Poochie bells - puppy lying? - Page 2

[Ola_]

I agree that not socializing until after 16 week is a bad idea. You don't want to take your puppy to a dog park or a pet store or anything, but they need to be exposed to lots of things before that time. You can walk down the street, visit people with adult dogs that you know are healthy and have stable temperament, go to those outdoor "malls" where there are lots of people milling about (not dogs though). Heck, you can even take puppy classes after the first two round of shots or something like that.

You have to balance the risk of parvo with the risk of behavioural issues for the rest of their life due to lack of socialization. It's a real risk, unfortunately, and many dogs are given up for problems stemming from it. And as I've found from one of my own dogs, it's not something that you can train out of them later in life once that crucial time period passes.

[cycle]

Originally Posted by greenmagick

The problem is puppies need play time during the day and sticking them in an outdoor run doesn't work. They need interaction. You can do plenty of games inside out of the cold. Clicker training is awesome for this. Freeshaping burns a lot of mental as well as physical energy.

Originally Posted by Heavenly

We were told by both the breeder and our vet not to take him for walks until he has had all his shots (16 weeks). I'm pretty confident in taking their advice. There are a lot of dogs in our neighbourhood and they both said the risk of parvo is too high (Cesar Millan's puppy book says the same thing). He is not in a 12' x 15' "enclosure", it is called a living room. And again, the breeder and the puppy books I've read said to only have the dog in one section of the house until they are potty trained. Yes, the dog is stressful but getting rid of him is NOT an option, we have no intention of doing that. And where did I ever say I am not interacting with him or playing with him inside the house during the day? I am constantly interacting with him. He is only in his crate when I cannot watch him, which again is called crate training and was recommended by the breeder.

I think you may have misunderstood what your vet/breeder meant. Taking your puppy for walks is essential for socialization, development and exercise. A walk is not a dog park or something like that. Big difference. I think you should research that a little more.

Letting the dog out alone in the backyard is a recipe for disaster. The puppy will get bored and either bark or become destructive. The puppy needs outside exercise during the day, puppies need to be tired out. If getting rid of him is not an option, even though it does seem like it wasn't the best time for a puppy, then you need to hire a dog walker type person to come and play with him or you will continue to have this issues.

[kayleesmom]

bells sound so neat i will use with our next dog. but also wanted to give you a big hug. i hope things get better for u.