ENS Training

What is ENS training for puppies?

Early Neurological Stimulation (ENS) is a process we started doing that introduces mild stresses to very young puppies in a controlled way. These stresses help stimulate the neurological system which improves the growth and development of the pup’s immune system, cardiovascular system, and stress tolerance.

Early Neurological Stimulation: What It Is and Why We Do It

Over the course of time, mankind has experimented with various ways of improving performance, not just in humans, but in animals as well. The conventional wisdom has always been that early age is the best time to stimulate growth and development, and today we know with certainty that early neurological stimulation (ENS), also known as Bio Sensor training, has a huge effect on developing canines.

Using the Electrical Encephalogram (EEG), researchers have been able to measure the way in which a puppy’s brain responds to stressors like changes in muscle tension, emotional stress, and excitement, and have determined that puppies that are stimulated early in life mature more quickly, and also develop better problem-solving skills than puppies that do not receive early stimulation.

Types of Stimulation

ESN involves five types of stimulation, which should be done once a day with each puppy in the litter. They are:

Tactile Stimulation – The handler holds the puppy in one hand, and then tickles it gently between its toes, using a Q-tip, for about five seconds.
Head Erect – The handler holds the puppy perpendicular to the floor, head up, for about five seconds. And then massaging his ears.
Head Down – The handler holds the puppy perpendicular to the ground, head down, for about five seconds.
Supine – The Handler holds the puppy on its back, face toward the ceiling, for about five seconds.
Thermal Stimulation – The handler places the puppy on a cool, damp towel, feet down and unrestrained, for about five seconds.

None of these positions or conditions occur naturally in the early days of a puppy’s life, and this is why they are neurologically stimulating. ENS is not critical to a puppy’s development, but it has been shown to increase intellectual capacity if done properly, and to enhance performance.

Benefits of Early Neurological Stimulation

Five main benefits have been identified in dogs that received ENS. They are:

Greater ability to tolerate stress
Stronger adrenal glands
Improved heart rate
Stronger heartbeat
Enhanced disease resistance

As well, in learning tests, puppies that received ENS were found to be more competitive, and more curious than their littermates who were not stimulated. They were also calmer and less prone to reacting adversely when stressed.

Socialization

Early Neurological Stimulation must, of course, be accompanied by early socialization. If a puppy is not fully socialized by the age of 16 weeks, it may never be properly adjusted. We find it so important. So all of us here at Pups of the Lowcountry we make it a priority to socialize our pups as much as we can. Each puppy is worked with every day. ENS provides a good start, but when pet owners’ lives are so filled with work and social commitments, they may fail to properly socialize their puppy. This results in fear of strangers and other canines and can also manifest as behavioral problems. So we try to give them a good solid start.

Conclusion

A small amount of stress, such as that provided by the ENS exercises outlined above, combined with early socialization, can be highly beneficial to a puppy’s growth and development. The key is to know when to stop. Over-stimulation is as bad as under-stimulation. Also, there is only a small window of opportunity for ENS and early socialization. Once that window closes, little can be done to correct the adverse consequences of too much, or too little, stimulation.

Puppies are whelped and raised in our home where we can actively participate in the birth and growth of our puppies. We take pride in being there for our litters from the very beginning. We are avid participants in Bad Ass Breeders and Puppy Culture programs, which aid in great structure and fundamentals for puppies. Our puppies are handled from the start, as newborns and are very well socialized. Between days 3-16 puppies will receive early neurological stimulation (called ENS or Biosensor) followed by early scent introduction (ESI). Because of the early interaction, our puppies are well prepared for whatever direction their new family decides to take them. We go to great lengths so that our pups are properly socialized and are raised in a safe, stimulating environment. Our puppies are teachable, trainable, companions as well as energetic, driven, focused, therapy partners.

Good breeding begins with careful planning.

Responsible breeding requires a lot of planning, skill, and experience. It’s not nearly as simple as pairing two physically healthy dogs together and hoping for the best. Here at Pups of the Lowcountry breedings are planned months to years in advance and each litter is bred with a common goal. Dams and Sires are studied and researched to insure we start with and continue with quality, healthy lines. We do not breed solely based on color, titles, pedigree or just being a healthy dog. While health testing is a critical and important aspect of each breeding program, it is only one of many factors that we take into account. Great looks as well as desirable traits are always considered. No dog is perfect, and we try to recognize those imperfections and make continued improvements with each litter.
Often our litters are completely or partially sold prior to the litter being born. An approved puppy application, a deposit and completed deposit agreement will hold your place in a litter. We will make every effort to accommodate your preferences, but we will ensure the pups are placed on their personality, drive, energy level and future purpose. We want everyone to be happy with their family member.

Early Neurological Stimulation

The U.S. Military in their canine program developed a method that still serves as a guide to what works. In an effort to improve the performance of dogs used for military purposes, a program called “Bio Sensor” was developed. Later, it became known to the public as the “Super Dog” Program. Based on years of research, the military learned that early neurological stimulation exercises could have important and lasting effects. Their studies confirmed that there are specific time periods early in life when neurological stimulation has optimum results. The first period involves a window of time that begins at the third day of life and lasts until the sixteenth day. It is believed that because this interval of time is a period of rapid neurological growth and development, and therefore is of great importance to the individual.

The “Bio Sensor” program was also concerned with early neurological stimulation in order to give the dog a superior advantage. Its development utilized six exercises which were designed to stimulate the neurological system. Each workout involved handling puppies once each day. The workouts required handling them one at a time while performing a series of five exercises. Listed in order of preference, the handler starts with one pup and stimulates it using each of the five exercises. The handler completes the series from beginning to end before starting with the next pup. These 5 painless and simple exercises are done to prepare our pups for their life’s journey. We will continue to do these exercises with our pups because we see the benefits and know it helps them grow into lovable canine companions.

Benefits of Stimulation

Five benefits have been observed in canines that were exposed to the Bio Sensor stimulation exercises.

The benefits noted were:

Improved Cardiovascular Performance
Stronger Heart Beats
Stronger Adrenal Glands
Greater Tolerance to Stress
Greater Resistance to Disease

Early Scent Introduction

Early scent introduction (ESI) is a training program for puppies designed to enhance their ability to identify, and react to, specific scents. Each day, one of the trainers here at Pups of the Lowcountry introduces a strong scent to the puppy for brief intervals and records the puppy’s reaction. The reaction is positive when the puppy shows interest in the scent, moving toward it. A negative reaction is recorded when the puppy tries to get away from the scent. And finally, when a puppy is neither interested nor disinterested in the scent, this is a neutral reaction.

Dr. Gayle Watkins author at AKC is a breeder of sporting Golden Retrievers, and over the years, she began testing dogs to determine the effectiveness of ESI. This involved selecting certain puppies from her litters to receive ESI training, and others that would not receive ESI. The results were nothing short of remarkable. The dogs that participated in ESI had more scenting titles than those that did not participate, and they were achieving titles at ages of up to five years younger than the pups that had not participated.

For practical purposes, these results mean the potential for even better companion, service, therapy and working dogs. Scent abilities are often very important. Some examples of how ESI helps is early detection of gas leak, fire, search and rescue off of sent, Service dogs can also use scent to identify the early stages of diabetic reaction, or the onset of a seizure. All these skills can be enhanced by ESI. Of course, not all dogs are going to be working dogs but we feel that this is an essential process for each puppy no matter the purpose they will have with their new families.

Puppy Culture

We fully believe in an enriched environment and the lasting positive effects it has on our litters. Puppy Culture is another aide we use in raising our puppies. Developed by a team of experts, Puppy Culture The Powerful First 12 weeks includes an abundance of exercises and information on resiliency exercises, safe early socialization, harnessing the enrichment effect, developmental and fear periods, anti-aggression protocols, leash walking, potty training, crate training, manding,

The optimal enriched environment will offer the following three things:

Stimulating living area

for example, toys, visual objects, different types of footing, different sounds, and social interaction. Breeders have done a great job with this in recent years, and there are even a number of commercial “play pen” type products available for puppies.

Exercise

Including adequate space to move as much as the puppies wish to, “jungle gym” type challenges such as climbing and outdoor exercise, when possible.

Problem solving and learning

“Active” training challenges, where the puppy is presented with a problem or training task, and then asked to solve that problem for a reward. This is as opposed to “passive” challenges usually provided by breeders in the form of toys and interactive objects. Interestingly, it appears that the task has to be motivated by positive reinforcement for neural benefits to take place.

While any one of these elements taken alone will have some positive effect, there is some evidence that these elements have an additive effect on each other. So the same stimulating living area will have more positive effects if coupled with exercise and problem solving/learning, than a stimulating living area alone.

What’s interesting is that each of these components of enrichment will positively affect the brain in a different way. For instance:

• Exercise alone has been shown to increase the thickness of the cerebral cortex (the “thinking” part of the brain) but has been found not to increase the formation of the neural connections in the brain (synaptogenesis) which are necessary for learning and memory.
• Stimulating (“enriched”) living environments have been shown to improve brain cell survival but may not increase the number of new cells being produced.
• Problem solving and learning appear to increase neural formation, survival, and neural connections, but have been found to not be as effective as exercise in forming new blood vessels (aniogenesis) in the brain.

The good news is that the ultimate benefit of the Enrichment Effect is increased emotional stability of the puppies. Better recovery from fear, less fear-based aggression, calmer, and quicker to learn basic “commands.” So the kind of intelligence that enrichment cultivates is compatible with an “easy to live with” kind of dog. In sum, the Enrichment Effect is a net plus for everyone, and every breeder and puppy owner should take advantage of it!

Rule of 7

Our Rule of 7 was adapted from Dr. Carmen Battaglia’s guide for increasing puppy’s exposure:

Dr. Carmen Battaglia created the Rule of 7’s as a guide to increase a puppy’s exposure. You do not have to follow it to the letter, but make sure your puppy is current on all shots before taking him out into a strange area. By the time a puppy is 3 months, make sure he has:

Been on 7 different types of surfaces: carpet, tile, linoleum, concrete, wood, vinyl, grass, dirt, gravel, and wood chips.
Played with 7 different types of objects: rope toys, plush toys, big balls, small balls, soft fabric toys, squeaky toys, paper or cardboard items, metal items, and sticks.
Been in 7 different locations: front & back yard, basement, kitchen, car, garage, laundry room, bathroom, kids’ room, living room, hallway, Vet’s office, groomers.
Met and played with 7 new people: include children and older adults, someone walking with a cane or in a wheelchair or walker, someone tall, someone in a hat.
Been exposed to 7 challenges: climb on a box, go through a tunnel, climb steps, go down steps, climb over obstacles, play hide and seek, go in and out of a doorway with a step up or down, run around a fence.
Eaten from 7 different containers: metal, plastic, cardboard, paper, human hands, pie plate, tin pan, frying pan, Frisbee, elevated bowl.
Eaten in 7 different locations: crate, yard, exercise pen, basement, laundry room, living room, bathroom, back yard.

Each new, positive experience will help your puppy flourish into a confident companion. Allow your puppy to learn passively by letting them to explore on their own, but make sure he is 100% supervised and that it is a controlled environment. Do not use any harsh training methods with a puppy, because you will break the bond of trust. Training should be fair and fun.

We think all puppies should go through the puppy socialization called the “Rule of 7.” The rule of 7 is a technique we learned to help introduce our puppies to new environments and get them used to many different things they may encounter in their lives. Much like ENS (early Neurological Stimulation) the Rule of seven introduces the pups to small stresses that will help boost confidence, social behavior, and their trainability.

Our rule of 7 works by introducing pups starting at 4 weeks of age to 7 new things they hadn’t had a lot of contact with before. Four days later we change these to 7 new items. So, by the time you pick up your puppy they have been introduced to 49 different or new things/changes. When your puppy goes home, they can be a cute, confident pup ready to trek across carpet, tile, or wood floors, play with balls, squeaky toys and chase sticks and begin to work on obedience.