​Top quality Bernedoodles Standard Bernedoodles, Mini Bernedoodles, and Tiny Bernedoodle puppies. "Often imitated, never duplicated" 

​Bernedoodles NEONATAL PHASE

Were you aware of the fact that only 20% –30% of our dogs’ beha­vior is gene­tic? More than 70% is affected by the impact of socialization — that is, stimuli which were presented to the puppies in a critical period of development (up to about 12–18 weeks of age).

From the first day of birth, an amazing process takes place in the brain — the formation of connections between brain cells. Never before and never again these connections will be formed with such a speed.

Too much of stimulus, (or lack of them) will affect the future life of your dog as an adult.

Weather he/she will be fear­ful, aggressive, have different types of phobias, OR weather he/she will be sustainable, self-confident — depends from the events that take place during the critical period of development. (up to about 12-18 weeks of age)

Therefore, we pay a major concern for what, and how do we do with the puppies in the certain periods of their lives. In various sta­ges of development puppies are sensitive to different stimuli. When they come into the world the only functioning sen­ses are: thermal, touch, smell. There is no point in tuning them to audi­tory and visual sti­muli (their eyes and ears are clo­sed). Howe­ver in that first period, we can already work for their development.

Volhard Puppy Aptitude Testing
To help you choose the perfect puppy, at 49 days of age we bring in a non-biased professional trainer who will perform a Volhard PATon each puppy. This test helps determine temperament traits of each individual puppy.  We think that every breeder should provide this test and make the results available to their potential puppy owners, but few do. The reason that breeders typically do not perform this test is because they don't want to take a chance on "labeling"  their puppies with temperament data that may distract from their pup's cute looks and quite possibly discourage a sale in some circumstances. Well, we believe that it is more important for us to match up the right puppies with the right homes than to just sell a dog.

What is puppy testing?
Some of the tests we use were developed as long ago as the l930’s for dogs bred to become Guide Dogs.  Then in the 1950’s, studies on puppies were done to determine how quickly they learned.  These studies were actually done to identify children’s learning stages.  

Top Dog Tips: The ideal age to test the puppy is at 49 days of age when the puppy is neurologically complete and it has the brain of an adult dog. With each passing day after the 49th day the responses will be tainted by prior learning.  

Later on in the early 60’s more tests were developed to determine if pups could be tested for dominance and submission.  These tests determined that it was indeed possible to predict future behavioral traits of adult dogs by testing puppies at 49 days of age.  Testing before or after that age affected the accuracy of the test, depending on the time before or after the 49th day.  

See more information on the Volhard Test here  

​What is Early Neurological Stimulation -ENS?

 Bernedoodle, head up Bernedoodle, on back   Bernedoodle, head down Bernedoodle, head down   Bernedoodle, tickling Bernedoodle, tickling     Bernedoodle, tickling Bernedoodle, ther­mal stimulation   Properly done Early Neurological Stimulation brings the following benefits:   1. Improves heart vessels’ functions 2. Strengthens the cardiovascular system 3. Strengthens glands producing adrenaline 4. Improves resistance to stress 5. Improves resistance to diseases. During this period, puppies’ excretory processes are governed mainly by the mother. She licks their bellies to stimulate bowel movements this future position “on back” is one of the strongest calming signals and submissive posture.   TRANSITION PHASE (from two weeks to go about 21 days — the moment of ope­ning the ears)   During this period, eyes open. We can slowly introduce visual stimuli.   Bernedoodle sight stimulation       “In the ani­mal world, the first thing that bitch does when her young are born, is lic­king them from heads to toes. Her ton­gue provides an initial picture in the brain of puppy himself. In addition, if the litter couple puppies is born they constantly rub against each other, trying first steps, every millimeter of their bodies absorb fur­ther knowledge about what they are and how they function. This enhances the formation of their overall self-image”

ENS is a set of five exercises (puppy with head up, head down, puppy on his back, tic­kling feet, , puppy on a cold towel). All exercises can be done at max 5 seconds each. Because the risk of over-stimulating pup­pies is high I recom­mend first time bre­eders to practice on a toy first.

Stimula­tion seems easy but from my obse­rva­tion in ine­xpe­rien­ced hands time of each exercise extends too much. Too many stimulus during this period will affect fur­ther develop­ment of puppies in a negative way. It is easy to cross the thin line of five seconds hence I recommend doing the exercises for three seconds each.

Bernedoodle Genetics

(from birth to about two weeks of age. An eye-opening moment)

Puppies are born with eyes and ears closed. Stu­dies have shown, however, that despite of such immaturity and associated restrictions puppies are extremely sensitive to thermal stimuli and tactile motion. Therefore, in this stage of life we can already work on Early Neurological Stimulation or ENS.

Bernedoodles Socialization