Poodle Breeding Program

Why we are “Above the Standard”

Let’s talk puppy curriculums!

Between days 3 and 16, the puppies do daily Early Neurological Stimulation (ENS) as well as Early Scent Introduction (ESI).

ENS was created by Dr. Carmen Battaglia and consists of 5 exercises that are performed for 3-5 seconds each.

  1. Tactical stimulation (between toes)

  2. Head held erect

  3. Head pointed down

  4. Supine position

  5. Thermal stimulation

The benefits of ENS include:

  1. Improved cardiovascular performance (heart rate)

  2. Stronger heart beats

  3. Stronger adrenal glands

  4. More tolerance to stress

  5. Greater resistance to disease

Each puppy’s response is recorded daily as either mild protest, moderate protest, or forceful protest. We then look for patterns over the 14 day curriculum which helps us with matching puppies to homes later on!

ESI was created by Dr. Gayle Watkins and exposes the puppy to a different pungent smell each day. We then chart their reactions and again look for patterns:

  1. Positive - puppy actively engaged with the scent

  2. Neutral - no reaction noted

  3. Negative - puppy moved away from scent

Benefits include nose awareness and confidence! This is great for people looking for service dog tasks related to scent, hunting dogs, tracking dogs, and more! The only sense that puppies are born with is their smell and we can teach them to capitalize on that right away by exposing them to a scent and then giving them back to their mom for food - as Bill would say, “odor pays”!