{"id":3997,"date":"2022-01-30T19:35:54","date_gmt":"2022-01-31T00:35:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.smokymountaindoodles.com\/?p=3997"},"modified":"2022-02-11T10:13:41","modified_gmt":"2022-02-11T15:13:41","slug":"early-neurological-stimulation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.smokymountaindoodles.com\/?p=3997","title":{"rendered":"Early Neurological Stimulation"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

By Penny Leigh of the American Kennel Club<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The first three weeks of a puppy\u2019s life are a crucial time. Puppies are very helpless at this stage. Their eyes do not open until around 10 days, and the sense of hearing starts around 2 weeks. Mama dog does most of the work at this stage, and the breeder’s job is to keep everyone warm, safe, and clean.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The most important way to interact with your litters during this phase is by touch. Your puppies should be gently handled and stroked at least two times a day so they learn that human touch is a pleasant experience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

In addition, some breeders include the Early Neurological Stimulation\n (ENS) exercises, which are conducted once daily from the third to the \n16th<\/sup> days, a period believed to be a time of rapid \nneurological growth and development. Even though puppies are very \nimmature during this time frame, they are sensitive and respond to ENS.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The US Military developed this method designed to improve the \nperformance of future military working dogs, according to the Breeding \nBetter Dogs program developed by Dr. Carmen Battaglia, esteemed breeder,\n judge, seminar presenter, and AKC board member.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"figure<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

ENS requires handling the puppies one at a time while performing a series of five exercises. Listed in order of preference, the handler starts with one pup and stimulates it using each of the five exercises. The handler completes the series from beginning to end before starting with the next pup. The handling of each pup once per day involves the following exercises:1. Tactile stimulation<\/strong> \u2013 Holding the pup in one hand, the handler gently stimulates (tickles) the pup between the toes on any one foot using a Q-tip. It is not necessary to see that the pup is feeling the tickle. Time of stimulation 3 \u2013 5 seconds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n2. Head held erect<\/strong> \u2013 Using both hands, the pup is held \nperpendicular to the ground, (straight up), so that its head is directly\n above its tail. This is an upwards position. Time of stimulation 3 \u2013 5 \nseconds. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"figure<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n
\"figure<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

3. Head pointed down<\/strong> \u2013 Holding the pup firmly with \nboth hands the head is reversed and is pointed downward so that it is \npointing towards the ground. Time of stimulation 3 \u2013 5 seconds.
\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"figure<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

4. Supine position<\/strong> \u2013 Hold the pup so that its back \nis resting in the palm of both hands with its muzzle facing the ceiling.\n The pup while on its back is allowed to sleep. Time of stimulation 3-5 \nseconds. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"figure<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

5. Thermal stimulation<\/strong>\u2014 Use a damp towel that has \nbeen cooled in a refrigerator for at least five minutes. Place the pup \non the towel, feet down. Do not restrain it from moving. Time of \nstimulation 3-5 seconds.
\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is extremely important that you do not<\/strong> repeat the exercises more than once<\/strong>\n per day and do not extend the time beyond that recommended for each \nexercise. Over stimulation of the neurological system can have adverse \nand detrimental results.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What Does ENS Do?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

When performed correctly, ENS is believed to impact the neurological \nsystem by kicking it into action earlier than would be normally \nexpected, the result being an increased capacity that later will help to\n make the difference in its performance, according to Breeding Better \nDogs. ENS is time sensitive and must be performed from the third to the \n16th<\/sup> days of a puppy\u2019s life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The exercises are not a substitution for daily handling and stroking of young puppies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Five benefits have been observed in canines that were exposed to ENS,\n including improved cardio vascular performance (heart rate); stronger \nheart beats; stronger adrenal glands; more tolerance to stress; and \ngreater resistance to disease.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In tests of learning, ENS stimulated pups were more active and \nexploratory than their non- stimulated littermates, according to \nBreeding Better Dogs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n


<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Penny Leigh of the American Kennel Club The first three weeks of a puppy\u2019s life are a crucial time.[…]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[58],"tags":[285,145,282,288,283,284,287,286],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.smokymountaindoodles.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3997"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.smokymountaindoodles.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.smokymountaindoodles.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.smokymountaindoodles.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.smokymountaindoodles.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3997"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.smokymountaindoodles.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3997\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3998,"href":"https:\/\/www.smokymountaindoodles.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3997\/revisions\/3998"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.smokymountaindoodles.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3997"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.smokymountaindoodles.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3997"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.smokymountaindoodles.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3997"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}