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.