Puppy Update
The Shih Tzu puppies are doing amazing! My daughter helped me complete Early Neurological Stimulation exercises with the puppies this evening. ENS exercises are relatively easy to perform. Early Neurological Stimulation consists of 5 exercises that are performed for 3-5 seconds. It is important to only perform ENS on puppies that are relaxed and experiencing no difficulties adjusting to newborn life.
Early Neurological Stimulation Steps:
- Tactile Stimulation (Rub a Q tip between toes.)
- Hold head erect.
- Hold head facing down.
- Supine position.
- Thermal Stimulation
Peaches, Sky, and Smokey didn’t protest or complain at all during the Early Neurological Stimulation exercises. Blaze protested a little bit. Sunny didn’t like the exercise at all! It’s interesting to see how differently Shih Tzu puppies from the same litter react! Every puppy has a unique personality that will slowly start to emerge over the next several weeks.
We also completed Early Scent Introduction. ESI exercises help puppies develop a keen sense of smell. Early Scent Introduction not only helps with nose awareness but confidence as well. The scent of the day was coconut.
Early Scent Introduction Scores:
•Sky-positive
•Sunny-neutral
•Smokey-neutral
•Blaze-negative
•Peaches-positive
The puppies all continue to gain weight and are thriving. As they mature more, I will continue to work to help them complete their developmental benchmarks. The end game is well-socialized bulletproof Shih Tzu puppies.
Peaches, Sky, and Smokey didn’t protest or complain at all during the exercise. Blaze protested a little bit. Sunny didn’t like the exercise at all! It’s interesting to see how differently they react!
The puppies all continue to gain weight and are thriving. As they mature more, I will continue to work to help them complete their developmental benchmarks. The end game is well-socialized puppies.
