Your puppy, a tiny soft toy for his whole life ?

Some of you are going to be disappointed : no ! Your puppy won’t necessarily stay an adorable little teddy bear forever.

The gestation

When your puppy is born, he is not a blank sheet. The food his mother consumed, her emotional states, her health, everything she has experienced, influenced his development in utero.

If his mother is relaxed during her pregnancy, eats well, and is in good health, your puppy is already more likely to be born with a solid foundation (especially if the ancestors are also well-balanced in body and temperament).

If his mother is in distress during her pregnancy, the hormones she releases then will affect the puppy's growth. Her health issues, fears, and aggression will influence the puppies.

The first weeks of your puppy

When puppies are born, they are deaf and blind for the first fifteen days. Their digestive system is unstable, so the mother licks their anus to stimulate defecation. If someone suggests you train your dog just like his mother, forgetting you are not a dog, keep it in mind that you should then also help out if your puppy becomes constipated.

Then, the senses awaken. He discovers sounds, images and lights. He touches textures. He takes his first foods that do not come from his mother’s teats.

He builds his first experiences through his environment and everything that makes it up at that time.

Your puppy arrives in your place

Patience and safety are the key words. Your puppy has just left a familiar environment, his littermates, his mother, and the humans he has known since he was born.

In your place, everything is new. Yourself, you are strangers. How your household works may differ from what he has experienced to date.

He might not be able yet to hold his pee or poop : his system is not working as expected yet, and he is easily distracted.

His first need is to feel you are friends, not tyrants. From then, you'll be able to teach him many things.

The changes in your puppy

The behavior he displayed during the first few days, even first weeks, are the mirrors of his strategies for adapting to your environment and your way of life. He is learning at every moment he is awake, whether or not you are consciously interacting with him.

Everything he has experienced from his life inside his mom's womb to this day has built him.

That said, this development is not set in stone. Your puppy is a living being. He experiences emotions and goes through various life events. His body changes. That unbearable or adorable ball of fur changes. He might go from calm to exuberant, or from wild to phlegmatic. Nothing is fixed forever. That is also the beauty of the life you share with him.