Day 4…Super Puppy Neuro Exercises begin!

Carmen L Battaglia PhD, of Breeding Better Dogs has the following article on “Super Puppy” Early Neurological and Stimulation Exercises that breeders should perform on their pups from Day 3 to Day 16. “Based on years of research, the military learned that early neurological stimulation exercises could have important and lasting effects. Their studies confirmed that there are specific time periods early in life when neurological stimulation has optimum results.”

You are not to perform these exercise more than once a day as over-handling, over stimulating can have detrimental effects as well. It is believed that these exercises can help the dog reach sexual maturity sooner, the pups are more resistant to disease and even cancer. mature at faster rates and perform better in certain problem solving tests than non-stimulated littermates.

I did not start these yesterday on Day Three as they had their dew claws removed and I would say that was alot of neurological stimulation in itself! So decided to start today!

Here is a link to the full article that I have been performing on my pups for almost 30 years:

If you do not want to read the entire article here is a list of the exercises that are performed:

The handling of each pup once per day involves the following exercises (each exercise is only 3-5 seconds):

1. Tactical stimulation (between toes) – use a q-tip
2. Head held erect – hold puppy upright with head up towards the ceiling
3. Head pointed down – hold puppy upside down with head pointing toward the floor
4. Supine position – hold puppy on it’s back
5. Thermal stimulation – get a damp, cool cloth and place the pup on it

Note: in just daily weighing and moving pups around to clean their whelping pen, some of these are also inadvertently done.

From the article:

Five benefits have been observed in canines that were exposed to the Bio Sensor stimulation exercises. The benefits noted were:

1. Improved cardio vascular performance (heart rate)
2. Stronger heart beats
3. Stronger adrenal glands
4. More tolerance to stress
5. Greater resistance to disease

“In tests of learning, stimulated pups were found to be more active and were more exploratory than their non- stimulated littermates over which they were dominant in competitive situations.”

I must say these pups are content, chubby, healthy and beautiful. They rarely fuss. Now let’s hope I did not jinx myself. They are getting enough to eat (mother’s milk), they are being kept at the right temperature (warm side of the pen and a slightly cooler side so they can freely crawl to one side or the other), and I like to make sure Momma Peony is laying on the cooler side to keep her comfortable as well.

Note: With a smaller litter a breeder must be concerned with the pups getting too much milk, which will cause diarrhea, lack of digestion and fussy, crying pups. Also if mother is over fed and has too much milk, she can get sick with mastitis, a very painful swollen teats and infection. It is important that you check momma’s teats each day to make sure all are getting nursed on. If any are starting to feel hard and warmer than the others, you can place pups on it to make sure it gets relief, or you can manually express the milk out by milking the teat gently. You should not place the pup on the teat once it is already infected. Only if you catch it in time, before it becomes a problem.

Photos coming… me tired!