[Samson's Mommy]

Normally when I take in a rescue pup, they are 8+ weeks and almost always have their first round of shots. Samson is coming to me at 7 weeks on Friday. His appointment is Saturday morning with the vet. Do you think that I should keep him inside (using pee pee pads) for the first week until his immunity is somewhat up?

 

[Murphys Dad]

I am all for taking the pup out to see the world (the back yard for now), just keep him away from other dogs (not your own, you know they are healthy) and other dogs' poop. One day until he is seen by a vet won't make the difference. Once he had his puppy vet session, you'll know exactly what to do.

 

[Brien]

This is such an interesting topic. When we got Bodie he was 8 weeks old. He had already received his first round of shots.

On one hand you hear (especially from the vet) to not take them out until they receive all their shots. And then you hear that it's important to expose your puppy to humans and other dogs at an early age. So that was our quandary.

What we did is limit Bodie to our yard and walking in the cul-de-sac. Because we don't get stray dogs or others coming through the circle we felt pretty comfortable with this. We also limited Bodie's exposure to two other dogs that are neighbors. One of which is a beagle. So they immediately took to each other and became play pals.

After a couple rounds of shots we started going further, maybe a couple blocks away from home. And once he got his last series it was off to the dog park.

So I think by limiting his exposure to other dogs and areas was a good idea. I'm really against complete isolation until all the shots are done. 8-16 weeks is a crucial stage for their development and learning how to interact with other dogs. But you have to be selective.

But to your point. I too wonder how likely a dog is to get sick when taken outside before all the shots are done. I can understand the vet saying no, no, no since they're always going to side with caution. I just wonder how valid it is.

 

[Brisen]

We were pretty strict about not taking Maggie outside the backyard until she had all of her shots at 4 months of age. I know the early socialization is equally important, but we had just lost our previous beagle Molly a month before getting Maggie, and I just couldn't take the chance of her getting sick and losing her too. We were overly cautious, and as a result, Maggie is somewhat nervous and apprehensive around strangers and other dogs, so I'm not so sure we did the right thing.

 

[Java]

I've lost a dog to Parvo when I was younger, so I took some precautions when Java was a pup. I did allow him outside a bit, but I made sure he did not lick/eat poop (WHY DON'T PEOPLE PICK UP AFTER THEMSELVES? /soapbox) or have contact with unknown dogs.

 

[Brien]

And see we took the different approach and Bodie has never been afraid or skittish around humans or dogs. When we go to the dog park he plays with ALL the dogs no matter if they're different breeds, big, small, fast, slow, etc. He's kinda like a social butterfly at the dog parks. He plays and interacts with everyone. Sometimes we'll encounter an aggressive dog at the park and we either intervene and keep the dog away from him or leave. But essentially he gets along with everyone... well except the cat. He loves to chase the fricken cat all around the house!

 

[Smeagle]

Originally Posted By: Samson's MommyNormally when I take in a rescue pup, they are 8+ weeks and almost always have their first round of shots. Samson is coming to me at 7 weeks on Friday. His appointment is Saturday morning with the vet. Do you think that I should keep him inside (using pee pee pads) for the first week until his immunity is somewhat up?

If he has had no vaccinations whatsoever, definitely keep him inside.

I take my pups out and about (safely) when they get home but they've always had at least their first round of shots. He won't have any immunity if he hasn't had his shots yet.

 

[Zookeeper]

I am one to err on the side of caution as well. With all our dogs (labs and Duke) we waited until they had at least 3 shot series before exposing them to the outside world. I lost a pup to distemper once and I will never take that chance again (he had one set of shots and caught it before his 2nd set). No amount of socialization is worth it to me. We had other family dogs that we socialized the labs with in our home and backyard that we knew were safe and Duke had both the labs to socialize with and my brother's chihuahua.

The labs were very well socialized with humans and animals and so is Duke. I think taking him to puppy class right after his shots helped that, too. Violet is also very social and friendly, but we can't lay claim to that since she was like that when we got her (we got SO lucky with her).