EARLY NEUROLOGICAL STIMULATION
Early Neurological Stimulation is part of our litter practice here at Amity Views Pty Ltd.
Early Neurological Stimulation consists of 5 short exercises that are carried out on all pups between day 3 to day 16. I won’t go into too much detail as you can read further about this method on the link below but to give you the short version;
The exercises consist of: tactical stimulation, head held erect, head pointed down, supine position and thermal stimulation. Each exercise is carried out one after the other for 3-5 seconds each exercise. Why do we do this you may ask? Well these 5 exercises were created to stimulate brain functions that don’t normally occur in the early stages of a puppy’s life and it is believed that this early time period is when the puppy is going through a rapid neurological growth and development stage.
The benefits of these exercises include improved cardio vascular performance (heart rate), stronger heart beats, stronger adrenal glands, more tolerance to stress and a greater resistance to disease resulting in puppies being more activate and more exploratory than puppies that weren’t stimulated.
These exercises are based on years of research done by the US military, in their canine program, to improve and enhance their dog’s performance and overall well-being. The dogs that were stimulated during this window of time exhibited more calming behaviours and were less disturbed and/or upset when exposed to difficult problem solving situations when older.
If you wish to read further about this please click on the below link http://breedingbetterdogs.com/article/early-neurological-stimulation
We include certain aspects of Puppy Culture when raising our pups (Early Neurological Training being part of it). This is something that is work in progress. The aim of adopting these practices is to produce well adapted and resilient pups. Check out the website for more details. PUPPY CULTURE (shoppuppyculture.com)
UPDATE - As of June 2024
Pups will commence a second round of Early Neurological Stimulation for 5 days. At 6 weeks of age puppies are more developed and responsive than during the neonatal period. By repeating these mild stress exposures it can further enhance their coping skills. They are more aware of their environment now and beginning to explore. The mild stress helps them adapt to new situations and fear responses. We will add ear touching and mouth handling to further the human touch. They are now aware it is a human placing them in these positions. The person doing this at the 6 week stage must have a relationship established with trust. This is done between 6-7 weeks because puppies will go through a natural fear period at 5 weeks and then again at 8 weeks.
