CHESAPEAKE BAY RETRIEVERS

Zero to three weeks.

Beartown Chesapeake pups are raised in our home. Litters are whelped in an upstairs room, right next to my bedroom. Because we have a boarding and training kennel, we can be here full time to handle the pups every day from the time they are born. At this time they are not exposed to strangers. We find this is less stressful for mothers and pups.

Three to six weeks, a big new world.

As soon as the mother is comfortable with people looking at her pups, usually around three weeks, they are brought downstairs once or twice a day. They explore the kitchen and are cuddled by any friends that stop in to visit. At four to five weeks, they come downstairs and start going outside every time they wake up. Weather permitting, they are fed outside to get them used to "bathroom duty" right after meals. From the age of five weeks they are given individual attention and retrieving practice. We start with knotted socks and work up to live pigeons.

Six to eight weeks.

Now is the fun time. In their sixth week the pups are tattooed. The vet comes at seven weeks to give them a full physical exam and their first inoculations. Between six & seven weeks we do informal puppy aptitude testing. These tests are interesting and can give some valuable information but a decision should not be made solely on the results. Puppies can change from day to day. During this time they are exposed to loud noises. Their retrieving gets better and they can handle larger birds.

Eight weeks and older.

Puppies that stay here after 8 weeks of age go right into our "Headstart" program. They are crate trained, exposed to other adult dogs to learn canine manners and started on simple obedience commands. If the weather is suitable, they go for walks in fields and through ditches. They get to retrieve live birds.