Hi Everyone, We are picking up our new puppy in little over a week. So this may be the first of many requests for help! Just wondered if anyone could give us advice or thoughts on the following. We have a shared garden at the back of our building, and we’re planning to take the puppy down to that when housetraining, for the first 2-4 weeks until her vaccinations are done. the garden is almost never used, so this plan was fine until about a week ago. Now, one of our downstairs neighbours has got a dog (older staffie, I think). Haven’t yet managed to catch the neighbour to ask yet (and don’t know if we would get an honest answer), but we don’t know if this dog is vaccinated. Any thoughts on how best to deal with this? I know we are supposed to keep her clear of any areas where unvaccinated dogs have been, but not sure what alternative we have. Other than possibly sticking to puppy pads in the flat and not starting house training until all injections are done.
Hi Jeff, Welcome to the forum and congratulations on your impending arrival! I would try to have a chat with the owner if you can, because that would go a long way to relieving your worries. If their dog isn't vaccinated the choice would be to risk it, or to use pads as you say. If you go with pads you can find information on indoor potty training here that might help. I think in your shoes i'd probably go with indoor potty training, as it's only for the first few weeks, but maybe have a chat with your veterinarian about what the local risk factors are in your area as this might also help you to decide? Let us know how you get along!
We live in a flat with no access to a garden so we had to toilet train with puppy pads until she was able to go outside. It is do-able and if you are persistent when she can get outside then she will pick it up easily enough.
I used to live in a city with only a small patio for a garden, which wasn't a place where we wanted the dogs to learn to toilet. We took them out on the road from the first day we brought them home. Sadly I do see many people with ongoing toilet training problems lasting months which occur because they start encouraging their puppies to toilet indoors on pee pads. The pups get used to going inside and it then becomes very difficult to convince them to do anything otherwise. I think I would probably identify a spot in the yard which the other dog is unlikely to have been into - perhaps it's tucked away somewhere or behind something - you don't need a huge area. And then carry the pup into that area and out of it. It is very very very unlikely that the other dog is totally unvaccinated throughout its entire life - if it has come from a rescue, it will have been vaccinated routinely by the rescue and the vast majority of dogs have at least had puppy vaccinations, which research shows actually confer immunity for the major diseases for at least 7 years if not for life... so the risk is pretty minimal.
Hey, Just wanted to say a quick thanks to everyone who posted their thoughts. Our puppy class instructer suggested that the risk was low in the garden, and the benefits outweighed the risks. Vet also advised the same. I’m cautious, but we’ve followed this advice and have been trying to take her outside for bathroom visits (not that shes learned she can actually do anything when out there yet!) thanks again for the replies
