My how they have grown

The puppies are doing great today. Every puppy is over 1 pound now. We began stress stimulation exercises with the puppies today as described by Dr. Carmen Battaglia and research done by the US Military called "Bio Sensor" or "Super Dog". This research shows that "early neurological stimulation will have important and lasting effects" on puppies. Mild forms of stress around thermal, tactile and motor stimulation from day 3 through 16 have shown dogs will respond to stress as an adult dog in an improved manner. The research has also shown puppies who receive these exercises were more resistant to some forms of cancer and disease and withstood exposure to cold better, were more stable, more exploratory and learned faster.

For 3-5 seconds, once each day, we are doing the following:

1. Tickled between the toes with a Q-tip
2. Hold perpendicular to the ground
3. Hold head down
4. Hold on its back in the palm of my hand
5. Place on a cold damp towel

Although technically the puppies are 4 days old today, I just felt like they had too much stress yesterday as they had a trip to the vet for dewclaw removal. Each puppy is being handled several times during the day, every day. I came home from work today to find my adult daughter in the whelping box with all the puppies :)

This is an ultrasound image of a puppy at 28 days gestation taken during Ruth's pregnancy

This is a 3 day old puppy