Week Seven
Week Seven (Days 43-49)
+ Total hearing/visual capacity
+ Will investigate anything
+ Can't respond yet to name
Canine Socialization Period (21 - 49 Days):
Interacting with his mother and littermates, the pup learns various canine behaviors. He is now aware of the differences between canine and human societies.
Human Socialization Period (7 to 12 Weeks):
The pup has the brain wave of and adult dog. The best time for going to a new home. He now has the ability to learn respect, simple behavioral responses: sit, stay,
come. Housebreaking begins. He now learns by association. The permanent man/dog bonding begins, and he is able to accept gentle discipline and establish
confidence.
This morning while I fixed breakfast and cleaned up the puppy pen, the pups got to see some duck wings. Probably not the best time to check out their interest level, since they were real hungry. Its hard to get the real good shots of them with the wings, when they know you are fixing their food! Some were very interested in the new smell. I'll do more with them later with the wings.
About puppies and retrieving. 
(Darn computer problems this morning!)
Puppies will carry nearly anything they can get hold of, including your good shoes, gloves, the children's toys, and your newly-planted rosebushes. Severe scolding now, or vigorously discouraging the retrieving instinct, will quite likely result in a dog hesitant to retrieve for you later in obedience training or field work. A much better solution is to call the puppy to you (go to him when necessary), praise him gently for delivering and releasing the forbidden object, and immediately give him one of his own toys to carry and play with. If you chase him while screaming and scolding, he will only run away with the object ... and next time, may just quietly take it away to be more thoroughly "investigated".
One of the most characteristic features of the Retriever is the instinct to retrieve, and the commitment to carrying things around. Even if tennis balls and toys are the
only "birds" your pup ever retrieves, but especially if you plan to do any sort of hunting, field work, or obedience work, proper development and encouragement of
the retrieving instinct in your puppy will be a firm foundation for not just retrieving skills, but also the willingness to
work with and for a person. 
Use a small, soft object that's easy for the puppy to carry such as a rubber ball, a knotted sock, a pigeon wing, or a puppy-sized bumper. Show it to the puppy and
move it in a wiggling motion that will entice her by awakening her chase instinct. Don't move it too quickly as puppies often don't follow movements that are too fast
or abrupt, and it is important that she maintain eye contact with or "mark" the object. While she is watching the movement of the object, or attempting to take a hold
of it, encourage her with soft but excited words such as "Where's the bird? Good puppy!" and toss the object a foot or two away. Use words of encouragement
such as "Fetch it up! Good puppy!" as you call her back to you with the object, hold her gently while you praise her again both verbally and physically, and don't
take the object away too soon. Many puppies are reluctant to give up their "catch", and run away from you with it instead of bringing it back. Resist the impulse to
run after the puppy, and run away from her instead, clapping your hands, and calling her by name; this should once again initiate her "chase" instinct. Take the object
from the puppy very gently (praising all the time), and let her retrieve again immediately. When the game is over (and two or three retrieves is plenty), take the
object
from her, hold the puppy there for few more seconds of praise, and then release her.
If you are thinking of doing any type of retriever work, or hunting with your pup and you don't have a clue where to start, I suggest finding a local retriever club in your area. You can also purchase a number of good books and videos to help guide you.
One good online source of info on training a Curly is an article
written by Jim Crosby of Backcast Curlies. TRAINING THE HUNTING CURLY by James Crosby
Jim had the pleasure of working
with a few of my curlies. Elvis (SoftMaple's Velvet Elvis WC JH)Hannah (CH SoftMaple's Crossing Delancy WC JH) and Foster (Soft Maple Fosters Lager WC)
Day Forty Four 9/15/2003 
After breakfast, the pups look over the half-door (Seger is standing below)
I see they need their nails trimmed again!
The pups go out to the front pen for a while.
The men are here working on the Kennels, so there is a lot of commotion for them to see. One even brought his 3 year old daughter to play with the pups. 
Think outside the box
Day Forty Five 9/16/2003 
Click here to See stacked pictures 
Blue boy relaxes after the photo shoot. 
Attack the cameraman!
Day Forty Six 9/17/2003
Then we went for a ride to camp.
They pups are getting pretty big for the one large crate I have been transporting them in. The smaller shipping crates should be here by tomorrow.
2:00 pm, the pups get Canine 5 Prevent/Vac Combination Vaccine (Serial No. 119-034-092)
This Vaccine contains:
Canine Distemper
Adenovirus Type 2
Parainfluenza
Parvovirus Vaccine Modified Live and Killed Virus
Day Forty Seven 9/18/2003 
Truckin' out to the puppy pen 
Breakfast!
Ground is still pretty wet from the dew, so the pups go in the raised pen until it dries out. (while I clean up the mess inside!)
Day Forty Eight and Nine 9/18/2003 ~ 9/19/2003
Vet check-ups went well. They as always were a big hit with the office staff. Everyone got a clean bill of health.
Puppy evaluations went great. Everyone traveled like a trooper. Its 200 miles round trip to where I have the evaluations done.
We drove down through the remnants of Isabel. Only one pup got car sick on the trip....and it was very windy! There were no bad surprises during the evaluations. It was a very consistent litter. (By a bad surprise, I mean if a pup tested out to be very nervous during the test, so that he almost shuts down.) This is the first time the pups had been taken away from all litter mates, isolated in a strange room with someone they had never seen before...then given certain situations to see how they react. They were all very observant. Middle of the road pain sensitive. No one was sound sensitive. Wary of Mary at first, but that is a curlies nature. We left for the test at 8:00am, and got back about 4:00pm. Boy were the pups tired out!
THE RULES OF SEVENS
By the time a puppy is 7 weeks old (end of seven weeks) it should have:
1) BEEN ON 7 different surfaces:
2) PLAYED WITH 7 different types of objects:
3) BEEN IN 7 different locations:
4) BEEN EXPOSED to 7 challenges:
5) EATEN FROM 7 different containers:
6) EATEN IN 7 different locations:
7) MET AND PLAYED WITH 7 new people: including children & the elderly
Carpet Concrete Wood Vinyl Grass Dirt Gravel Wood Chips
Newspaper Etc.
Big Balls Small Balls Soft Fabric Toys Fuzzy Balls Squeaky Toys
Metal Items Wooden Items Paper/Cardboard Items Milk/Soda Jugs Etc.
Front Yard Back Yard Basement Kitchen Car Garage Laundry Room
Bathroom Crate Kennel Etc.
Climbed a box Climbed off a box Go thru a tunnel Climbed up steps
Climbed down steps Climbed over obstacles Played hide & seek Go in & out
doorway with a step Etc.
Metal Plastic Cardboard Paper China Pie Plate Frying pan Etc.
Crate Yard Kitchen Basement Laundry room Bathroom X-pen Etc.
For information email me at:
Click on book above, or mail a check to:
Pictures of the family
Cathy Lewandowski
8282 Soft Maple Road
Croghan NY 13327
Follow a litter of puppies from birthday until they go to their new homes. The diary contains lots of pictures, tips on puppy rearing, some breed specific information,
and lots of information on the care of any breed of dog.
I started doing an on-line puppy diary since many of the people that would be getting one of my pups would not be able to travel here to see the pups. I did not
want
to put a bunch of cute puppy pictures online, and encourage anyone to have a litter just because they wanted to see cute puppies! Breeding dogs, if done the right
way, is a lot of work. Lost sleep and sometimes heartache. It takes a lot of time, effort and money to raise a litter of puppies. Once I started doing The Puppy
Diary, I realized I had a captive audience. These people logged on every day to see the pictures, and read what was happening. I used this opportunity to cram as
much education into each day as I could. Health, Coat issues, grooming, feeding, socializing, vet care, puppy evaluations, shipping puppies.... you name it! I tried
to
put it in The Diary. It was suggested that I make it into a book. Well here it is! There are 560 pictures and over 300 pages of living with and watching one litter
grow up. I am sure may conscientious, caring breeders raise litters similar to the way I do. Its is a good look into the time, money, commitment it takes to
bring
up a litter of pups. Some of the things that go on behind the scenes, that the eventual puppies owners (family), never realize go into the litter.
Enjoy my litter as I see them. Day to day
Contents
Chapter One (Week One) ... Page 1
Seger comes into season
Happy Birthday!
Removing the Dewclaws
Start of the Bio Sensor program
Chapter Two (Week Two) ... Page 48
Coat issues.
Tail Gland Hyperplasia
Do Curlies Shed?
Chapter Three (Week Three) ... Page 94
End of Bio Sensor Exercises
Worming The puppies
Eyes are open
First pup escapes from the box
Chapter Four (Week Four) ... Page 130
Weaning. The great food fight!
Introduction to the puppy play room
Shark Cage
Chapter Five (Week Five) ... Page 156
Field dog? Show Dog? CPE?
Happy Mothers Day!
First Stacked pictures
Chapter Six (Week Six) ... Page 195
Toys! Toys! Toys!
What’s In A Name?
Kids and Dogs
Introduction to Wings
Chapter Seven (Week Seven) ... Page 236
About Puppies and Retrieving
Socialize your puppy
First Shots & Vet Visit
Splish Splash, first bath!
Chapter Eight (Week Eight) ... Page 286
Shape up or ship out!
Requirements to ship puppies
See all the pups!
