Socialization vs. Parvo

[Lisa]

Does anyone out there have any suggestions on how to reconcile the need for socialization in puppies at 8 to 12 weeks with the fear of parvo? Everything I've read says this is the most important time to expose your puppy to lots of people and varied situations, but how do you do that and avoid the dangers of contracting this disease? We pick Barkley up this week, and I would love any tips that you guys have.

[Lisa]

Thanks for the info. I've been following Lizzie's story and am so glad she's better!

[LeAnn, Lucy & Rusty!!]

Great advice Missi!!!

[Tamara & Giada]

We did not take ours anywhere until she was all vacinated, but she also was ill when we got her..........so, I too was extra careful.

[Yvonne, Riley, Murphy and Luca]

I did not take Riley anywhere until he was fully vaccinated either.We did have some family and friends over the first week or so to meet him. He is now 16 weeks old today and has no socialization problems. He wants to play with everyone and everything.

[Barbara Burrows]

We were careful with Abby, when we had her out we carried her. The time goes fast and I would keep my puppy as safe as possible.

[GBK]

I took Kona to lot's of places and she was small enough to fit in a bag when she was young. We did not go to parks, but we did sit outside Starbucks with her on my lap on occasion and a few other places to get her used to people. She is a little reactive, and we have come so far with her not being afraid of things. The only thing I wish I would have done more was get her more socialized with children. She loves to bark at them, not aggressively but playfully, but it still scares the kids :( She is doing so much better now, hard to believe she will be 2 years old soon! That is the magic number right????

[Lisa]

Starbucks! That idea appeals to me on many levels...;)

[Mommy2Max]

I carried Max around quite a bit in the beginning. He is a mini so it was a little easy on the back until recently. My vet had said it would be fine for him to play with other pets as long as we knew they were vaccinated. So, one or two of our friends would bring their dog over. We also brought him into stores (carried or sitting on his blankie in a cart), small parks/tot lots in our newly developed neighborhood (not off leash dog parks).

We took Max to a paid puppy play group. They are VERY strict about everyone being up to date with their vaccinations including rabies, kennel cough, flea/tick and neuter/spay. They have a clean environment and they seperate puppies from adult dogs. If a dog has an accident, the owners quickly pick up their puppy and the accident is cleaned up and disinfected. None of the dogs have been ill including my Max. Of course, there is never a guarentee but, they do all that can be done to prevent the spread of disease.

Finally, we enrolled Max in puppy training which he attends once a week.

After six months of age I will consider bringing him to the local doodle romps.

~Danielle

[Melanie]

The socialization aspect far outweighed the fear of parvo for us. We didn't take puppy to dog parks or pet stores until he had all his shots, but he was walked on the paths around our house from 10 weeks on. We didn't let him come in direct contact with other dogs or smell any dog feces (from people not picking up after their dog!!) on these walks. We don't have a yard and he is a very active puppy, so I'm not sure how else we would have done it! We also started puppy play time at 13 weeks (after his second shots). And yes, even though puppies can get Parvo after they've had all their shots, they can also be protected after just one shot (depending on when they were weaned and the maternal antibodies left their system). So we just made sure that we knew the signs of Parvo and if he had demonstrated any of them he would have been at the vet immediately!

[Wendy and Eddie]

The doggie day care by me offered puppy romps on Sundays, after the place had been closed all day Sat. and thoroughly cleaned on Friday. People also had to show proof of the first, or actually it must be second, round of shots. That was a good compromise for me to solve the whole dilemma.