doodles on schnoodles
Fantasy Pups
rWell, the end of the summer is almost here. Kids are back in school and the puppies are all heading off to there forever homes. All our puppies have homes with loving families. The farthest home is in Michigan, the closest right here in town. It has been a very busy time for us, but a time full of joy. Now the task of raising these puppies passes on to their new families, and we return to our usual lives. I wanted to post one more video. This one was taken in the early morning, while the grass was still wet with dew. Three puppies were out for their morning potty break and Phantasia came out to play with them. My son has no commentary - he just tries to run around to catch the puppies in action. I hope you enjoy....
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Today we had our first litter of puppies go home. It was bitter-sweet for us - we will miss Phantasia's little troop. So we try to think positive: less clean up, more time for ourselves and our own pets. But it sure was sweet to see the unmitigated delight in the families that went away with a puppy in their arms. Click here to see the photos of the day.
Remember: we are always here to offer advice. And don't forget to send us pictures as puppy grows! Just for fun, today my son will guest-blog to talk about something other than our puppies... but he will still blog about puppies!
People ask whether we would be willing to adopt out two puppies to the same family. The answer is the same whether we adopt one or two: only if you can show that you are prepared for the responsibility. Of course, we will need a lot of more convincing before we would send you home with two puppies -- a lot -- but it has nothing to do with "Littermate Syndrome". Here my son explains why... There are thousands of websites that discuss so-called "Puppy Littermate Syndrome". The phrase has become so common in the "dogosphere" that many people -- even not a few vets, trainers, and breeders -- take it as a scientific term. It is not. The whole concept is based on "junk science". Turns out that there is not a shred of scientific evidence to support this so-called "syndrome". But first, what does the term mean? There are many definitions out there, but they all boil down to the same thing. "Littermate Syndrome" refers to any undesired behavior expressed by a pet (usually a dog) that was raised with another animal from its own litter. That over-broad description alone should cause anyone with a training in science to wince. But as with all junk science, there is plenty of anecdotal "evidence" to back it up. This "evidence" is frequently contradictory behaviors. "The siblings are too affectionate to each other and do not value the affection of their owner" versus "The siblings are too aggressive with one another and jealous of their owner's affection." In other words, it doesn't matter what the behavioral problem is, the cause just has to be that the pets are siblings because "after all, they are littemates and what else could it be?" Clearly that is not a scientific explanation - unless a direct causal connection can be found -- this is called an aetiological connection -- between being conceived together in the same womb and exhibiting a specific list of harmful behaviors, it is rash to lump the behaviors together to imply that they have the same cause. (At least we can be thankful that no one is blaming it on vaccinations!) In fact, not only is there no evidence showing that the undesired behavior is caused by the littermate connection, there is not even statistical evidence to show that the undesired behavior is more frequent among littermates. (That is, there is no positive correlation). The myth justifies itself by claiming that littermates have a deep bond which prevents them from bonding with their human companions. Sounds good, right? But there is no evidence that littermates actually have such a bond, and wild dogs definitely do not show a propensity to form stronger social interactions with their own siblings than other dogs - in fact, it is just the reverse. Another account goes like this: puppies are more apt to bond with their own species than with their human companions because they "speak the same language" and so it is easier to learn one another's language then the foreign language of their human companion. Sounds good, right? The "language" argument commits the fallacy of anthropomorphism, an attractive argument, but far from scientific. Note that by this "language" argument, the "syndrome" would not only be displayed by littermates, but by any puppy raised in a house with another dog. Either way, both accounts ignore the demonstrated scientific fact that, because they are pack animals, dogs are capable of forming multiple non-exclusive bonds. Additionally, domesticated dogs have been bred to be capable of bonding outside their species, and the result is that they are not only capable of bonding with human beings, but with other non-threatening, social species (e,g. cats, horses, and sheep) just as easily and quickly and intensely as with other dogs. It is important when "reading" a dog's behavior to know that dogs are not people; they do not communicate by language. They interpret some behavior instinctively and other behavior by a learned association with pleasure or pain, whether that behavior is displayed by another dog, a cat, a horse, a sheep, or a man. So they "understand" anyone in there pack just as well as anyone else -- either by instinct or by a learned association. If the dog's companion (whether it be a man, cat, sheep, or another dog) behaves consistently, the dog will "understand" whether they are dealing with a friend or enemy, and how to behave to illicit the most favorable outcome. They may not do what you want, or what the cat wants, or what the sheep wants, or what the other dog wants, but they will "understand" whether to avoid the situation, ignore it, submit to it, or encourage it. So where does the myth come from? As with all myths, there can be multiple origins. But one is probably that people who try to train two puppies at once often do not give enough time to training each puppy and so undesirable behaviors result. Another cause is probably that people who raise two puppies at once assume that they can neglect their puppy's socialization because "it has another dog to socialize with them." In other words, the bonding problem is not on the side of the puppy, but on the side of the human being. Finally, it may be that trainers attempt to train both dogs together rather than separately, as if they have a school room full of children all sitting in a row of desks. (Yet we know that even with human children, individual tutoring can be more effective at times than mass education.) The fact is that it is sometimes more difficult FOR TRAINING A PUPPY to have in addition to the dog trainer another animal in the household (whether the other animal is a littermate, or a non-related puppy, or an adult dog, or even other human beings!) This other animal may distract the puppy's attention during training sessions. The solution is to separate the puppy from these distractions during training. Which is why most of the websites that address how to "cure littermate syndrome" simply state basic advice to overcome any situation which would interfere with a puppy's training or neglect its socialization.. So be smart. Whether you have two puppies, or a puppy and children, or even a puppy and an under-cooperative spouse, you need to establish a plan to train your puppy that gives the puppy adequate training time, and is sensitive to distractions. One final note. "Distractions" are not always bad. These other animals can also be an asset in training. This is because the behavior of other animals can reinforce what the trainer is trying to teach. It could be a child letting the puppy outside for potty time; it could be another puppy being rewarded for offering a paw or sitting on command. So use common sense: get others involved when it can help, and out of the way when it can hurt. So if you want to raise a puppy and a goldfish (tough and easy), or a puppy and a kitten (tough and less tough), or two puppies (tough and tough), or a puppy and a baby (tough and very tough) or a puppy and quintuplets (tough and nearly impossible!).... go ahead. Just be aware that you are committing yourself to training multiple individuals, and you need to prepare yourself to meet the needs of all. Renowned Certified Applied Animal Behaviorists Dr. Suzanne Hetts and Dr. Dan Estep have made this 5-minute video to debunk the Littermate Syndrome Myth and to redirect the tidal wave of bad information out there. When littermates display behavioral problems that have nothing to do with being littermates, we do our pets a disservice by being distracted by this myth. Friday was total crazy! After a busy morning cleaning pens and doing laundry, we rushed off to the vet for Phantasia's puppies' vaccinations and health examination. Dr. Greg checked each puppy's bones and joints, eyes, ears, mouth, teeth, heart, lungs, abdomen, gonads and bottom, as well as the puppy's disposition. He was surprised at how well-mannered our puppies are especially after dealing with a litter of unruly pitbulls earlier that morning. He commented on how readily they interacted with him, transitioning quickly from cautious to curious to friendly, curling their tails over the back and wagging it vigorously. He even got a "kiss" on the nose from each one. They were so fascinated with him that they did not even notice the "bee sting" between the shoulder blades when they got their shot. Every puppy got very high marks for both health and character! Dr. Greg than gave us an extra half hour just to "talk shop" as we discussed the ins and outs of puppy health, the pros and cons of various medicines, the genetics of fur coloration, etc. Then we ran home for a quick lunch and to pick up our next litter, Marshmellow's. Then it was back to the animal hospital for the next batch of vaccinations and health examinations. (This practice will not do multiple litters in the same visit.) Once again, every puppy got high marks for both health and character. As breeders, we were so proud of the praise we were getting, but we knew it was the great advise that we had been given by established home breeders that made the difference. (Shout out to the families of Taco and Wilma: although all the puppies were very friendly, Dr, Greg announced these two pups were his faves because they immediately began to lick his face when he knelt down beside the examination table to talk to them.) We ended our second visit with another pow-wow on the latest research on neutering and the ideal age to send a puppy off to its forever home. So we were feeling pretty good after these two vet visits. Everyone wants to have a healthy baby, but it is doubly happy to be told you are raisin' them right! We hope that each of our adopting families is also proud to have a puppy with such a good start, knowing that they can concentrate on continuing with a good beginning instead of having to fix a bad start. We got home just in time to start dinner. And tomorrow is Visitation Day for Marshmellow's puppies... looks like another cray-cray day! Examining the ears and eyesHere are three videos for fans of Phantasia's puppies. You will notice that they are more active than Marshmellow's pups. That's the difference four days in age makes. But it is deceptive: they had just eaten, they nurse in the video, and they had not already worn themselves out in the hot sun. Next week, we will do a combined video of both litters together. I expect absolute chaos! I frequently try our different products with my own dogs to see what works and what does not. I am always looking for something better, either because it works better than similar products or it is better priced than equally effective products. Often, I end up coming back to the very products I started with.
Adopting families often ask me what they will need to bring home a puppy, or they ask me for my recommendations. So I have added a new category to the top menu of my website. Most of what I recommend was learned from Growing Puppies, but I tried to make my list more printable and condensed. I welcome suggestions if ever you come across a product that you want to recommend! Taking advantage of the break in the rain, we got Marshmellow's Pups out into the sunshine today. Here are a series of four videos from this afternoon. |
BreederHello. My name is Marie, and I have three Schnauzers that fill my life with joy! With the help of my children and grandchildren, I am raising Schnoodle puppies and placing them in good homes. Feel free to browse through my website and enjoy the pictures! Archives
February 2020
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