The Dogs Trust and the Kennel Club, together with leading trainer and behaviourist Carolyn Menteith, have developed a unique initiative to ensure every puppy has the very best start in life.
We are proud to follow this plan from the very start of life.
One of the first methods we use is Early Neurological Stimulation (ENS).
During the first eight weeks, we guide each puppy through a carefully designed process. Early Neurological Stimulation (ENS) -gentle handling exercises carried out during the first two weeks of life.
Designed to help kick-start a puppy’s neurological system, this can help
• Strengthen the immune system
• Improve heart and lung function
• Build resilience to stress
• Support brain development and learning
ENS forms the first stage of the Puppy Plan, a nationally recognised programme developed by Dogs Trust and the Kennel Club. The Puppy Plan continues right through the first 16 weeks, introducing puppies to sights, sounds, people, places, and experiences so they grow into confident, well-rounded family dogs.
Anyone that reserves one of our pups is sent The Plan. It’s useful to read through and prepare whilst you’re waiting for your Gotcha day. We encourage new owners to continue the programme for the next eight weeks at home. This approach achieves fantastic results—helping puppies and owners build strong bonds, set healthy boundaries, and enjoy a smoother start together.
Why the First 16 Weeks Matter
From birth to 16 weeks of age is the most important window in a puppy’s life. Puppies learn more during this short period than at any other stage of their development. The experiences they have now will shape their outlook on the world and their ability to handle new situations in the future.
A puppy who is properly reared during this time is far more likely to grow into a confident, calm, and adaptable adult dog.
The brain of a 16-week-old puppy has exactly the same number of brain cells as a newly born puppy – but it is roughly 10 times bigger. This extraordinary increase in size has nothing to do with the brain cells themselves but the number of connections established between them. These connections can only form as a direct result of all the experiences the puppy has in these first critical four month of life.
Every single thing your puppy sees, hears, feels, smells and tastes, every meeting he has and every new thing he discovers produces trillions of new brain connections in those first 16 weeks, and they will last for life. He is learning what things are part of his new life and his new family, what is safe and who his social group is. A puppy who is properly brought up in this period, will be far more likely to grow up to be more confident, calmer, learn new things easier, be less likely to respond to new things fearfully or aggressively – and in short, be the perfect family dog.
A dog who has not had this good start in life is more likely to be over-reactive, unable to concentrate, fearful, a slower learner, develop preventable behaviour problems – and in fact have a less well developed brain than his well socialised siblings
So why is this? All animals are by nature scared of new things. It is this self-preservation instinct for a newly-born animal to be cautious and fearful as everything is new to them.
In most wild animals, this fearfulness starts at around three weeks old. What an animal hasn’t met by then is regarded as scary and they will avoid it or if unable to do that, it’s likely they may behave defensively.
In domestic dogs this sets in at about five to seven weeks old. What the puppy hasn’t experienced by then, is far more likely to be perceived as scary. For this reason, it is really important that breeders do a lot of socialisation long before the puppies go to their new home.
Up to the first 16 weeks of age however, the puppy is also learning who his social group is. He is learning who the people and animals are that are his family and that he is social and friendly towards. The new owner has to carry on this socialisation to teach the puppy about his new family and what his life with them is going to contain.