our breeding program
Our Breeding Philosophy
At Bones Retrievers Golden Retrievers Breeder, we believe that every puppy deserves to be healthy, happy, and loved. We spend a great deal of time interacting with puppy and mom. We want them to feel safe, comfortable, and familiar with human interaction right from day one. Every puppy at Bones Retrievers id delivered with us in the room. It's a special moment we don't want to miss!
Our Puppy Guarantee
We stand behind our puppies and guarantee their health for up to one year. We also provide a lifetime of support to our puppy owners, including advice on training, nutrition, and any other questions you may have. Every puppy goes home with first round of vaccines and a veterinary health inspection certificate.
Puppy Culture
Neonatal Period: 0-14 days
Early Neurological Stimulation (ENS) begins on day 3 and continues through day 16. Research shows that tiny struggles and stresses in appropriate small doses are actually good for puppies and will help them grow into strong, healthy well-adjusted adults. Benefits include greater tolerance to stress, greater resistance to disease, faster adrenal system, stronger heart rate and stronger heartbeat. This is a gift that a breeder can only give their puppies once during the window of 3-16 days. *Please note that larger litters, new moms, challenging litters will not get all ENS tests done to avoid any extra stress.
Transitional Period: 14-21 days
Behavioral markers are used to identify the beginning and end of each developmental period because every puppy is different and these timelines are simply guidelines. The transitional period begins when the puppy’s eyes open and ends when they first startle upon hearing sounds. From mixing moose with mommy's milk, sometimes extra calorie supplements, and introducing kibble.
Critical Socialization Period: 3-12 weeks
Most people think of socialization as exposing their puppies to as many new experiences as possible while the puppy is young. While this is part of the process, it’s not enough. Our goal is to raise dogs that have the emotional intelligence to connect with you. Emotional intelligence can be taught to young puppies and one of the goals of the Puppy Culture Program is to teach breeders how to do this. There are 7 key things that will nurture the emotional intelligence of a puppy.
1: Communication – giving a puppy his own voice. Encouraging exploration of growls, barks, and a sounds.
2: Emotional stability – the ability to recover easily from fear as well as stress (ENS is used with litters that can tolerate the stress tests)
3: Habituation – familiarity with the maximum number of things (Puppy Parties, sound protocols, meeting different people, dogs, other animals)
4: Enrichment – challenges, play time, change in speed (novelty items, toys, sounds, off premises socialization)
5: Health – physical wellness and motor skills that will allow the puppy to develop in a neurologically and physically sound way (daily/weekly weight checks, grooming, vaccinations, deworming, proper nutrition, vet health checks, and extra supplements)
6: Skills – learned behaviors such as sit, paw, etc. (learning to accept commands from humans)
7: Love – the desire to seek out the company of both dogs and humans as emotionally positive experiences (love, kisses, cuddles)