Neonate Imprinting written by Tamara Cady
I owe it to my older sister's love of horses. I think I was about the age of seven when she introduced me to her 4-legged world. Soon her love became mine and the passion for anything "horse" was born! I participated in parades, riding competitions, halter classes and speed events. Completely horse crazy, I worked at a rental stable as a guide just so that I could have free riding privileges. I was soon turning out other owner's horses; riding and training them. My entire family was bitten by the horse bug and we soon had 7 horses of our own. I felt a real connection to the mind of the horse and over the years became successful with problem horses that others had given up on.
As a young teenager, I was introduced to the early imprinting techniques that horsemen used. It was known as "sacking out" a foal. It involved rubbing the newborn foal down with a burlap sack, poking fingers in it's ears and nostrils, touching it's genitalia, running clippers around it's body, crinkling candy wrappers and handling it's hooves and legs. It was all done in a quiet gentle methodical manner. When the session was over, the baby would be let up to join it's dam. Everyday the foal would be handled and worked with. The amazing thing about this technique is that the foal showed no fear when we entered the stall to visit. It would appraoch us as confidently as it would it's own mother.
When I later immersed myself in the dog hobby, I realized that much of my horse knowledge became applicable to this new interest. I was pleased to discover that I understood more than I realized in that much of the structural and movement terminology was the same in both species. I also learned that like a horse, handling a dog properly did not require alot of force to manipulate the animal. Working a dog with a collar placed in the correct position was all it took to control it; much like reining a horse - a gentle bit of pressure applied to the right spot (at the right time) was all that was needed.
Eventually entering the breeding arena, I decided to imprint my canine litter by developing and applying modified imprint techniques of similar psyche, as used with the newborn foals. It became of particular interest to me to see if these techniques would result in an increased level of passive human dominance to the newborn puppies.
Imprinting is not new knowledge, it has been around for centuries and practiced by the native American Indians as well as across the continent by the Arabian desert nomads. Horses were imprinted long before any book about it was written. Imprinting is a learning process that occurs in the critical learning stage of an animal's life. The information learned in this time period is thought to help shape responses to various stimuli in an environment and affect the temperament with permanent attitude.
Behaviourists have written books about imprinting, sharing stories of how animals that are born with the immediate ability to see, hear and walk will instantly bond with the first creature they encounter. It has always been thought that imprinting is only effective with such animals. Animals who cannot see, hear or walk at birth are thought to be delayed in receiving critical information early in life - after all how much imprinting can really be achieved on a creature that is born without the ability to see or hear? While the experts appear to have discounted these deaf and blind babies, I refuse to. The still have the cognitive sense of touch, smell and motion.
Responsible breeders raise their puppies to the best of their ability, giving the litter a safe and loving environment and ensuring it has a proper nutritional diet. They will socialize their puppies and expose them to new experiences as soon as the puppy's eyes open and they are steady on their feet. Puppies of excellent health and mental stability are likely to be produced if a breeder has done the proper research of theparent of their litter. There is very little one can do to alter what the puppy is physically going to become at a mature age. This is controlled by genetics, diet and exercise. It is important to remember that while temperament is genetic in nature, an animal's personality and behaviour are not. A breeder can therefore modify these traits to produce a desired response. Never forgetting the Bullmastiff is a guard breed, it is important that my puppies associate early on that the human is to be respected, trusted and sought for comfort, guidance and assurance. A dog that does not respect the human is not only extremely dangerous, it is also a huge liability to it's family. There should never be a question of a puppy challenging a person's position.
My first intact Bullmastiff male had a very dominant temperament. I saw this trait when he was just a 5 week old puppy. I remarked my thoughts to his breeder. The breeder was opposed to formal obedience training and encouraged me to restrict my desire to control the puppy until he was done with showing in the conformation ring. This puppy came from a very loving breeder home where he had run of the house. In those early weeks of his life, he had little guidance and respect for the humans he lived with. He made the rules and lived with no boundaries. When he came to live with me, it was clear that he tolerated our house rules but only by his choice.
His desire to take over was sly, quiet and effective. It seemed to come from nowhere, and yet all the signs were openly present. I do believe in a case like his, this dog never learned respect of the human from his breeder and it showed as he matured into a dog with a desire to control his environment. He was an alpha male who was not only extremely intelligent but also very manipulative. I was a novice owner who failed to act on the warning signs. Ultimately it was because of the lack of consistent leadership in our household that the poor behaviour was not just reinforced, it became to dog's mindset. It was only after living with a dog like this that I refined my imprint technique to focus on passively influencing the developing minds of the newborn puppies through specific exercises that we previously developed with our first litter.
Our puppies are handled from the first moment they are born. They are rubbed down by people and therefore the human touch is the first thing the puppy experiences about life outside it's dam's womb. Once they are safely delivered, they are placed on their dam to nurse. Our puppies are supplemented by bottle feeding every other feeding off it's dam. In their first 24 hours of life, they are additionally given a plasma product that helps to boost their immature immune system.
They are held in various positions and held by different persons several times a day, everyday until they are old enough to see and hear. In this time period, the puppies have learned the human touch. They have come to sense that along with their dam, the human is the one who comforts them, relieves their bodily functions, gives them warmth, comfort and food. They have come to trust no matter if they are held upside down, right side up, backward, forward, sideways, they will always be safe with the human holding them. It is quite a sight to see a puppy remain as limp as an overcooked spaghetti noodle while being held upside down and backward. No struggles, no battle to upright itself. It is completely confident that 'life is good' because the person has hold of it.
I work fulltime and cannot be home with my litter during the day. I hire a puppy nanny to look after my litter while I am away. My nannies are trained to handle the puppies in a very specific manner. They are instructed to take extensive detailed notes on how the puppies respond when they are initially picked up. Each puppy has individual notes takes about it as it goes through this process. If a puppy stiffens when it is held or struggles on an effort to upright or escape a person's grasp, then it is given careful attention with regard to desensitizing it to whatever is bothering it. It is not long before it realizes that it is okay and remains safe while the human holds it. They are stimulated by the human to 'do their business'. (Notes regarding it's stool quality are taken: consistency, amount, color, smell. The color and amount of it's urine; or if a puppy appears to be straining when relieving itself is also recorded. These notes are extremely helpful to the vet if any health concern should arise.)
The puppies are held and handled several times in a day. The Nanny makes notes of what happens and what they feel like when a puppy is picked up. She makes note of it's general appearance and demanor. How does it's skin and coat feel (smooth, rough, dry, cool, warm, etc) does the puppy feel solid like a brick or loose like a bag of potateos? It is interesting to notes that one can actually feel the structure of a well built puppy versus one with a structural fualt. The Nanny's detailed thoughts of each puppy as it is handled, is written down. Nanny also notes if if the puppy is vocal, quiet, investigative, pushy or submissive. There are the suckers and the suckees. No matter how far away the suckees tend to blindly crawl, the suckers manage to find them and bulldoze them into a submissive position to suck their body parts - ears, tails, legs, other. Suckers are carefully watched as they mature and are worked with in various handling positions to instill the human's quiet dominance and associate a submissive behaviour and quiet attitude while being gently handled by their person.
The Nanny is shown how to stimulate the puppy's thought process by encouraging it to find their hand by sense of smell and vibration. They will tap the floor of the whelping box and the puppy begins to associate the tapping vibration to the anticipated comfort of the Nanny. The Nanny will also place her hand a few inches in front of the puppy to encourage the instinct to find her. It is not long before the Nanny will have all the puppies in her lap, up her pant legs and in her shirt.
Puppies are periodically taken away from the rest of their littermates and learn to spend time alone, with their person. As their ears begin to open, notes are taken as to who is beginning to respond to sounds. Puppies tend to startle, their bodies will jerk quickly, their ears will twitch and their heads will raise slightly as they hear noise. The television or radio is always left on. These vibrations of sound fill the room. There is no doubt in my mind that the litter is already used to various stimuli before their ears open.
When their eyes open, the rest of their world does too. The neonate imprinting process is over and socialization can now begin. The majority of breeders will wait until this time frame to apply their socialization methods to their litters. Given that they are satisfied with their results, I do not expect that every breeder will care to apply neonate imprinting methods to their program. It is extra work, handling the puppy from birth until about three weeks of age. It is a process that requires time and patience. There is nothing quick or rushed in applying this technique. It is methodical and individually applied to each puppy in the litter.
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