The stresses of being a puppy....

It is widely understood, that human contact in the early days is important for puppy development.  It is part of what distinguishes a feral pup from a domestic pup.  In these early days, human handling is still a mild stress on a puppy.  The pictures taken on Day 4 capture the pups in a pose of quiet tranquility... but don't let that fool you!  It took several shots of each puppy to get the right pose.  They were squirming around so vigorously!  They were not so ready to sit quietly in the palm of our hand...small as they may have been! 

We certainly would not allow any traumatic experience to the puppies, but a mild stress of this kind is suppose to be very beneficial. I love to read The Art of Raising a Puppy by the Monks of New Skete'.  This order of monks raise very highly sought after German Shephard puppies and are well known for their expertise in raising puppies.  Concerning early handling of puppies the monks write the following,

This puppy is so much more tranquil at 10 days old.

" Puppies exposed to mildly stressful experiences from a very early age (1-6 weeks) usually develop into dogs possessing superior problem-solving ability, with less emotional imbalance than their counterparts raised without such stimulation.  In the young pup, in addition to raising the heart rate, stress causes an involuntary hormonal reaction in the adrenal-pituitary system, a help in resisting disease and handling stress.  The overall effect of this is to prime the entire system, building it up and making it more resilient to emotionally challenging experiences later on in life. We find that at each specific stage of growth, specific types of handling enhance the development of pups and orient them in a positive manner to later life."    The Art of Raising a Puppy,  The Monks of New Skete

At 11 days old the puppies still spend most of their day sleeping.

It certainly would be easy enough to ignore the puppies early on, as the mother doggie sees to all their basic needs.  However, based on the monks advice, we are conscientious to keep a presence in the puppies lives, and especially holding each puppy every day.