20/05/2026
One little thing we’ve started doing with our Rainbow litter is placing a couple of random items just outside the whelping box each day and letting Stormi decide what she’d like to do with them.
Today was the first day she chose to bring something in to her babies herself… a little monster toy 🥹
As you can see, she carefully placed it right beside the puppy pile and then positioned herself to feed them, which is exactly what we hope for. It creates a calm, neutral and positive experience around something new. The puppies will start to smell different materials, textures and scents long before they’re old enough to properly interact with them.
From here, we’ll keep adding different items daily now that Stormi has given us her tick of approval. It might be a soccer ball one day, a cardboard box the next, an empty dog food bag, plastics, rubbers, soft fabrics, crinkly textures and all sorts of safe everyday objects.
These tiny little exposures may not seem like much, but they play such a big role in helping build confident, adaptable puppies. Early exposure to different smells, sounds, textures and sights helps puppies learn that new things aren’t scary. It supports resilience, curiosity and recovery from surprise, which can make transitions into family homes much smoother later on.
It also helps reduce sensitivity to normal household items and experiences as they grow. Puppies who’ve gently experienced variety early in life are often more confident exploring new environments, meeting people and handling day to day life changes.
And the best part is that it’s all done naturally and at Stormi’s pace. We always let mum lead the way 💛🌈
Puppy noises so make sure you have your sound up!!
