My 7-week-old puppy needs to pee. Can she go outside before shots?

Question

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 herself. Pet's info: Dog | Toy Poodle | Female | unspayed | 1 month and 20 days old | 2 lbs

Lotus Altholtz · Accepted Answer

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 in very small breed dogs based on a risk/lifestyle evaluation). Until Luna is fully vaccinated, I recommend training her to pee and poop on pee pads in the home. If you have a private back yard where there are no other dogs, the risk of placing her on the floor outside is definitely less than the risk of placing her on the floor in a place where other dogs frequent, however training her to pee and poop on pee pads in the home is definitely the safest at this time as puppies can contract other parasites/diseases such as roundworms, fleas, tapeworms, giardia outside on a lawn. Especially for small dogs, I recommend pre-treating with benadryl prior to vaccines to prevent vaccine allergy reactions. You can ask your veterinarian about appropriate dosing for Luna's weight as well as appropriate heartworm/roundworm/hookworm and flea and tick prevention for her age and weight.

My 7-week-old puppy needs to pee. Can she go outside before shots?

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