The growing phases of the puppies in the
breeding centre
The educational responsibilities towards the puppies and the correct
fundamental approach for their relationship with their future families, is, for
me, one basic component of my profession. My Great Danes are treated with love
and respect since their first day of life, being raised indoors and outdoors,
always together with their mother and in very close contact with human beings.
The starting point is the confirmation of the pregnancy of a future mother who
is experimenting all the well-being of her new condition, because the puppies,
who react to the emotional situation of their mother during the second part of
the pregnancy, receive positive messages. The puppies that I breed begin to
breathe in my hands and are kept indoors for the first month of their lives, so
that they are exposed to positive stimuli of the human habitation that will be
the living environment of these future giants. During the neo-natal phase, they
are
handled and stimulated on a regular basis every day in order to accelerate the
development of their nervous system and to encourage the stability of their
emotions. This way the puppies get a strong imprint with humans right from the
beginning and have their first sensory experiences that are useful for the development
of their nervous system and for the formation of their primary reflexes that
will then be adults. During the period of delicate growth (which is the period ranging from the
opening of their eyes to 90 days) when the ‘impregnation’ process begins,
thanks to which the puppies find out which species they belong to and which
they identify with, such as (the mother, the brothers, other males, females,
adolescents and young Danes) as well as possible social partners (humans,
children and other domestic animals and unfamiliar dogs), I guarantee that the
puppies have continued contact with me and with their mothers, as
well as visits from strangers, children, other domestic animals, and other dogs
of different sex and different ages, to stabilize their mood and to educate
them to the right level of emotional reaction towards different external stimuli.
Weaning occurs without separating the puppies from their mothers so that they
are the ones who let the little ones experience the steps of detachment,
building the foundations to teach them in the future to bear the moments of
solitude to which they will inevitably be subject in their coexistence with a
different species, like the human one. To do this, I ensure that all the
mothers have the chance to wander away from and return to the puppies whenever
they want to, and I make sure that they lead the litter in their first
"star" explorations into unknown territories. The socialisation with
humans and the environment continues with their new families, to whom I give
the puppies after 70 days of life, i.e. after the development of the part of
the brain that controls emotions has been completed in the company of their
mother.
