Patriot Labrador Retrievers

11/02/2025

Day 9
Hope x Muddy
‘The Foodies’ Litter
DOB: 24 Oct 2025

11/01/2025

Day 8
Hope x Muddy
‘The Foodies’ Litter
DOB: 24 Oct 2025

Enjoy the cuteness!

10/31/2025

Week 1
Hope x Muddy
‘The Foodies’ Litter
DOB: 24 Oct 2025

Males
Mousse – 1 pd 8.2 oz – WO, Base of Tail
Gelato – 1 pd 8.6 oz - WO, Left Hip
Chip – 1 pd 8.5 oz - WO, Right Hip

Females
Blossom – 1 pd 8 oz - WO, Left Shoulder
Truffle – 1 pd 6.5 oz - WO, Right Shoulder
S’mores – 1 pd 6.7 oz - WO, Center Back
Pudding – 1 pd 7.8 oz - WO, Left Side
Muffin – 1 pd 7.7 oz - WO, Right Side

** This litter is reserved **

10/31/2025

I absolutely LOVE Journey Together Service Dogs Halloween pictures.

Featuring 6 of our Patriot Puppy's that we donated to Journey’s Service Dog Training Program.

If you are looking for a nonprofit to support, please consider this organization as they are completely dependent upon donations from the public. All funds go directly toward the costs to raise, train and place dogs to help others.
Please Share!

Journey Together Service Dog Inc., is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit charitable organization in Oshkosh, WI. They provide highly trained service dogs, free of charge, to Wisconsin Veterans & residents who are 18 years or older who are diagnosed with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).

https://journeytogetherservicedog.org/

10/30/2025

Day 6
Hope x Muddy
The ‘Foodies’ Litter
DOB: 24 Oct 2025

Puppy Tidbits!
Ears:
Puppies are born deaf because they are still developing and their ear canals are sealed. They will begin to hear around 3 weeks of age; and once fully developed, your puppy will be able to hear four times the distance you can!
Puppies don’t hear low frequencies as well as humans do though. That’s why puppy toys make such loud, high-pitched squeaks.

10/30/2025

🕷 Halloween can be downright spooky for pets 🦇

Costumes, masks, lights, decorations, and a constant parade of strangers coming to your door.
Protect your pets and take steps to reduce the risk of them being scared, poisoned, hurt, or lost.

Halloween can be dangerous to dogs, from eating toxic foods to being scared by trick-or-treaters and children in costumes.

10/30/2025

Day 5
Hope x Muddy
The ‘Foodies’ Litter
DOB: 24 Oct 2025

Been a busy day for the pups growing and getting strong.

10/29/2025

Let sleeping dogs lie.
Unfortunately, this dog, and many others, will get labeled as aggressive and likely end up in a shelter &/or euthanized.
Do better people!

https://www.facebook.com/reel/878152974744997

10/28/2025

Day 4
Hope x Muddy
The ‘Foodies’ Litter
DOB: 24 Oct 2025

Early Scent Introduction (ESI)
ESI is a concept developed by Dr Gayle Watkins, a Golden Retriever breeder, scientist, researcher and competitor in a range of dog sports.
It was found that dogs whom breeders conducted ESI with as neonate puppies developed more complex scenting abilities at an earlier age.
Since scent is the way puppies experience the world, introducing natural scents early on can help:
• Introduce puppies to new scents in a controlled way.
• Improves scenting ability in later life.
• Enhances confidence and stability as adults.
• Reduced behavioral issues in the long term
If the puppy is later going to be used as a working service, detection, gun dog, etc., then introducing them to “job specific” scent(s) increases their association with that scent, even at this age.

Like ENS, ESI is performed once a day from days 3-16.
Because ENS can be mildly stressful for some puppies, Patriot Labrador Retrievers will conduct ESI at a different time of day to eliminate the chance of them associating scents during a stressful time.

ENS in the morning & ESI in the evening.
Yesterdays scent was soil and this evening will be pine shavings.

For more information on ESI, visit:https://www.avidog.com/.../Avidog-Baby-Noses-Transcript.pdf

10/27/2025

Day 3
Hope x Muddy
The ‘Foodies’ Litter
DOB: 24 Oct 2025

It’s Day 3, and that means Early Neurological Stimulation (ENS) training started this morning & Early Scent Introduction (ESI) begins this evening.
We’ve been conducting ENS on all our litters for about the past 8 years.
3 years ago, we added ESI for all the puppies as well.

Early Neurological Stimulation (ENS)
ENS exercises will be conducted once daily from 3 - 16 days of age, a period believed to be a time of rapid neurological growth and development. Even though puppies are very immature at this time, they are sensitive and respond well to ENS.

There are five exercises which are conducted on each individual puppy for 3 – 5 seconds each.

1. Head held erect
2. Head pointed down
3. Tactile stimulation
4. Supine position
5. Thermal stimulation (Cold wash cloth)

These exercises produce neurological stimulation that would not occur naturally until much later in their lives. They do not get repeated more than once a day, so we do not overload the puppy.

ENS helps puppies get off to a better start in life as the various exercises help condition your new puppy. This type of stimulation helps puppies have a better startle recovery, be curious rather than unsure of new objects (as well as people), teach them how to learn so that training is smoother, and to allow for an overall easier transition to their new life with you.
Scientific research has proven early stimulation exercises can have positive impacts long-term.

Dogs that received ENS as puppies have:
• Stronger adrenal glands
• Higher tolerance of stress
• Greater resistance to disease (improved immune system)
• Stronger heart beats
• Improved cardio vascular performance

ENS was originally developed by the US Military to improve the performance of future military working dogs.

10/27/2025

Day 2
Hope x Muddy
DOB: 24 Oct 2025
3 Males / 5 Females

Puppy Tidbits:
Nose!
Smell, the most important sense for puppies. There is a lot to cover when it comes to a dog’s olfactory system, so I'll just stick to the basics. Smell is the puppy’s only major sense for the first few weeks of life. Puppies must find their siblings, mom and milk by using smell, not with vision or hearing.
Puppies and dogs communicate through scent. Just wait until you start walking your pup around outside! Once out the front door, your puppy will sniff and snort every tree, bush and blade of grass, searching for pheromones of other animals.

** Puppy’s noses are generally pinkish when they are born. Their noses (and foot pads) will darken up after a few days.

** Did you notice the lack of hair around their snouts / muzzle area? It’s thought that the muzzle acts as a little heat sensor. Assisting the scenting ability to locate their mom and siblings. They move their heads back and forth until they sense a source of heat and head in that direction.
By the time these pups are ready to move into their new homes, hair around their snouts and muzzle will be filled in.

10/26/2025

Happy 2nd Birthday to the ‘Pumpkin Patch’ kids. 🎂
Teddy x Grace

If you have one of these adorable pups post a picture in comments and let us know how they are doing. 🐾