Early Socialization vs Immunization
Question inspired by my neighbor's adorable new 11 week old little corgi pup whom I encountered on a walk today.
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I understand that pups usually come home at about 8 weeks old & aren't finished with all their vaccines until about 12 weeks old. [ I think, correct me if I'm wrong please ]
Now, nihon ken being nihon ken, & just like any other dog, it's essential to socialize them regularly & early, especially when they're young, since like any other baby that time period has the greatest impact.
So...how do you socialize a pup during those early weeks [ before they've finished their round of vaccines ] in the safest possible way w/out exposing them to potential diseases? [ like Parvo ]
Or, is it best to "wait out" those 4 weeks and do socialization once the pup is fully immunized?
What did you all do with your pups?
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To clarify, I'm mostly concerned with dog-to-dog socialization, not so much human socialization. [ I have tons of friends / family who rarely come into contact with dogs so the odds of them carrying dog diseases are rare...unless they stepped in some dog shit somewhere LOL ]
But...as far as introducing your pup to other dogs [ who might carry disease ] what did you do? How about taking them to places like petco / petsmart / etc. is that really "safe?" What about on "normal" walks, is THAT even safe? How do you exercise the pup if you can't walk him?
Sorry, I'm going into panic mode LOL Any help on this would be much appreciated guys
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I understand that pups usually come home at about 8 weeks old & aren't finished with all their vaccines until about 12 weeks old. [ I think, correct me if I'm wrong please ]
Now, nihon ken being nihon ken, & just like any other dog, it's essential to socialize them regularly & early, especially when they're young, since like any other baby that time period has the greatest impact.
So...how do you socialize a pup during those early weeks [ before they've finished their round of vaccines ] in the safest possible way w/out exposing them to potential diseases? [ like Parvo ]
Or, is it best to "wait out" those 4 weeks and do socialization once the pup is fully immunized?
What did you all do with your pups?
---
To clarify, I'm mostly concerned with dog-to-dog socialization, not so much human socialization. [ I have tons of friends / family who rarely come into contact with dogs so the odds of them carrying dog diseases are rare...unless they stepped in some dog shit somewhere LOL ]
But...as far as introducing your pup to other dogs [ who might carry disease ] what did you do? How about taking them to places like petco / petsmart / etc. is that really "safe?" What about on "normal" walks, is THAT even safe? How do you exercise the pup if you can't walk him?
Sorry, I'm going into panic mode LOL Any help on this would be much appreciated guys
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Comments
My plan, which I think is the safest option, is to sign up for a puppy kindergarten class as soon as possible after I get my puppy. The training class I want to attend takes into account the need to socialize young puppies before they've completed all their rounds of vaccines. I think it will be pretty safe since dogs that attend classes at this training center must be current for all vaccinations unless they are younger than 16 weeks, then I think as long as they have started their first round of shots they are ok to attend. I attached a link that explains this more completely. http://www.avsabonline.org/avsabonline/images/stories/Position_Statements/puppy%20socialization.pdf
I also plan to take my puppy to visit my mom's dogs, who I know are current on their vaccinations and they can play together in the relative safety of my parents backyard. I also plan on taking my puppy to other peoples houses who have dogs and also I'll try to arrange for other dogs to come over to my house as well. It's just my opinion, but I wouldn't take my puppy to Petsmart/Petco/dog parks/or in areas (around the neighborhood)that other dogs are walked because I don't know if those dogs have been immunized. Anyone can take their dog to these areas and I think the soil in these areas are more likely to be contaminated.
I know my own yard might be contaminated since I walk outside in dog parks and then in my yard, but I'll have to take that slight risk in order to socialize my puppy.
So to summarize the plan: socialize in my backyard with immunized dogs, friends backyards with immunized dogs, attend puppy kindergarten with other partially immunized puppies. Day-to-day exercise will have to be playtime in my house or backyard until 16 weeks.
I would be very interested to hear other peoples plans or experiences too. Does anyone see any problems with my plan? Did they do something similar?
I brought Koda to puppy socialization classes; took him on walks in my parent's neighborhood (which I felt to be a little safer); carried him in the supermarket, hardware stores, the orchard, etc; and brought him to homes where there were older dogs that I knew were vaccinated and had dogs come over.
I will say that from 3-4 months, he drove me a little crazy. He needed constant running around, and it would have been great to have another dog in the home that could get all of his energy out. Life got a lot easier once he was fully vaccinated and I took him out everywhere with me.
I had some long disucssions with my breeder, this forum, my vet, and the obedience school when I was deciding if I should take Tomoe to puppy school. The vet pointed out that puppies are born with their mother's immune system, and if they aren't separated too early and the mother is in good health, the puppy's immune system is bolstered through suckling....the basic theory of puppy vaccinations as I understand it is that its more an "equalizer" to fill in gaps that may exist for dogs that were weaned early or may not have been the most robust in the litter, or if the puppy came from a different region. In other words, if you obtained your dog from a good breeder, the vaccinations are not a matter of life-or-death for your dog.
I took that with a grain of salt and figured the puppy kindergarten was worth the risk, and did my best to make sure she had no nose-to-nose or other contact with adult dogs in the neighborhood, kept her nose out of piles on the path, etc.
The puppy kindergarten was, I believe, indispensible. She's still quite rough around the edges but she shows no fear of other dogs now.
To be honest, I did limited to no socialization with both Shoushuu & Kotomi as young pups, I did most of that later on. I was more worried about them getting sick, so I kept them at home, in my truck or in controlled/treated environments. I think they actually turned out better for it and they never got sick.
With Lynx as a young puppy, I wasn't too worried about all that stuff since she was born in California. I took her everywhere and we did lots, lots and lots of socialization and exposure. She had her first set of shots at 7 weeks. She did get Gidaria (sp?) from drinking bad water and just in our unfenced backyard (at the time). And although, I believe she was exposed to Parvo many times (at least twice), she was lucky and never contracted the virsus.
This is just something you have to debate out on your own, but as a general rule...I always tell people to please stay away from public grasses. So if you want to take your puppy out for walks and a bit of socialization/exposure...it's safer to stay on the concrete because most virsus' cannot survive on that as they can on grass or in soiled dirt.
I think it's best to discuss with your vet what are the risks because they are usually aware if there's an infection or parasites going around.
I had a friend with an English Bulldog and she decided to go no vaccination (except rabies) route, and while I admire her sticking to her principles on this, I also think that is just too scary for me to do. I got my GSD as a rescue because he had parvo as a pup and the owner/breeder/total jerkwad that had him didn't want to pay for vaccinations for his dogs or for the treatment to save the two pups that survived out of a litter of 11. And just recently, I was interested in a beautiful rescue American Akita who was good with other dogs--but he died of distemper not long after the rescue people got him, because his previous owner didn't bother to vaccinate the dogs. Not out of principles--just out of carelessness.
I'm not as knowledgeable as I'd like to be about how much is too much regarding vaccinations, but I would like to try to not load up a young pup with as many as they normally get, though I'd also want to be safe....And be able to socialize them well.
It's a delicate balance, I think. Would love to hear more thoughts on this.
Before hearing about this I had a plan for my future puppies: find a group of puppies of similar age and some grown ups good with pups and with all their shots done and arrange puppy meetings in my house and in the houses of the other puppies (by rotation) for socialization.