One of the things that sets a breeding program apart from others is whether they implement ENS and/or ESI. In this post I’ll give a quick overview of the two protocols and why we choose to utilize them.

ENS – Early Neurological Stimulation was designed for military dogs and introduced to breeders in 1995 by Dr. Carla Battaglia. Research showed that between 3-16 days of life, a neonate puppy was especially sensitive to neurological stimulation. The program uses five very gentle stressors, executed in a methodical way, once per day, to expose the newborn pups to neurological stresses they wouldn’t otherwise experience.

They found that this early stimulation actually made the pups grow into dogs that could handle stressful environments and even battle diseases much better than those who had not received early neurological stimulation. In fact, there were five notable improvements in dogs who had received ENS as a neonate puppy:

Improved cardio vascular performance (heart rate)

Stronger heart beats

Stronger adrenal glands

More tolerance to stress

Greater resistance to disease

You can read all about the specific implementation and its research here.

ESI – Early Scent Introduction was researched by Gayle Watson PhD over a nine-year period. She conducted the research on her own golden retriever kennel and the findings were astonishing. These pups were introduced to a strong smell once daily from days 3-16 after birth. Sometimes they respond with interest, other times dislike, and often with ambivalence or complete disinterest.

These short exposures to smells such as dirt, pine needles, bananas, cinnamon, etc., are most likely creating new connections in the brain. In Dr. Watson’s research she found that in her own kennel, the dogs who had ESI as neonates were gaining titles based on their scenting ability 2.5 years earlier than their non-ESI counterparts. You can read more about her study here.

Though we may not have plans for our pups to become search and rescue dogs or compete in scenting events, there’s absolutely no downside to exposing them to new smells and helping their brains to be well-wired for the real world.

Both of these protocols are fairly easy to implement but have a big return on investment as our goal is to be raising dogs that will enrich their families lives. Exposing our pups to early gentle stressors and new smells is just one of the things that we choose to do at Sunshine Valley Puppies that sets us apart from other breeders and helps give our pups the lives they deserve.