How we raise puppies
In the house, then in the yard, then in the world
Puppies are born in a whelping box in Jodi's office, ten steps from the kitchen, with someone sleeping on the couch next door for the first two weeks. At four weeks they move to the puppy room off the mudroom, and from five weeks they spend their days in a fenced outdoor pen on grass and gravel, with the pond in sight.
We don't use a commercial program. What we do is borrowed from several — Early Neurological Stimulation, scent introduction, a lot of Puppy Culture's ideas about sounds and surfaces — and we describe it modestly: the evidence that any of it makes a better adult dog is thin. What it reliably does is give puppies a calm, varied first eight weeks and give us a lot of time looking at each one.
Week by week
Days 0–2
Born in the house. Weighed at birth and twice a day after; anyone under 12 oz gets extra help. Vet check by day 3. Dewclaws left on.
Days 3–16
Early Neurological Stimulation once a day — five exercises, 3–5 seconds each — and one new scent a day: duck wing, pheasant feather, cut grass, leather, pine.
Weeks 2–3
Eyes and ears open. First deworming at 2 weeks. Recorded sounds at low volume during meals. Soft collars go on.
Weeks 3–4
The puppy room and a pine-pellet litter tray. Weaning onto soaked food. First visits from approved families, by appointment.
Weeks 5–6
Days in the outdoor pen: grass, gravel, a plank bridge, a tunnel, a kiddie pool. Car rides, crate naps, weekly nail trims. First vaccine at 6 weeks.
Week 6
Frozen pheasant and duck wings, and the shallow edge of the pond if the day is warm. Nobody is put in the water; they walk in, or they wait.
Week 7
Temperament evaluation by an outside hunt test judge on day 47. Microchips. Matching calls with families.
Week 8
Vet exam and health certificate. Go-home day, with the folder, the food and the wing.
What goes home with every puppy
In the folder, the bag and the car
- AKC registration — full for hunting and competition homes; limited for family homes, changed to full at no charge once OFA finals and a CAER exam are done
- First DAPPv vaccine (Nobivac Canine 1-DAPPv), given September 30, 2026, with the record for your vet
- Dewormed at 2, 4, 6 and 8 weeks (pyrantel), plus 3 days of fenbendazole at week 6
- Microchip implanted October 5 and enrolled with AKC Reunite in your name
- Exam and health certificate from our vet in Hamilton on October 12
- Four-generation pedigree with titles and OFA numbers
- Copies of both parents' OFA, CAER and DNA results
- The Ridgeline Puppy Contract, with the 30-month hip, elbow and eye guarantee
- Puppy pack: 6 lb of the Pro Plan puppy food they're eating, a towel from the whelping box, a canvas puppy bumper, a pheasant wing in a zip bag, collar and slip lead
- Care binder: feeding, vaccine and deworming schedule, and our first-month training plan
- 30 days of AKC Pet Insurance (activate within a week)
- Lifetime phone support, the owners' Facebook group and the June reunion
Price
$2,800 for every puppy, any color or sex, hunting home or family home. The $500 deposit is taken only after we've approved you, and it is credited to the price; the $2,300 balance is due at pickup by cashier's check, cash or card. We never take gift cards, crypto, or a wire to anyone but us.
Why eight weeks, and why we don't ship
Puppies go home at eight weeks: old enough to have learned dog manners from Hazel and the litter, young enough to bond fast with you, and the age several states require. Not seven weeks, not with an exception.
We don't ship puppies by cargo or ground transport. You collect your puppy here, or, if you fly in to Missoula (MSO), we'll meet you at the airport and you carry the puppy home under the seat. Most of our families drive; Billings is five hours, Boise seven, Spokane four.
