Early Neurological Stimulation

Today the puppies are 5 days old and have all doubled their birthweights. They will go through various stages of development and until 2 weeks of age are in the neonatal period when they can neither see, hear or control their own body temperatures.

Puppy 5 weighing in at 615 g
(Note: The white marks on the pups are their identification marks!)

Between 3 and 16 days is a period of rapid neurological growth and development for the puppies. In addition to routine handling and weighing of the pups to check on their progress, we also do a series of 5 Early Neurological Stimulation exercises with them once a day.

You can read an article about early neurological stimulation by Dr. Carmen Battaglia by clicking on the title below:

"Developing High Achievers"

In his article he explains that the exercises produce neurological stimulations which wouldn't naturally occur at this stage of the puppies' lives. The result is that the neurological system is kicked into action earlier and the following benefits have been found:

1. Improved cardiovasular performance (heart rate)
2. Stronger heartbeats
3. Stronger adrenal glands
4. More tolerance to stress
5. Greater resistance to disease

Exercise 1: Head held erect (Puppy 7)

Exercise 2: Head pointing down (Puppy 6)

Exercise 3: Supine position (Puppy 5)

Exercise 4: Thermal stimulation on a cool, damp towel (Puppy 7)

Exercise 5: Tactile stimulation (Puppy 8)