I have been ready The Happy Puppy Handbook and plan to socialise Enzo as much as possible. I do have a silly question. As Enzo will not be fully immunised yet, I am not sure if I should let him wee or poo on the ground when we are on a socialisation outing. I belong to a fencing club and plan to take Enzo there for a socialisation outing, there is little park next to the club where lots of people walk their dogs. Common sense indicates that I should not let Enzo down there but will it be OK to let him down out side the clubhouse where there is less doggy traffic? Or it it too much of a risk?
Hi @CHon Good question. The risk-averse person would not let him on the ground until after the second vaccination takes hold. The virus could be picked up on the sole of a shoe and tranferred to what you think is the safe area in your description.
I would suggest you try to find a location which is unlikely to have been visited by other dogs (or people). Like - the middle of a field. The top of a hedge. Etc etc. Usually it's possible to find somewhere like that...
Hi, I really was hoping for more results off the back of this great question from CHon, because I for one are really none the wiser after the responses. When going for socialization sessions at the train station, school runs (live 5 min walk from school) or to a working building site to get our puppy accustomed to new sights and sounds I very much doubt there will be "a middle of a field" or "top of a hedge ?" for Solar to relieve her bowels/bladder. I understand there is not a real clean cut answer to this because let's face it, there's not many places that haven't had foot or paw traffic and one person's high risk is another person's no worries so I am still wondering what's common practice and what isn't. Leaving it so late until vaccinations are complete before going for social missions I've kind of missed the boat . Example:- For instance waiting out the front of our local supermarket to meet the weird and wonderful passing by, but I know it is heavy foot and dog traffic area with no close place to nip to for the call of nature in a "clean" environment. Is it a simple dont go there ? Or are their other ways to deal with this predicament ?. Many thanks Dan
Hi @Daniel Boldero CHon wanted to know what to do before getting the second vaccination. Carrying the dog is fine. Get the puppy to urinate before you go out and you should be able to go for at least 30 minutes without running into a call of nature issue. You don't have to wait until the dog has completed all three vaccinations. Five days after the second vaccination and you and your dog can go anywhere, within reason. You do not want the puppy to be leading the high life every moment she is awake. Sitting together in a park and quietly watching the world going by is a good experience too.
The middle of a flowerbed. Even the middle of a (quiet) street - dogs tend to toilet on pavements (sidewalks), not in the middle of streets... It's important to know that most puppies are actually protected from one week after the first vaccination because most puppies' maternal antibodies have worn off by the time of the first vaccination - so it is effective at protecting them. So - so most of these precautions are overkill, for most people. Sure, you could have one of the few puppies which is not protected - but it's about balancing the risk of that with the risk of under-socialisation (which IMO is far greater).
Thankyou very much for the breakdown, good to know pups are "semi" protected after 1st vaccine, and yeah as you say it's balancing the risks because I really want to get out and about as much as possible socializing when we bring Solar home, after settling in for afew days first .(she was born yesterday).
