I bought a female toy poodle from a local breeder. The poodle is 7 weeks old. Breeder told me I should not put her on the ground. I have never had small breed dog only large dogs. What do I need to do, I have to put on the ground to let her relieve h
The very real risk of putting her on the ground (public sidewalk, dog park, even petstore floor) is that she could contract a disease called parvovirus which is shed in the feces of infected dogs. If she walks over parvovirus particles (where other owners scooped up infected feces), and licks her paws, she could contract parvovirus which usually results in serve life threatening diarrhea and dehydration and requires expensive overnight care at an emergency hospital often lasting several days. Puppies are usually vaccinated against distemper, parvovirus, adenovirus, and parainfluenza virus at 8 weeks, again at 12 weeks and again at 14 weeks with the last booster at 14 + weeks of age in order for immunity to be effective for a full year. (Other vaccines include Bordatella at 8+ weeks of age, Rabies at 12+ weeks of age, lepto and Lyme at 12+ weeks of age -lepto and Lyme each need to be boosted 3-4 weeks after the initial dose to provide a year's worth of immunity and are often not given i
Updated on September 24th, 2025