Where To Socialize?

[twnzplusone]

I WAS WONDERING WHERE EVERYONE TAKES THEIR DOGS OR PUPPIES TO SOCIALIZE. SASHA IS 8 WKS OLD AND I TRY TO TAKE HER EVERYWHERE. WE TAKE HER TO THE PARK ON ALL THE SUNNY DAYS (NOT TOO MANY IN OREGON!) AND I HAVE TAKEN HER TO PETSMART AS WELL. I TAKE HER ANYTIME WE GO OVER TO A FRIENDS OR FAMILY AND HAVE EVEN CARRIED HER THROUGH THE MALL!! BUT AS SHE GETS OLDER IT WILL BECOME MORE DIFFICULT TO TAKE HER SOME PLACES.

I WAS JUST WONDERING IF EVERYONE COULD GIVE ME SOME IDEAS ON WHERE TO SOCIALIZE. I WANT TO MAKE SURE SHE IS VERY WELL SOCIALIZED WITH EVERYONE AND EVERTHING. I TAKE MY DOGS ON WALKS AT NIGHT BUT WHERE WE LIVE IT IS NOT VERY CROWDED WITH PEOPLE. SHE WILL START PUPPY K IN 4 WKS AND OBEDIENCE AFTER THAT. ANY HELP WOULD BE GREATLY APPRECIATED!

[Burnsway]

IS your pup 6 weeks old or 8 weeks old...

In a post you wrote yesterday you said she was 6 weeks old.

Any how, regardless of age, you should not be taking her to public parks or dog parks or petstores untill she has had all her vaccinations. It is really taking a chance of exposing her. Take her to family and friends houses where you know she can't be exposed. Also you can take her other places but hold her, don't let her run around where you may think other un vaccinated dogs have been.

Your pup is in it's most vulnerable stage and if it is only 6 weeks as you said in another post, you really should have her around her littermates to finish the 6-8 week period of learning how to play properly.


Congrates on your new puppy also, Stick around you will learn a lot...:D

[twnzplusone]

OKAY, I JUST DID THE CALCULATIONS AND SHE IS 7 1/2 WKS OLD. SORRY FOR THE CONFUSION. SHE HAS HAD HER FIRST SHOTS ALREADY. I KNOW THIS DOES NOT PROTECT HER THOUGH. WHEN I HAVE BEEN TAKING HER OUT I HAVE BEEN HOLDING HER THE WHOLE TIME TO PROTECT HER. THANKS FOR THE GREAT ADVISE BURNSWAY!!

[PAULA]

Please heed the warning of taking a pup out to soon. We lost a pup that we took to petsmart to parvo. Lets just say our current rotty did not go to ANY public place untill about 6 months. He is now 14mos.
If you have friends with dogs that you know are vaccinated then have them come over. Bring people to see the dog. Most puppy classes wont even allow pups without more shots.
Be careful.

Ps. Some people consider all caps to be yelling.:D

[Roscoe's dad]

When the time comes, start her off slowly , introducing new people, sights and things gradually. Work your way up to large groups of different types of people. Every time you take her for a walk, its a chance to socialize. Large parks are fun! You might want to take her to some trap and skeet shoots (put earplugs in yours and her ears) to get her accustomed to loud noises. I have taken Guido to bars, the Lake Michigan Lake Front (a whole bunch of wackadoo's down there) and anywhere else I can think of when I want to show off the new puppy and meet new types of people. As far as socialization with other puppies, how about enrolling her into a "puppy class". There will be quite a few other puppys for her to see and they will be under yours and the trainers watchfull eyes. If there are problems in class the trainer will or should be able to show you what steps to take to correct any problems. These are just some things that I have done, they may not be kosher but she seems to be no worse for the wear.:)

[myandromeda]

Originally posted by PAULA
Please heed the warning of taking a pup out to soon. We lost a pup that we took to petsmart to parvo. Lets just say our current rotty did not go to ANY public place untill about 6 months. He is now 14mos.

Our pups will be 14 wks on Monday, and will have only received two sets of shots. I am often concerned that the late start on their shots (backyard breeder :( ) will inhibit (s/p?) their socialization because they can't go out... I do have family come over often, though (every day to be exact! My sister-in-law, and neice (6) and nephew (3) come over in the afternoons while we're at work.) I really want to be able to take them EVERYWHERE once they get all of their shots (after the third set, they can go out right?) Will the late start make it more difficult to socialize them? Is there anything else we can do to help them along? Thanks!

[PAULA]

The 3rd set would be good to have. A late start wont be that bad. Maxi goes everywhere now and has been exposed to many different things. Now going to a non dog place is good for human socialization but if you coul be with dogs that would be better. It is not so much the places as it is protecting your pup from unresponsible people who do not vaccicnate. After we lost Zues I was overly precautious with Maxi. He did not get a late start but a limited one. I do not regret it at all. Maxi did have puppy playmates(they were older) but they were dogs I KNEW were vaccinated. At 14 months he is not perfect!!!!! We have issues but the best place to begin your foundation of a good dog is a healthy one.

[memenzel]

I asked this exact same question about a month ago, and someone (I can't remember off the top of my head) listed out, week by week, what I could do to socialize our Sara. It was incredibly helpful. If you do a search on socialization, you should find it.

Sara is 14 weeks old now and has had 3 rounds of shots, and has one more set to go. I take her to lots of places, but I put her in a cart. She loves it and gets lots of attention. I hold the leash so she can't jump out, and give her a treat to keep her occupied.

[lblax]

please do wait until all her shots are current!!!!!! but after that take everywhere you can the more the better, but do yourself a favor never take them to a dog park, there are a lot of a--- h----s there that just take there unruly dogs and turn them loose cause they can bad experiance for you dog and if anything happens guess what youve got the rott!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! need i say more train them well and take em to opeople parks they will have more fun anyway!!!!!!

[PuppyLove]

My boy is 14 months old now but when he was a young puppy I wanted to make sure he received plenty of socialization with all types of people, dogs, other animals. While he was going through his shot series, I would take him to my parent's house, my girlfriends' houses, the barn, etc (all places where I knew the dogs had been vaccinated and other dogs could not get into the house/yard to possibly infect the area). I was able to control the dogs he was around to ensure he had positive experiences with friendly animals and my mom's lab was real good at teaching a puppy his place. She was like a step-mom for him. He was introduced to my horses, goats, cats, etc. We had people come over to the house at different times duing the day/week so he was used to strangers coming/going. My girlfriend would bring her Border/Queensland X over, so he would be used to other dogs at the house. She is now his ultimate best friend.

So the socialization can be done before your pup has completed his vaccination series. You just have to use common sense and remember he's just a baby.

[luvarott]

The disease that you should worry most about is Parvovirus. Rotts are very susceptible to this. One of my dogs was involved in a study in 1993 (published by MRC), which showed that the Proguard 5 vaccine was the best at elevating the blood titer level (ie. the immunity). She had total immunity at 10 weeks old after receiving 2 shots, one at 6 weeks and one at 9 weeks. She started into a puppyK class at 11 weeks old, but in a facility that was "parvo aware" (the vet advisor happens to be a Rott breeder!).
Because I live in a parvo hotbed, I would NEVER take a puppy out in public until it had had its' 3rd parvo shot, just in case it was one of the tiny percentage that was NOT immune after the 2nd shot). There is much you can do to socialize at home and you have to carefully weigh the chance between risk of infection (with deadly consequences) and lack of socialization (also, potentially with deadly consequences).
You can take puppy out and about, but carried in your arms on "unsafe" ground. You can invite everyone you ever knew to come visit and wear every kind of possible "get up" that your pup might ever see. Make it an active socialization, where all these strange people (all sorts/shapes/colors/sizes/ages) in strange costumes are giving cookies to the pup.
Be aware that there is a documented "window" of socialization that ends at 14 weeks old. That puppies that are not introduced to novel stimuli will over react, if not introduced before this window shuts.

[Circe]

Except for work, Zeus pretty much accompanies me everywhere. When he was a pup, after he got all his shots, I would bring him when I picked up my mom at work. She works at Walmart. We would sit outside, near the entrance, and wait for her. He got used to the cars and to crowds of people. Some would come over to meet him. Unfortunately, as he got bigger, he made less friends.

When the weather is nice, we also take him to Wendy's. We sit outside at one of the picnic tables. I'm fortunate to live in an area with a lot of state parks. His favorite is a small waterfall park. We go almost every week. There's always lots of people and some other dogs. Most people are pretty nice. We do, occassionally, run into some of THE OTHERS.