'Super dog' keeps calm in the most stressful situations

Tom Loy of Tall Grass International sits by the farrowing crate as a litter of three-day-old setter puppies roam their little world with their eyes closed. Roy took the puppies out of the box one by one and put them through a series of short exercises. When he's done, the puppies go back to the box and crawl toward their mom.

The lessons continued over the next 13 days, and while the exercises had nothing to do with bird hunting -- at least not directly -- they effectively taught Lowy's Setter puppies how to deal with stress. Years later, the result of this early training is that the dog is less timid, more social, and better able to handle any stressful situation a working dog encounters in the wild.

The program Lowy used was advocated by the U.S. military to improve the performance of military dogs. Studies have shown that puppies and other mammals are particularly sensitive to stimulation shortly after birth, and that early stimulation can improve overall health. Research shows that exposing puppies to stimulation can boost brain function, which in turn increases overall confidence, while reducing stress-related behaviors such as biting or growling. Originally called "biosensor training," these workouts are now called "super puppy training."

From days 3 to 16, each puppy in the program was stimulated 5 times per day. These positions include head-up, head-down, and supine (supine) positions; cotton swabs to stimulate the paws; and lying on a cold towel. Each stage is not very painful, only lasts a few seconds, and when the training is over, the dogs return to their mothers.

This program has been shown to improve cardiovascular health, increase adrenal function and brain activity, and improve puppy resistance to stress and disease. Similar experiments in mice and primates yielded the same results.

Lowy is a practitioner of the Super Puppy Program and has started giving all of his puppies early stimulation.

"I noticed that in every litter of puppies, there were a few shy puppies who wanted to hide or were reluctant to socialize," Lowy said. "With the 'Super Puppies' program, I just Not so much to see. Timid dogs are bolder and more gregarious."

As military dogs mature and begin training, they are exposed to all kinds of stress—from inspection leashes to electronic collars and gunshots. By learning how to deal with stress at an early age, Lowy's Setters can handle field stimuli with ease. Lowe said puppies are generally prepared for more advanced training than untrained puppies.