Due to their Critical Learning Periods, puppies learn and retain more in the first 12 weeks than they ever will for the rest of their lives. Raising puppies in an enriched environment has proven to result in the following intellectual and emotional benefits: 

 •Improved ability to learn and remember
 •More emotional stability
 •Better resiliency to stress

In addition to socializing our puppies to livestock from an early age, we also utilize a well laid out "Puppy Curriculum" to help them reach their full potential. We utilize Puppy Culture, Badass Breeder Curriculum, Avidog, Karen Pryor Puppy Start Right and other resources. Rather than trying to "wing it" and remember what to do with the puppies as they grow we have these great resources to help keep us on track. Puppies are individuals, therefore each puppy is allowed to go at their own pace and comfort level with the activities, but having these great resources the refer to keeps us on track!

We laminated the BAB and Puppy Culture activity sheets and posted them on the Puppy Parlor cabinets so we can easily refer to them.

• Puppy Culture
• Ultimate Badass Breeder's Guide
• Puppy Start Right
• Your Litter A to Z - Avidog

We are beginning a new series on raising and training Livestock Guardian Dogs, where we will be sharing various aspects of our breeding and training program with examples from different litters. Enjoy!

Proud parents Sevro and Marcella, with their Mini Nubian goats. They are both excellent Livestock Guardian Dogs as well as loving, affectionate dogs. To see their individual pages with their pedigrees, PennHip scores and DNA results click on their names.

On October 4th, 2022, Marcella of MoonAcre Maremmas whelped a beautiful litter Of Maremma Sheepdog puppies sired by Unfinished Acres Sevro. There are ten adorable pups, 6 boys and 4 girls. 

​All the supplies are ready for the delivery, including the Puppy Warmer Incubator and Oxygen Concentrator, which can (and has) saved the lives of struggling pups. We use a 54" x 54" Lakeside Products Magnabox Whelping Box, lined with whelping pads and washable bed pads which we change or add to as the pups are born. Whelping puppies is very messy and wet business so I do my best to keep Marcella and the pups dry and comfortable without being too intrusive. Marcella gets fast acting Breeder's Edge calcium gel, starting after the first puppy is delivered and continued in between each pup to keep the labor progressing and to prevent what I call the "post partum crazies".

Our newly installed cabinets and countertop came in very handy for recording each puppy and doing everything we needed to in order to ensure the pups got a good start in the world. I quickly discovered another upgrade I need to make, though. I like to keep the overhead lights off so the moms (and I) can rest between pups, but then it's too dark to see at the counter. So I am going to have my electrician install some under cabinet lights for when I just need lights for working but don't want the bright room lights on.

Since my dogs seem to prefer to deliver late at night I always spend the night in the Puppy Parlor with them. The air mattress isn't very comfortable but it beats sleeping on the floor, or in the barn like I used to do! The first puppy arrived around 12:30 AM and the last around 10 AM so it was a long but good night!

The first puppy arrives!

After a long night Marcella is the proud mom of ten beautiful pups! Great job! I did a quick whelping pad change after all the pups were born and then both of us took a long nap!

The puppies barking at what they perceive as an "intruder" (my son, Noah, getting hay for the animals) in the barnyard. The puppies see Noah feeding every day but apparently  something was different about him this night, setting them off. Again, no need for me to do anything. The puppies can tell that I'm not concerned so they soon relaxed.

Polar's and Marisa's 2022 litters met the horses for the first time on this day. Apparently Blossom, the mini donkey, was a concern for this puppy. Notice how patient and calm Blossom is with the puppies. She's a seasoned puppy trainer and there's no need for me to say or do anything. I just let Blossom's calm behavior reassure the puppies and they soon accepted her.

When you breed a breed of dog that only comes in one color (white) and one basic coat length (fluffy) telling the puppies apart can be a real challenge. However, being able to do so is important for several reasons. First of all, you need to be able to track the health and weights of the puppies as they grow. Secondly, tracking the temperaments and behavior of the pups is extremely important in making placements, especially in LGD puppies. The puppy that constantly chases chickens might not be the best fit for a farm with poultry. Two puppies that constantly fight should not be placed together and a very timid puppy will need a home that won't overwhelm or stress her out. Being able to tell the puppies apart from an early age, at a glance and from far away is really useful, but how do you do it?

Over the years I have tried a variety of methods with varying degrees of success. First I tried several different types of whelping collars, made of velcro, nylon webbing or paracord. The collars either came off too easily and got lost, or didn't come off easily and presented a strangulation hazard. They got tangled in the long fur too easily and most of them were quickly outgrown. And since they couldn't easily be seen under all the fur they were pretty useless for identifying puppies from even a few feet away. 

Next I tried human spray-in hair dye, sold at Halloween time. This worked pretty well but was hard to find most of the year. I tried human hair chalk, sharpies, pet dye and a variety of other things - none really showed up or lasted on the thick Maremma fur, or they were too messy or too expensive. Then somewhere I found some sheep marking dye, available in sticks (like big crayons) or spray. The sticks were useless but the spray worked ok. The only problem was the ones we initially found either didn't last more than a couple of days or didn't come in more than a couple of colors. Foiled again!

Then one day while perusing one of my favorite livestock supply websites I saw a product called Sprayline sheep marking spray. It comes in 6 colors in big cans and wasn't too expensive. I ordered a couple of cans and tried it. It worked great! It was bright, crisp and clear and it lasted at least a week. This was it! I found that by combining colors or marking different locations (head, shoulders, tail) I could mark even Gianna's litter of 13 and easily tell the puppies apart. I simply reapply the paint as it starts to fade and it works great. I even occasionally use it to mark older dogs so we can tell who they are from far away, or to mark our dairy goat kids. 

In February 2021 we had two litters born about 2 weeks apart, so I carefully kept them separate so as to not mix up the puppies. But this year (2022) I ended up with two litters that are two DAYS apart, and each litter has exactly 5 males and three females. One litter belongs to Marisa (sired by Simba) and one to Polar (sired by Sevro) and while the puppies do look very different (Marisa's puppies have Simba's fluffier coats while Polar's have slightly "plusher" coats) I didn't want to risk mixing the puppies up. And since female dogs sometimes fight or may hurt another dog's pups I kept them apart for safety, anyway, for the first 9 weeks.

But the puppies were getting bigger and I knew that eventually combining the litters would make training and management a lot easier. And having 16 fluffy white puppies all sharing one space would be a lot of fun! As Polar and Marisa were getting closer to being ready to wean their pups I knew it was about time to turn them over to Genevieve, my amazing puppy mentor, who's raised 4 litters of her own (including the litter Polar came from) as well as helped train many other dogs' puppies. But how would I tell the puppies apart? Well, I had a plan!

And what I did is this. Each litter got the same 8 colors or color combinations (Blue, green, orange, pink, purple, blue/green, blue/orange, pink/purple) of Sprayline but Marisa's puppies (the older litter) got marked on their shoulders while Polar's litter got marked on their tail ends! And to be extra sure I don't mix up the puppies I microchipped them all with the Datamars/Petlink microchips we always use, but did so before putting the pups together, noting the color and litter for each chip number in my Breeder Cloud Pro software. Then Polar and Marisa went back to work (they can come visit the puppies if they want) and Genevieve took over. And oh boy, was it ever an exciting event! The brightly painted puppies had a grand time running around, meeting the pups that until now they had only interacted with through the fence, barking at Genevieve, playing in the mud, and in general having a blast. Genny looked at as if I had truly lost my mind giving her this many puppies to care for, but she took it all with her usual placid attitude and good nature. The puppies played themselves out and crashed all together in the Puppy Parlor yard, while Genny watches over them like the great puppy mentor she is. This is going to be a fun adventure, for me and Genny!