WHAT I DO WITH EACH PUPPY AS A BREEDER

Welcome to Orange hill Kennels! My name is Natalie and I have been fascinated with German shepherds as far back as I can remember! I was so excited to get my first shepherd in 2016 and my love for the breed has grown ever since! To say I was obsessed with researching about the breed would be an understatement. I Had my first litter of German shepherds in 2019! When the puppies were born I wanted only the best for them and that is when I learned about Puppy Culture! Here at Orange Hill Kennels I believe in equipping each puppy to be confident, so that they will be able to handle every day stresses that they will encounter in their life! I use a curriculum called Puppy Culture. In this series I do ENS from day 3 through to day 16. ENS is introducing small amounts of appropriate stresses that has scientific proof to increase their stress tolerance as adults! 
Once the puppies eyes are open and they can hear I start doing individual snuggle sessions, this helps the puppy learn that it is okay to be away from their litter mates and also starts a bond between the puppy and human that will never be broken. I also add a new toy or object to their pen every day. this helps them learn and explore new things! When the puppies ears are open I begin to startle them once a day... Yes it sounds bad but it is actually very beneficial. startling them is as easy as dropping a book by their pen, to playing a sound track of vehicles. Why is this so beneficial? if the puppy gets startled everyday the puppy learns that being startled and hearing an odd thing is okay and it's just part of life. It also helps the puppies recover from being startled very quickly!
I continue to add new ideas to my program that have been proven to help each puppy as they grow.
Raising a litter of puppies is a "job" that I don't take lightly. I do my very best to make sure each puppy as an individual will be confident and able to with stand the stresses of daily living. In all my litters I have produced I have seen first hand on what a big impact starting them off right makes them!