourage her pups to play.  Seeing her play bow to her tiny pups is the most precious blessing as a Breeder.  Whilst I facilitate a lot of socialisation and enrichment, my input is to complement the fantastic job Mama is doing in teaching her babies about the world.  Mama shows no fear, no aggression or anxiety to the experiences, and this has a significant impact on how well pups have taken to the exposure of experiences at Trinkaurity Cockers.

I will begin house training at Trinkaurity Cockers, and naturally, their Mama will keep their whelping area clean (as will I!) and they will begin to follow Mama out into the garden during the day.   Once pups are old enough, I will do my very best to encourage house training.  I take pups outside to outside to the toilet after meals, after play, after waking and regularly throughout the day.  They will use both the grass and the designated gravelled toilet area, to go to the toilet.  I do not add command words, but shower them with lots of praise when they have done their business.

Night Time: From 6 weeks, I will take them out at night also at 22:00hrs, 02:00hrs and 06:00hrs.  They may still be eliminating inside, as they are very tiny and have very small bladders which they cannot yet fully control, but beginning to introduce these regular toilet breaks at night, will help pups develop a routine.  When I take pups outside at night, I will take 1 at a time on a lead, this helps pup focus on the task at hand and identify the difference between play time and toilet time.

All Trinkaurity pups are introduced to clicker training and this begins as early as 4 weeks of age.  The clicker makes a distinct sound that the trainer/puppy parent will use to ‘mark’ the pups behaviour.  This sounds will indicate that the pup has done something fabulous and is about to get a reward…usually edible!  All Trinkaurity pups are crate trained, and this happens very naturally.  Daily, I will work with each puppy, on a 1:1 basis, focusing on their basic obedience such as sit, down and food manners.

English Cocker Spaniels will require lifelong grooming attention to maintain and meet their coat and skin care needs.  All Trinkaurity puppies are all carefully handled from birth, and this builds their handling confidence.  I regularly keep all of their nails trim so not to scratch Mama’s tummy as their paw to let down more milk.  Pups from the age of 3 weeks will begin having short grooming and handling sessions up on Auntie Laura’s grooming table.  This is taken very much at each pups pace, some are born grooming ready and others need a little time to get used to being up high, and this is where lots of very short sessions….with freshly cooked chicken comes in!  They are exposed to every manner of brush and comb you can imagine, I slowly introduce the vibration of clippers and sound of scissors, and pups experience daily clean ups and weekly baths from 4 weeks.  I expect all Trinkaurity puppy parents to book their pups into regular puppy grooms (unless they are a professional groomer!) to ensure they continue to be exposed to grooming and learn to tolerate a life time of professional handling to maintain a healthy coat, skin and nails.

After much research, I realised the only way to truly ensure I am providing the very best for my pups, is to ensure I am exposing them to a wide variety of real world sounds as possible.  Many recorded sounds cannot replicate the ‘real thing’ which comes with their own vibration through the ground for example heavy rain or hail can rattle.  But, it was important to me to ensure I am giving my pups the opportunity to be exposed to a carefully structured and programmed selection of sounds, to give them the very best start in life.  Real world sounds that I can expose them to such as trains, boats, ferries, various road works, children’s play grounds etc, I will tie in with my car training program.  All training is very positive and slowly, carefully and without inducing fear, introduced appropriately.

Some of the sounds Trinkaurity pups will be exposed to during their first 8 weeks of life include:

Nature: Rain – both light and heavy,  thunder and lightning, winds and storms, brooks and waterfalls, sea splashing and waves

Animals: Farm animals (pigs, cows, goats, ducks etc), wild animals (lions, bears, elephants etc), bugs and crawling critters sounds, snakes, birds, bees and wasps, other dogs barking, cat sounds

People: People talking – both male and female, young and old, different accents and languages, playgrounds with children playing, laughing, cheering, squealing, baby cooing, babbling and different types of crying, singing (different styles)

Real World/Daily Life: Fireworks, sirens, police, fire engines etc and playing, aeroplanes, helicopters, trains and train stations, airports, construction sounds, cars, motorbikes and other traffic  on motorways, country roads, fun fairs and amusements parks sounds, doorbells, door knocking, doors opening and closing, doors creaking, groomers and hair clippers sounds, shopping centres, busy restaurants, commercial kitchens, indoor play centre sounds, Halloween parties, birthday parties, children’s parties, party poppers, cleaning sounds (hoovers, sweeping, mops – both soft sweeping and outside hard bristle sweeping), sound of a washing line going up and down, lawnmowers, hedge trimmers.

Music: Different styles of music (pop, classical, rock, instrumental etc), a wide variety of music instruments