Our puppies are born in a whelping box in our main home and living area, where they stay until they are four weeks old. At four weeks old the puppies go from the whelping box to our puppy nursery room. They also start getting mobile and eating puppy cereal to prepare them for weaning. The puppy nursery room is s room off of our garage that has been remodeled to accommodate. The puppy nursery is a heated/cooled, clean environment. In here the puppies are in a round pen with food/water in one corner, bed in another corner and newspaper/potty pads in another corner. This starts the idea of separating where puppies go potty, eat and sleep. At six – seven weeks the pups are only with their mom at night and by eight weeks they are without their mom. That being said, we do allow our momma dogs to “self wean”. Some mothers like to be with their babies longer than others. At seven weeks we allow the puppies to start using a doggy door and by 8 weeks they primarily potty outside using the doggy door (with no swinging door, it is just an open hole. If you have a doggy door they may need trained how to push the door open). While puppies are in the nursery (4-8weeks of age) we spend a lot of time with them. Their pens get picked up, swept and bleach mopped two-three times per day with each feeding. We have chairs where we sit to spend time with the puppies and music playing (country radio) 24/7 for them. The puppies are socialized with our immediate family, including children. However, they are not socialized off our property, besides for their veterinarian visits, until they leave for their new homes. This is for the health and safety of the dogs.