Our Puppies
Our goal is to set the puppies that we bring into this world up for success in their forever homes. and it begins the second they are born. We document the weight of each puppy, and place a marking collar on their neck. For the first few weeks of their lives they are weighed twice daily, to ensure that each puppy is getting adequate nutrition and is thriving.
At three days of age we begin early neurological stimulation (ENS) and early scent introduction (ESI).
Early Neurological Stimulation is a program of short, gentle exercises for newborns that introduces mild stressors to stimulate their developing nervous system, aiming to improve their stress tolerance, immune function, cardiovascular health, and adaptability later in life, originally developed by the U.S. military for working dogs. These simple, daily activities include tactile, thermal, and positional changes, helping build resilience by challenging the puppy's system in a controlled way. This is performed from days 3-16 of the puppies life.
Early Scent Introduction is a puppy development technique, also done on days 3-16, where we briefly expose newborns to unique, pungent scents (like herbs, leather, or fur) to boost nose awareness, confidence, and scenting ability for future tasks like service or detection work, tracking their positive (interest), negative (avoidance), or neutral reactions to build resilient, alert dogs.
After the puppies have completed their ENS and ESI, it is just about time to begin the potty training process. This is where we introduce them to a designated potty area. This introduction typically takes place around 3 weeks of age, which is also when they are introduced to gruel. Gruel is a soft mixture of puppy food and high quality milk replacer.
Around 4 weeks of age they are introduced to a crate, we are firm believers in training our dogs to develop a healthy relationship with a crate. A crate may not be ideal for your living situation, but peace of mind goes into knowing that your dog would be comfortable in a crate if an emergency every occurred and you were left with no choice but to crate them.
Our puppies are handled daily, we do our best to socialize them as much as safely possible for their age. We work to slowly desensitize them to multiple noises (including gunfire). Puppies are given multiple toys of many shapes and sizes to stimulate their brains each day. They are provided with many enrichment activities. We begin nail clipping as early as needed and keep their nails consistently trimmed until they leave here. This ensures that the process of clipping nails is simple for new owners, and something that the puppy is incredibly accustomed to.
The amount of time spent with our puppies individually and as a group allows us to discover their blossoming personalities. Our goal is to make sure that each personality best suits the family that they will spend their life with. This is the purpose of the puppy questionnaire. While at this time we do not pick your puppy for you, we do encourage new owners to pick the puppy that we believe will best fit their lifestyle.
It does not end when our puppies head off to their new homes, we have a lifelong commitment to each and every puppy that we raise. We will be here for any and all support needed in the future, we love watching our beautiful puppies grow up and blossom into amazing adult dogs.
The Next Step
You have reviewed our page and decided that a Range Pond Retriever would be a good fit for your family, here are the specifics. Puppies are $2200 and include the following:
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Limited AKC registration
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Two year health guarantee
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AKC Reunite microchip, with lifetime membership
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Current vaccinations
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Current deworming
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Vet check
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Introduction to both crate and potty training
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Temperament testing
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Introduction to water, retrieving, bird wings, and gunfire
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Lifetime breeder support
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Take home bag with familiar toys, treats, and enough food to transition if needed.
Reserving A Puppy
Our current process to reserve a puppy is to join our waitlist. At this time we do not require payment to be added. You must complete the puppy questionnaire. This is not a test, it is simply to ensure we are properly placing each puppy. It also helps us get to know your family.
Once the litter is born and healthy, we will contact those on our waitlist. If you are interested in a puppy from that litter, we do require a $500 non-refundable deposit. The deposit goes toward the final price of the puppy. $1700 is due upon pick up.
Picking Your Puppy
Unfortunately there has been an uptick in canine parvovirus in New England recently. Because of this we will be using extra precautions when it comes to visitors. We want you to be able to meet your puppy as soon as possible, but it is also our responsibility to ensure that we keep these fragile lives safe. We will allow families to pick their puppy between five and seven weeks of age. We promise to keep everyone updated prior to that and send plenty of photos and videos. We know how exciting it is to meet your new family member, and will use our discretion when it comes to visits prior to "puppy pick" day. Puppies go home at eight weeks of age, we will give you your take home date when deposit is paid.
