Thank you to Karen Gatchell, Wells Maine for passing this excellent article on for us to read. Gordon Setter puppies need to be socialized properly from the whelping box to adulthood – whenever adulthood comes, perhaps by around age 6 or 7! Breeders who make time to properly expose those puppies to a varied and active start, long before they go to their forever homes, are truly gems. For the best advice ever on how to give your pups a fantastic start in life be sure to follow this link to Gayle Watkins article Raising Puppies to be Brave: The Top 10 Ways to Create Confident Dogs. (Just point and click this title and my magic carpet will take you there.)
And while you’re at it take a look back at our previous blog post The Puppy Play Ground (simply click this link) for a look at Debbie Slaski Bjerkstrand‘s puppy play ground Mark built for their Gordon Setter babies. Thank you so much Debbie for demonstrating how Gordon Setter breeders do it right!
Here is a great video of her Gordon Setter pups at play in the yard, learning to be brave!
Here she takes the young litter outside for some new experiences.
Here is Laurie Ward’s litter rushing down the steps as they’ve already learned how to explore the great outdoors…brave kids!
And they ask us why our puppies cost so much?
Sally Gift, Mesa AZ
Raising Puppies to Be Brave: The Top 10 Ways to Create Confident Dogs – Avidog.
Gordon Setter Expert 
From our Facebook reader:
Paul F. Doherty – Our breeder is a school teacher and when each new litter reaches 7 weeks, she brings then to school and has all the children sit in a circle letting all the puppies into the middle. The children can grab, pull, pet and touch all the puppies helping to socialize them at a very early age. This was done with our Gordons Chester & Cooper and as a result, they are great with everyone…especially children!
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From our Facebook reader:
Joanne Altman – Loved the article!
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From our Facebook reader:
Carolyn Pearce – When I have puppies, they become my life for 8+ weeks and I love every minute of it. I spend as much time as possible with them and encourage as many people to do likewise. It is such fun to have puppies, hard work but fun.
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From our Facebook reader:
Pat Boldt – Sally thanks for taking the time to post articles. Lots of good ones!
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From our Facebook reader:
Daniel DeVito – Awesome article. Thank you for sharing
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A comment from our Facebook follower:
Beverly Garaux – Love your articles.
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Here is a great question posted by one of our Facebook readers. What is the opinion out there, post your comments so we can discuss here!
Great article….but….I always hate to see breeders letting their young pups go up/down stairs!!!! It makes me cringe. It’s SO bad for their growing/sensitive joints, from everything I’ve read and heard. I thought you should ALWAYS avoid steps and slippery floors, for proper development, -ie. to help prevent developing hip dysplasia. Do you agree??
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Slippery yes, steps no. Puppies will encounter steps in their lives and teaching them to navigate safely seems like something I want. I’ll investigate more and ad a note if needed.
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