Parvo vaccines question

[bouchot]

Hello! I'm new to this forum and I was looking for some advice regarding the Parvo vaccines.

My wife and I have a new Labradoodle puppy (Mika). We brought her home when she was about 12 weeks old, at which point the breeder had already taken her for a couple Parvo shots at 8 and 12 weeks. I took her for a third Parvo shot when she turned 15 weeks. I was hoping that a week after this third shot I'd be able to start taking her out a bit more. But I was surprised when the vet told us not to do it, she said we should wait until she gets a fourth Parvo shot in three weeks.

To me it sounds like keeping a puppy sheltered until she is 19/20 weeks old is excessive, and may be detrimental for her development. I do take her out to my yard to play, and she sometimes plays with my neighbor's dog as well as my friend's puppy.

I was always under the impression that a puppy needs three shots of Parvo and not four, what do you think? My problem is not the 4th shot itself, I'll be glad to take her in for that, but I'm just concerned about keeping her sheltered from other dogs and new places for 3 more weeks. Mika is very shy as it is, and I just want to make sure I do everything I can to help her reach her full potential.

[Adina P]

She's already past that critical developmental period that happens at 8-12 weeks, so you aren't in mission critical time right now.  However, the more socialization done appropriately, the better.  If you have friends with stable dogs that don't go to dog parks and such, I would feel comfortable having them visit with my pup.  And I would also not be afraid to take my pup to places where dogs don't frequent.  But it depends on how prevalent parvo is in your area.

[Jennifer and Jack]

I am definitely not giving you medical advice.. I live in an area where we have a lot of Parvo. When Jack was a puppy I was not on DK because I didn't know about it.... My vet told me a few days after the third shots and he was good to go. I believed her and sent him to daycare filled with tons and tons of dogs... Luckily he did fine. I really don't know if it is okay or not and from what I read it depends on how the puppy responds to the shot itself....

Sometimes from what I understand the first few shots a puppy gets may not actually work because the puppy still has the mom's antibodies in their system which doesn't allow them to make their own immunity against the disease because they have their mom's which is called passive immunity..anyway, I think that is what they prefer to have you wait until all the shots are given. I will tell you Jack got his shots early at seven, ten, thirteen and sixteen weeks.. by 14 weeks he was at day care... good bad or indifferent I lucked out... He didn't even have his rabies yet.. what did I know?

That said, I have made mistakes with Jack but one of the things I am really happy with that I did with him was the way I socialized him as a puppy...  Just because you don't go to a dog park doesn't mean you can't socialize.... Get an old kid stroller and put Mika in that, roll her around the neighborhood... Have friends come over that have dogs that are known to be up to date on shots or proven with titers.... Have the neighborhood kids come over and play.. Go for car rides..... Lots of them..  When it storms out and is thundering go outside and give treats, throw the ball around so they don't fear the thunder...

I used to bang on pots and pans and drop them to get Jack used to lots of noises.... He was little as he is just a toy doodle so I put him in a carrier and he went with me to the post office, to the bank.. I went to Lowes and Home Depot those are great stores to bring your puppy to.. just make sure they potty before they go in... so many people love a puppy they will stop and pet them.... One day I stood outside of Walmart with Jack for a little while when I was waiting for my mom to come out.. besides for the people thinking I was giving him away for free, so many people petted him and gave him love it was great.

If Mika is shy.. which Jack doesn't have shy bone in his body but my mom's dog does, we give other people treats that we approve of to give to her.... this way she learns people are good... people are safe..... and she may be less shy.. 

Only you can decide what to do about letting the dog go places, I did it, I don't know if I would do it again but I sure would do all the socializing I did because Jack is been so exposed to so many situations I can and do bring him almost everywhere and nothing is a surprise or causes a huge reaction except cats.. I forgot to expose him to cats..

Congrats on your puppy...

[Lukai]

Great post Jennifer & Jack! 

I try to take Kai on as many car rides as possible, not just because I wanted to have her get use to the world, but I loved having her with me! :)

______________________

I felt the same way and didn't want to keep Kai in for that long with-out socialization.. So we made sure we cleaned and disinfected the front yard, and had her loosely go to the restroom there (she was exposed to slow passing cars, people, & sometimes cats). I brought her to my parent's house 2x a week ever since she was 7 weeks and played with 3 other dogs who are vaccinated & never had health problems.

She is now 4 months (17 weeks) and just had her very last shot. She does great with people/other dogs. Although she can get a little scared around big crowds. I would definitely recommend the other comments with not letting your dog socialize with unknown dogs/places. But having her on car rides and maybe family members houses shouldn't be as bad.

I am still going to wait another 2 weeks until I take her out fully to parks and other places so I know the vaccines have kicked in 100%. Good luck Mika!

[Sharae & Winston]

From what our vet told us, if they get the 3rd shot at 16 weeks or after they do not need a fourth shot, which was the case for us. We were set to get Winston's 3rd shot one week before he was about to turn 16 weeks and she said just to wait a week so we wouldn't have to get a 4th and he would be good for the next year.

That being said... Prior to him going in to get his last shot he contracted parvo at 11 weeks. He was hospitalized for 4 days and BARELY pulled through. Worst experience of my life. He had already had the first two shots in the series still got it, they are not fully protected until they have FINISHED the series. Please do not risk your puppy's life for the sake of socialization. As said above, she's already past that critical period anyway.