Puppy Torture

Here’s how we do Early Neurological Stimulation or as we call it, puppy torture. It’s very short. There are only four exercises. Well, first we weigh the puppy, but that’s just so we can be sure everyone is gaining and doing well. Then you put the head straight up, then straight down. You tickle between some of the toes with something soft. (I use a Q-tip.) Then I use an ice cube and touch three or four areas, and try to do the ears, nose, mouth, feet and maybe the tail. That’s it! (Here‘s the official paper on the process – it’s a PDF file.)

You can see how it’s not really that stressful on the puppy — more on Disa than the baby. It’s about 90 seconds from start to finish for each puppy. She calms down after the first puppy, as soon as I put the tortured baby on the milk bar, and both she and Bjarki get a treat when we are all done and they never let us forget it. Frank and I get a glass of wine. Or two.