What ENS is and how it benefits our puppies

We are wrapping up our ENS exercises with Breeze’s Tiny Bernedoodle litter today!

Some of you have reached out wanting to know what ENS is exactly, so I thought I would explain a bit about what it is and how it benefits our puppies. Early Neurological Stimulation (ENS) is a set of 5 exercises that we complete with each individual puppy from days 3 to 16.

These exercises allow us to safely introduce small stresses that the puppies typically wouldn’t encounter that early on in life. Too much stress isn’t good for little puppies, but studies have shown that strategically introducing just enough to their otherwise carefree first few weeks of life has been proven to give these puppies an upper hand later on. Benefits such as improved heart rate, stronger heart beats, stronger adrenaline glands, more tolerance to stress, and greater resistance to disease have all been reported!

The 5 ENS exercises include the handling of each puppy once per day for five second intervals in the following positions: head held erect, head pointed down, supine position, thermal stimulation using an ice pack, and tactical stimulation using a q-tip to tickle between their toes.

Had you heard of ENS before reading this? If so, where did you learn about it from? If you have any questions for us about ENS, be sure to comment below!