Last Updated August 26, 2026
How We Raise Our Puppies
Those first weeks of a puppy's life go by so quickly, but so much is happening during them. From the day our puppies are born until the day they leave for their new homes, they're being loved, handled, watched and gradually introduced to the world around them. We spend a lot of time with our puppies, and one of my favorite things is watching them change from tiny newborns who only need their mama into these funny, curious little individuals with personalities all their own.
We try to be very intentional about how we raise our puppies, but I also don't believe puppy raising needs to become a checklist of how many things we can expose them to before eight weeks old. They're still babies. Each stage brings different needs, and we want to give them age-appropriate experiences while also giving them plenty of time to sleep, play, grow and simply be puppies.
Our goal isn't to send home a perfectly trained eight-week-old puppy. It's to give each puppy a really good beginning and a thoughtful foundation that their family can continue building on.
It Starts From Birth
Our puppies are born and raised inside our home. In those first days, life is mostly about mama, warmth, milk and sleep - exactly as it should be. We keep a close eye on each puppy's growth and development while also making sure mama is comfortable and has everything she needs to care for her babies.
Gentle daily handling begins from the start. During the early neonatal period we also incorporate Early Neurological Stimulation (ENS), using brief exercises that are appropriate for their age. But most of those early days really are quiet ones. We handle them, weigh them, love on them and let mama do the job she was made to do. And because they're being raised right here in our home, we're never very far away.
Their Little World Begins to Grow
When eyes and ears begin opening, it's one of my favorite stages. Suddenly these tiny puppies who have mostly known mama and their littermates start noticing us and everything around them.
As they're ready, we gradually begin giving them more to explore - different textures under their feet, toys, new sounds, little obstacles and new areas to investigate. They start interacting more with us and with different members of our family, and their world gets a little bigger as they do.
We don't expect every puppy to respond to something new in exactly the same way. Some puppies jump right in. Others like to stand back and watch for a minute first. That's okay. They're individuals. What matters to us is giving them positive experiences and helping them learn that new things don't have to be scary. We want to encourage curiosity and confidence without overwhelming the puppy in front of us.
Raised Right Alongside Our Family
When we say our puppies are family raised, we mean it very literally. Foxtail Hollow is our home first, and the puppies grow up right in the middle of normal family life. They hear conversations, televisions, kitchen sounds, doors opening and closing and people coming and going. They're around children and adults, other dogs and all the ordinary little sounds and activity that happen in a busy home. They're held, played with and loved by different members of our family rather than only having one person caring for them.
Of course we intentionally introduce new experiences as they grow, but I think there's also a lot of value in something much simpler: normal life.
We want our puppies to grow up feeling like being part of a family is normal, because that's exactly the kind of life we're preparing them for.
Learning Through Play
Puppies learn so much just by playing. As they grow, we give them toys, different surfaces and age-appropriate things to climb on, investigate, chase, tug and figure out. They learn from their littermates too - sometimes in ways their littermates make very clear! Sometimes we're intentionally introducing something new, and sometimes we're just sitting there watching them be puppies. Those moments actually tell us a lot. We begin noticing who is always the first one to investigate something, who watches before joining in, who is constantly looking for a person, who is persistent when something is a little challenging, who loves toys and who is perfectly happy to curl up nearby when playtime is over. We're raising our puppies during these weeks but we're also getting to know them.
Building Confidence Without Overwhelming Them
Socialization matters to us, but I don't think good socialization means seeing how many experiences we can check off a list. We pay attention to how the puppies respond. As they're developmentally ready, we introduce things like new surfaces and sounds, different people, outdoor experiences, carriers, vehicle travel and other little pieces of the world they'll eventually be living in.
Some puppies seem to think everything new is an adventure. Others want a minute to take it all in before deciding it's okay. Neither response automatically makes one puppy better than another.
Our job is to give them safe opportunities to explore and build confidence while still respecting the individual puppy in front of us.
Beginning Real-Life Skills
As the puppies get older, we also begin introducing some of the practical things they'll need once they leave us.
Potty Foundations
We start with an age-appropriate designated potty area and gradually work toward outdoor potty habits as the puppies grow and are ready.
They certainly aren't going to leave us completely house trained at eight or ten weeks old, but we like for the basic idea of having an appropriate place to potty to already be familiar.
Crates & Carriers
Our puppies are gradually introduced to crates and carriers before they go home.
I don't want their very first experience with a crate to happen the same night they've left their mama, littermates and everything familiar to them. We would much rather introduce it here, where they're comfortable and we can make it a gradual, positive experience.
Learning a Little Independence
One of the biggest changes at go-home is suddenly not having littermates beside them all the time. Because of that, as our puppies get older we begin giving them opportunities to spend short periods away from the group and learn that they can settle on their own.
These are little baby steps. We're not trying to send home a fully crate-trained puppy who never fusses. We just want their first experience with a little independence to happen here instead of having every new thing happen all at once on go-home day.
Preparing for Travel
Because many of our puppies join families outside of North Carolina, preparing them for travel has naturally become an important part of what we do.
We introduce carriers and vehicle travel when appropriate so those experiences aren't completely unfamiliar when it's time to go home.
Whenever possible, we also offer personal ground or flight delivery. One of our family members travels with the puppy ourselves rather than handing them off to an unfamiliar third-party transporter. We really love being able to do that. The puppy has someone familiar caring for them during the trip, and we get to personally place them into the arms of their new family at the other end.
You can read more about our personal delivery options on our Pricing & Our Puppy Process page.
Getting to Know Each Puppy
As the weeks go by, the puppies' individual personalities become easier and easier to see, and this is one of the parts I love most. We're watching how they interact with people and their littermates, how they approach something unfamiliar, how readily they settle, how much they seek people out, how they play and how they respond to gentle guidance.
Around seven weeks old, we also complete an individual temperament evaluation with each puppy. My husband is a retired K9 handler and trainer and brings years of experience working with dogs to this part of our program. But we don't make placement decisions based on a temperament test alone. A temperament evaluation gives us a helpful snapshot of a puppy on that particular day. We combine that with what we've learned from actually living with that puppy and watching them grow every day since birth.
Together, those things help us talk honestly with families about the differences we're seeing between puppies and which puppy may fit especially well with the life they're hoping to share with their dog.
Veterinary Care & Going Home
Before leaving Foxtail Hollow, our puppies receive a veterinary wellness examination along with age-appropriate vaccinations and deworming. They are microchipped and go home with their health records, applicable registration paperwork, our puppy contract and health guarantee, along with familiar items and information to help with the transition.
And when they leave, they don't suddenly stop feeling like our puppies.
We genuinely love getting updates. We love seeing them grow, hearing the funny stories, seeing the adventures they go on and watching them become completely woven into their families.
If one of our families has a question after their puppy goes home, we want them to know they can reach out to us too. Our relationship with our families doesn't end on pickup day.
They're Still Babies
Even with everything we do during those first weeks, our puppies are still babies when they go home. They'll have accidents. They may cry in their crate. They'll chew things they shouldn't. They'll need training, patience, boundaries, naps, exercise and lots of guidance as they grow.
I never want families to have unrealistic expectations because we've talked about all the things we do with our puppies. Early puppy raising can give them a wonderful start, but their new family gets to take that foundation and continue building on it.
What we hope to send home is a puppy who has been deeply loved, thoughtfully raised and given a really good beginning. A puppy who has learned that people are safe. Who has been encouraged to explore. Who has begun learning how to settle and be a little independent. Who has had positive early experiences with the world around them.
And maybe most importantly, a puppy we've taken the time to really know. Then we get to place that puppy into the arms of their family and watch them take it from there.