HOW WE RAISE OUR PUPPIES
Newborn to 12 Weeks

Our puppies are born and spend their first few weeks in a quiet room off our bedroom, or in our bedroom, wherever mom feels safe and is the most comfortable. Our females are used to sleeping with us so sometimes they prefer to have their puppies in a playpen right beside our bed, to be honest we prefer this too!

At 4 weeks they begin the transition to the heart of our home, our open-style kitchen, where they see and hear all of our daily activities and receive tons of cuddles from us and visitors.


By 6 weeks old, the puppies have fully transitioned to their kitchen pen.

At this age they are used to sleeping in their crate, with the door off, if they want some alone time or on the open bed. They are using their potty area (either pine litter or a plastic tray with a pee pad) and are becoming acquainted with our other chin.

​We prefer open, low style ex-pens for this stage as mom can hop in and out to visit as she wishes (she's weaning them at this point) and the puppies can see everything that is going on.




​Summer litters have the great experience of playing outside, the puppies are 8 weeks old in this video.

​

We always try to make first experiences as positive as possible, here Aunt Lily is teaching the puppies that car rides are fun!

​We go for a few rides to acclimatize puppies to motion and being confined to their crate, they quickly learn to settle and enjoy the ride.
As the puppies learn acceptable behavior and improve their socialization skills, our other chin enjoy interacting with them. The puppies are 11 weeks old and Grandma Aimi is 11 years old in this video.

As you can see in the 8 and 11 week old videos, three weeks makes quite a difference in the development of a chin puppy. At 11 weeks the puppies have better balance, coordination, strength and confidence compared to at 8 weeks. Our puppies remain with us until they are at least 12 weeks old as we feel that at this age they are both physically and mentally ready to transition to their new homes.