Puppy Secrets: The First Six Months

[ Puppies whimper ] -Puppies -- they're one of nature's greatest wonders.

We're following four very special litters in loving detail.

From Britain's smallest breed, to one of our most popular.

From working sheepdogs, to five rescue pups -- breed unknown.

All the way from birth to approaching the end of puppyhood.

We witness the magic of the early days.

-You can see them sort of trying to look and work things out, -Capture the moment as they move to new homes.

-They're too big for me now, so I know they've got to go out and start their new lives without me -And journey with them as they prepare for adulthood.

-They're very intelligent, great company.

-It's a story with a big surprise -- of how puppies form the strongest bond of their lives.

Not with their mums or their siblings, but with us.

[ Puppies whimper ] [ Hair dryer blowing ] This time, we take a privileged look into a rarely seen world.

Following our pups from birth to leaving home at around two months old.

Breeders and carers share their insights.

And Vet Mark Evans reveals some puppy secrets.

It's an eight-week race against time.

And our pups must hit crucial milestones if they are to be ready to move on, And the clock starts ticking the moment they're born.

Our first litter -- three Chihuahuas are only a few hours old.

Like all pups, the two boys and one girl can't see or hear properly yet.

But they can smell and sense heat, guiding them to what they need most -- Mum's early milk called colostrum.

It's packed with energy and antibodies to protect the vulnerable newborns from disease.

Chihuahuas are officially the world's smallest dogs, so puppies don't come much tinier than this.

Amazingly, they weigh around 100 grams.

Less than an apple.

-When you're first holding that little puppy, it's just incredible.

You know, I think I'm quite hard-faced about certain things but that, it literally -- it gets me well enough every single time.

You know, it's such an amazing experience.

-Dan first got Chihuahuas five years ago as pets, fell in love with them, and became a hobby breeder.

Some, he keeps.

Some, he sells.

Our next litter are not for sale.

They're Labradors -- Britain's most popular breed crossed with Golden Retrievers.

They're are mighty four times heavier at birth than the tiny Chihuahuas.

And the two boys and four girls have a special destiny ahead of them... ...as assistance dogs for the charity Dogs for Good.

A year or so down the line, if they make the grade, each of our six pups will be young adults training to transform lives.

At a total cost of �12,000 for each fully trained dog, our little litter really is precious.

For now though, they have a lot of growing up to do.

-If you try and measure the electrical activity in their brain when they're born, there's little going on in there.

But the speed with which they then develop is what is truly extraordinary.

They will double their weight in 10 days, and that could take four to five months in a human baby.

Biologically, that is utterly brilliant.

-Our collie litter is four days old, so they're already well on the way to doubling their birth weight.

These little ones -- five girls, three boys -- are special, too.

Their mum is training to be a competitive sheepdog and their dad is the current English champion.

[ Sheep bleat ] So there's a chance that one of these little ones could be a future medal winner.

-For me, it's about trying to raise puppies that are going to work, trying to keep the Border Collie strain as a good working strain.

All the time, I'm trying to improve my breed so I get the ultimate thing that I'm looking for which is a champion.

-Angie has devoted her life to collies.

And has been breeding, training, and competing with them for over a decade.

All her litters are destined to be working sheepdogs.

So, in just over eight weeks, these little ones will all head off to new lives on other farms.

At this early stage, the pups rely completely on their mums.

For now, the humans in their lives play supporting roles -- weighing the pups at regular intervals to make sure they're all growing as they should, just like we do with our own babies.

As for our pups, a lot needs to happen in the next fortnight if they're to be ready to leave home at eight weeks.

Eyes and ears must open and they'll need to take their first faltering steps.

So the clock is ticking.

A fortnight since birth, our pups have now reached the first big milestone in their lives.

And incredibly, the collies, the assistance pups, and the Chihuahuas now have just six weeks to go till they're ready to leave home.

For the very first time, their eyes are opening.

Though it'll be a few more weeks till they get their permanent eye color.

-That's a really nice moment because they start to take a little bit more notice of things and when they first open, they can't really see properly, but they must be able to see some sort of a blurred image and you can see them sort of -- sort of trying to look and work things out.

-Eyesight is one dog sense that's not as finely tuned as ours.

But hearing is a canine super sense.

And their ears are also opening now.

Dogs can detect sound around four times quieter than we can.

-If say a truck drive pass or something, they can hear the rumbling.

You'll notice that they'll suddenly, like, tilt their heads as if they'd, like, heard it for the first time.

-With costly training and a special future ahead of them, the assistance pups are being monitored even more closely than our other litters.

To help keep perfect records, they've been color coded with a dot of nail varnish and named.

Evie is the oldest, the two boys are Freddie and Barney, and three more sisters; Lucy, Mollie, and Betty.

-They are very important to us, they're very valuable puppies.

So we've got to make sure that they are as fit and healthy as they can be, all the way through their growth and support them as best we can -Like a health visitor for a baby, puppy coordinator Becci sees them weekly with a strict schedule for things like claw clipping and wormer.

Not an experience that Lucy seems completely sold on.

For the collies, on a busy farm, things are a bit less high tech.

But kitchen scales in the barn will do the job just fine.

The smallest of the pups is around 400 grams and will need keeping an eye on.

While the biggest puts him in the shade.

Meet Thumper.

-He always was a bruiser, wasn't he, he was a really nice pup, but he did look like he was gonna be the biggest one.

-At over a kilo, Thumper is more than double the size of his smallest sibling.

Big or small though, all our pups still spend most of the time in the land of dreams.

The sleep heap might look cute, but this is the pup's survival instinct kicking in.

They can't yet control their temperature and get cold very fast.

So when mom takes a well-earned breather, they need each other to keep warm and stay alive.

[ Seagulls cry ] In Devon, our litter of three -- the Chihuahuas... -Where are you off to?

-...are now 22 days old.

Their baby teeth are coming through.

Their tails have started to wag.

And most important of all, they're taking their very first tentative steps.

-They kind of just look like Bambi on ice, they're just all over the place.

And, you know, the legs are flicking out in all different directions.

-Even more amazing, in just a week or so, the wobbling will be gone completely and they'll be walking normally.

-So what is going on inside a tiny little Chihuahua that at three weeks old is able to walk and look pretty confident doing it.

Just think about the electrical connections in that tiny little head to actually make all that happen in a way that they get from A to B, and don't get part of the way from A to B and just collapse in a heap on their side.

-But at this stage, they still return to Mum for feeding.

She's clearly doing a great job.

In 21 days, they've pretty much tripled their birth weights.

All pups... ...the whole gamut of the world's estimated 400 breeds... ...must go through the same vital processes in early life -- physical growth, fueled by food and sleep... ...and social development stimulated by new experiences and play.

If both go well, happy pups emerge, able to cope with a variety of situations.

Even something big.

Our pups have moved incredibly fast from helpless newborns, to eyes and ears opening, to walking for the first time.

Now they've reached their next crucial milestone.

Just three weeks to go till they're ready to move to new homes.

Their brains are still malleable, growing and developing all the time.

And they're starting to form the most important bond of their lives -- with us.

-The little plasticine brain is starting to take shape.

And it's when they start to take on the world.

-It's a special moment in our pups lives.

So it's time to take that first formal photo for the family album.

Easier said than done, And far away in Essex is our fourth litter.

Five pups, breed unknown, in desperate need of a home.

They're here at Dogs Trust, the UK's largest dog welfare charity.

They care for almost 17,000 dogs every year.

Among them, these five little pups -- our rescue litter.

Their mom, came in as a stray, turned out to be pregnant... ...and they were born here five weeks ago.

Because they came into the world the day before Valentine's Day, the staff named them for love.

One boy, Cupid; four girls, Cuddles, Venus, Rose, Aphrodite.

Unlike our other pups, their breed isn't known.

And the litter of five is quite a mix.

-So we were changing our minds with every week the past what they could be bred with because they look so different to their mum.

She was definitely a terrier cross, but they had the completely different coat, they were all different colors.

One minute we thought they were Jack Russells, next we thought they had some Labrador in them.

So, it was -- Still to this day, we still have no idea what they are.

-Canine carer Lizzie has been here for two years.

She knows the pups are already in a crucial developmental phase and need new sensations like a first trip outside -- Is this the first time you've been out here?

Is it?

Is this the first time you've seen the sky?

-This crucial phase is called socialization, when our pups need to be carefully introduced to a broad range of new experiences.

The more they acclimatize to our manic world now, the better adjusted they'll be as adults.

-We like to wrap them up in a blanket, take them out, let them sniff the air.

-With a sense like smell at least 10,000 times better than ours, they are well equipped to do it.

-Hear some noises of traffic.

[ Horns honk ] See some other dogs walking about.

You can see it's all processing in their little minds, so it's really good for them just to see stuff.

-There's no pre-wiring in a puppy's brain to allow them to understand the world we live in.

They need the help from us to be able to do it.

-The areas of our pups brains associated with learning and memory are continuing to develop.

So, Cuddles and her siblings are absorbing everything around them.

-Things like shredded paper.

Like, they have so much fun with that, like, just grabbing hold of it, running around with it, pouncing on it, playing tug of wall with it.

-Using new untried muscles is tiring.

And our pups sleep for as long as 20 hours a day, around 50% more than adult dogs.

And Cupid seems to be taking full advantage of his sisters... as a bed.

-Come on, puppies.

Come on.

[ Smooches ] Come on, come try this.

-As our young pups start to move away from Mum, there's more of a role for the humans in their lives.

-Come on, puppies.

Come on.

[ Smooches ] -A key part of the five-week milestone is the weaning phase.

-[ Smooches ] Look at this.

Do you want to try this?

-In the wild, a puppy's first solid food would be regurgitated by their mums.

-It's nice, it's chicken.

60% chicken.

Our modern domesticated dogs have it a bit easier.

-Are you too posh to eat out the bowl?

-Our puppy's individual characters are also starting to emerge now.

The Chihuahua boys are both on the quiet side.

It's their sister that seems to be taking charge.

Experts have debunked the whole concept of dominance, but they do talk about confidence.

And in our trio, there are already some big differences For Dan, the moment has come for names.

The girl is Cheeky, and the boys, Snuggles and Smiley.

All our pups are now developing at incredible speed, but the pressure's on.

Will they be ready to start new lives in just three weeks?

In Gloucestershire, our collies are all destined to be working sheepdogs.

So, a first foray into straw is an essential moment in their development.

-They were just a bit sort of mystified, really, 'cos they'd come out of shavings and then into the straw, which rustled and felt completely different.

So they were sort of a bit flummoxed for a minute.

And then sort of got more and more sort of excited and went exploring and just generally getting used to it.

-It doesn't take long for their new five-week exuberance to kick in.

A staggering 80% of puppy play involves biting.

-When they're playing from a very young age with their littermates, you will see them mouthing each other, it's part of play.

But what they have to learn is the strength and power of their bite.

What they'll learn, and it's a really important lesson, is a thing called bite inhibition, which is how hard can you bite before it hurts.

-In all the playful mayhem, a trained eye is looking to the future.

-Things that move they've got a certain way -- some will just pounce on it, some will sort of, like, almost start to work it a little bit.

You know, it's something an ordinary person, maybe you wouldn't notice.

But if you're into sheepdogs and you're looking for that, you say, "Oh, no, that puppy's just put its head down and just looking," you know, that's what they do when they go to the sheep for the first time, and you can see that in the play.

-They've got big boots to fill.

Their dad, Spot, is the current All-England Champion Sheepdog.

[ Sheep bleating ] The big question is, will any of the litter ever reach his level?

Still towering over his siblings, Thumper certainly looks like he has what it takes to be a future champion.

He doesn't know it, but he and his siblings will soon face their first big test.

For sheer size, every one of the Cotswolds Six makes Thumper look like a lightweight.

These Labrador Retriever crosses have been bred for purpose -- to be solid and dependable.

It makes them a good choice to be assistance dogs.

-Both the Labrador and the Golden Retriever have a generally biddable temperament, which is what we need, because they need to want to work for someone, they don't want to have that independent character of just they're going off and doing what they want.

It gives us quite a nice laid back assistance dog.

-Laid back, indeed.

They seem to take everything in their stride.

[ Child giggles ] Meeting kids for the first time in a positive way is a vital socialization experience for all our pups.

But the kids benefit, too.

Research suggests that children who live with dogs are more likely to have a stronger immune system and have increased social development.

-He's really soft and cuddly, and really warm.

-They're quite soft and they're, like, quite fat.

Kind of like a -- Maybe picking up, like, a really fat cat.

-There's no other human animal bond on Earth quite like the one between us and dogs.

And it's starting to form right now in this crucial phase of our pups lives.

Puppies are amazingly adaptable.

-Come on.

-And with our help and guidance, are able to integrate into our world and live with us incredibly successfully.

But that's not all.

They also have an extraordinary ability to understand us and read our moods.

-Oh, I just love them.

Just love them.

It's a real sort of warm, glowy feeling.

It's just, you know -- I don't know, it's a special sort of feeling.

It's sort of, I suppose, maybe because I haven't got any children.

Perhaps they're my little babies.

-We know surprisingly little about puppies and are learning new things all the time.

Recent research suggests that playing with a pup stimulates endorphins and other hormones in us that make us happy.

Our heart rate and blood pressure go down too, and perhaps even our perception of pain.

-If you're feeling down, all you need to do is to sit with a puppy and have a little cuddle, and you'll feel so much better.

-The happy hormones that flood our system are partly triggered visually, because with their little round faces, large eyes, high foreheads, and small chins, puppies resemble human babies.

So perhaps we just can't help adoring them.

-It's quite -- It's quite like they really love you.

Feels like they really have a connection with you.

-Excitable or passive, big or small... ...fast or slow -- all pups are on the same journey and to learn to cope with and enjoy our mad human world, they need careful guidance from loving knowledgeable owners.

Our pups have hit their next big milestone, six weeks.

It's just a fortnight until they should be ready to leave home.

And two of our litters are about to be put through their paces.

[ Puppy barks, Becci chuckles ] First up, the Cotswolds Six.

-We just want to carry them.

Yeah.

-Yeah.

-Before they move on to new owners, they're being assessed.

-Yeah, good boy.

-Good boy.

-To check they've got the basic skills to be assistance dogs.

-Oh, no!

-Oh!

Where'd it go?

We introduce different toys that they've not seen before.

-Remember the pups are just six weeks old, they've only been walking properly for a fortnight.

So the unusual look and sound of the duck is a real challenge.

-Some puppies come running in and just grab it and run off again.

[ Toy duck quacking ] Others sit back and think about it.

-These first tests matter.

In a year or so, our pups could be real assistance dogs.

Dealing with all the noise and chaos of the modern world, changing the lives of people like 10-year-old Bethany, severely autistic from a young age.

-As long as Quartz is with her when we go out, she feels very comfortable, very confident, knowing that he's there to look after her.

And so we can all go out as a normal family now and it's just amazing.

-I love him so much.

And he's my best friend.

-What this then?

[ Toy duck quacking ] -Betty and her siblings have all passed the test, and in less than a week will start new lives in new homes.

It's also a big day for the Gloucestershire Eight.

One of Britain's top sheepdog trainers, Dick Roper, is choosing two of them to come and live with him and train on his farm.

-I'm looking for pups that are bold and happy.

I'm quite a confident person and all dogs tend to like your character or not.

They can judge your character almost instantly and I don't think you can hide yourself from a dog.

I like dogs that come out and say hello and therefore, I can work with.

And they come to me.

So that's what I'm looking for.

I'm looking for something that just enjoys my company and I like the look of.

You're a bruiser.

You're a bruiser.

-One of the pups instantly catches Dick's eye.

-Yeah.

-It's the big guy.

-Thank you very much.

-Yeah, he's got real attitude as well, doesn't he?

-Thumper.

-That is the one.

Future Supreme International Champion.

-Thumper looks happy, too.

His ears are well pricked forwards, a classic sign of interest and confidence.

And Dick's second choice is Thumper's biggest sister.

Both will stay here for another fortnight before Dick takes them home.

But their future is now set.

The rescue pups are about to move on, too.

New homes have been found for them all.

-Before every dog goes home here, no matter what size or age or anything, every dog gets a vet check.

They check their eyes... their ears... check their teeth... check their heart.

Because they're a smaller breed of dog, we always like to check their back legs and check their knees in particular.

Just to make sure they're ready to go to their new home, there's no medical problems that we've found that the owners need to be aware about.

-It's a clean bill of health for all five and tomorrow the next chapter in their lives will begin.

-Time for a bath, stinky.

-Hmm?

You wanna get in the bath?

-For the Chihuahuas, new homes also beckon.

And getting them ready has to be done right.

Having a bath is another first that all our pups need to go through and the confident Cheeky seems to be taking to it.

-They're very, very impressionable.

If their first bath time experience was horrible, they're not gonna want to do it again.

-Approaching eight weeks, all puppies are in a highly receptive state and will take to new experiences well if they're sensitively introduced.

But the reverse can also be true.

If things go wrong, they can be put off for life.

So the pups need to be handled carefully.

-You boys, ready for your bath?

-Time for Smiley and Snuggles to test the waters.

Pups learn by observation and social cues.

So Dan's cheeriness is designed to help them experience first immersion in a positive way.

-If you can make it quite fun, or quite lighthearted and, you know, they're enjoying themselves, then they're fundamentally going to enjoy that experience for the rest of their life.

-Dan's still searching for the right homes for the Devon Three.

They should be on the move soon.

[ Sheep bleating ] Before they leave her farm for good, Angie wants to give Thumper and his sister a taste of the future that lies ahead.

The rest of the litter are coming along too for the ride.

-I think one of my favorite moments is that first time I take him to sheep.

I just love it.

That to me that's the best part.

Time to see what the pair can do.

-Oh, that's good.

That's really good.

-As they start to work, their eyes latch on the sheep, and they focus on the sheep, and then they drop the heads, and they drop the tails and gives a classic collie pose, stalking pose.

-Over hundreds of years, collies have been bred to maintain their excellent herding instinct -- to pursue sheep.

But to stop short of attacking them.

-They don't work sheep in a sense, as puppies, they work movement and they'll work the water coming out of a hose pipe.

They'll work ducks, they'll work chicken, they'll work anything that moves.

-That's really good.

Really good.

-Thumper's sister shows early promise.

-Oh, you're the most stylish one of the lot.

-But even if Thumper himself seems less forward now, it doesn't mean he won't be a good sheepdog in the future.

-Quite often these puppies that sit there and just look can be the keenest of the lot, -soon they will be off to their new home on Dick's farm and proper early training can begin.

[ Dog barks in distance ] At Dogs Trust, the rescue pups are the first of our litters to hit that huge milestone -- eight weeks old.

New homes have been found for them all.

And Cuddles, Cupid, and their three sisters are about to part forever.

Moving is a big upheaval for all our pups.

Everything they know is about to change, but at eight weeks, they are the most adaptable they've ever been.

Cuddles is first to go.

And for carer Lizzie, it's a moment of mixed emotions.

-I'm sort of standing there with the puppy and I've got to give it over to someone else.

And I'm sort of thinking, "Oh, but these are my puppies."

Hi.

You all right?

-I'm good.

-Hey, look who it is.

[Indistinct chatter] Are you excited?

-I can't wait.

-Yeah?

-Hello.

-I feel quite protective of them.

So, to see them go out into the world and have someone else be responsible for them, It can be quite hard.

-Her little tail.

[ Laughs ] I'm gonna see Mummy.

There you go.

-The boys excited?

-They are.

Can't wait.

I can't believe we actually got them off to school this morning.

Yeah, I still think I'm more excited than they are.

-Yeah.

-I know that's for the best.

And I know that I've done the best I can.

So, they're too big for me now, so I know they've got to go out and start their new lives without me.

-Say goodbye.

-Bye-bye.

-Kisses.

-Yeah.

Good girl.

-Come on, let's get home.

Thank you very much anyway.

-That's all right.

-Very nice to meet you.

-See you later.

Bye.

Say bye.

-Bye-bye.

Cuddles was definitely one for me that I was quite attached to.

So, it was quite hard to see her go.

-For her part, the eight-week-old Cuddles is primed and ready to form new bonds with her new owners, Lauren and Kev.

They're delighted to have taken in a rescue pup.

-We're really happy actually, that we went down the road of adoption, but you kind of feel like you've done something good.

-For little Cuddles, just eight weeks after she first came into the world, a new home and a whole new adventure lie ahead.

At Dogs for Good, the assistance pups, just a few days short of eight weeks old, are also on the move.

Betty is first to leave and start her new life.

Like all her siblings, she's going to a volunteer puppy socializer, a sort of foster parent for the next year and a half.

Until she's ready for her specialized training.

-For the puppies.

it's a huge new adventure for them.

They're now gonna bring 18 months of fun and joy to someone else.

And then knowing in sort of the two years, that they'll be helping a client.

It's a really enjoyable moment.

-Annie and daughter, Hannah, have already been Dogs for Good puppy socializers twice before.

-We actually started 'cos we were trying to convince my dad that he wanted a dog in the house.

Then it just turned out to be something we actually love doing because you know how much they're gonna help someone else.

-If they make the grade, each pup could be joining the 7,000 adult dogs that care for disabled people in Britain today.

It's collection day in Gloucestershire, too.

For the two pups that sheepdog trainer Dick Roper chose a few weeks ago.

-Say goodbye to your mates.

-Angie's always keen to send her collies to farms as working dogs.

-I do get people asking me for pets.

I really, very, very rarely do I let them go.

They all have to go to working homes.

Border Collie needs to be active.

It needs to be able to use its brain as well.

[ Laughter ] -Sending them off with old friend and champion trainer Dick is a perfect result.

-It's a nice feeling that, fingers crossed, that they'll come out and do really well.

-With 30 years experience, Dick knows just how much care and attention new puppies need.

Unlike some of our litters, Thumper and his sister are going to an environment very similar to the one they've come from, which will help them settle in.

But they have to get there first.

-When I'm taking them away, what I want to do is give them a good first experience.

From the minute I've put them in the truck and I'm driving, it's so important that those first few hours of traveling, taking them away from their mother, taking away from home, just got to make them happy.

-From a puppy's perspective, a car is a potentially frightening thing.

The noise it makes, the smell of it, the fact that it drives down the road and the world whizzes past your field of vision, faster than you can even run.

And yet you look at your feet and they're not even moving.

Compute that if you're a puppy.

-Car journeys for pups need careful acclimatization.

A bad experience could cause lifelong fear.

-Really steady driving just so they wouldn't upset themselves, and then they travel really, really well.

By the time I got on the motorway they were fast asleep.

[ Puppy growling playfully, knock on door] -What's this?

What's this?

-It's also moving day in Devon.

And Dan's taken a lot of care with the future of his pups.

-I'm probably the most critical person when it comes to -- [ Chuckles ] when it comes to choosing a new owner.

I would want them to make sure that that puppy was the center of their universe, you know?

I think it's all important to make sure that when you are, you know, selecting people, the potential homes for the puppies, that you kind of consider what's right for the puppy as much as, you know, you consider what's right for them as new owners.

-After a long search, Dan's found the ideal owner for Smiley.

-So excited.

-Australian law graduate, Rachel.

-I was looking for the smallest breed of dog because I thought that the smallest breed would be most comfortable in a small flat, which is where I live currently.

Where I'm originally from in Australia, we always had a dog in the family and when I moved to London about five years ago, it was all I could think about.

-Smiley seems calm and relaxed with Rachel.

His ears pricked forward in a positive way even though he's up close to a rather unfamiliar human.

Dan's careful handling of his pups from birth has been preparing them for just this moment.

Even so, it's hard not to have mixed emotions on departure day.

-It's a lovely thing to watch them go into their new homes, but it does pull at your heartstrings.

Every single time it chokes me up.

-For little Smiley, the adventure of the big city lies ahead.

New homes and owners means new names.

Cuddles is now Betsy.

The former Thumper is now Jack.

And his sister is Jill.

Little Betty is Neave.

And Smiley is Louie.

All our pups have been on an extraordinary journey over the last eight weeks.

From helpless newborns, to toddlers interacting with the wider world... ...to laying the crucial foundations for the special bond that will define their lives with us.

Next time, Jack and Jill start their new lives.

-There you go, mate.

Welcome to your new world.

-Neave enjoys new found freedom.

And little Louie takes on the big smoke.

-The hardest thing is just terror, that something bad is going to happen to him While Betsy becomes part of the family.