a nagging question

[Ares]

im sure its been covered here already on here somewhere but i cant for the life of me find it on here. i was told you should wait 2 months before taking your puppy to the park to give its immune system a chance to build itself up on its own before going. do they mean 2 months from when its born or 2 months from the 8 week mark?

[Spyglass Sally]

Welcome to the forum, Ares. It looks like you got your pup quite young, at 5 weeks if I read your other thread correctly? Unfortunately we got ours very young too. I say unfortunately because there is a lot they need to learn and receive from their mom that they miss out on when taken so early. But we didn't know better.

I would specifically look for signs that they are overly anxious or have separation anxiety, as well as the need to teach bite inhibition. There may be more too, immune system wise, as they are no longer getting mom's milk. [Note: I just reread your posts and realized you're pics are at 5 weeks but you're not getting the dog until Aug.]

I would be very leery of taking him to the dog park for the first year. We found people take dogs there that are sick, or ill mannered. Buddy got kennel cough from a dog there, an unprovoked bite by another ("he's never done that before") as well as bullied by larger dogs. And I think we actually have a pretty good dog park - but it only takes one dog to end up giving you problems.

I would suggest you find a friend who's dog is healthy and well behaved to have play dates with for socialization or maybe a puppy socialization class. I'll be interested in what others say, but my experience would be to avoid the park for now.

[Doreen]

I agree about staying away from the doggie park for the first year too, all for the same reasons. But socialization is needed, as Sally said, find someone who has healthy dogs to play with.

[bruinsBoxers]

do they mean 2 months from when its born or 2 months from the 8 week mark?

Yop should wait until the series of puppy shots is completed before tking them out in public where they can come in contact with other dogs . It will depend on your vet as to what age the shots are completed , some give the last set at 16 weeks and others later .

[Doreen]

I'm sure your vet will also say to wait til all the shots are done with.

[Ares]

thank you for the help, just wanna clear up that i wont be taking the puppy until august 21st, its almost 10 weeks. but thank you very much for the help on when it should be ok to take Ares to the park

[purplelori]

We got Wally much too young as well---he still 'play bites' us, and I'm sure that's part of the reason. If you can, you might look into doggie daycare for Ares. We are lucky to have a number of them here in Portland, and the one we have used was very careful to make sure he had all his shots, and was (if memory serves) at least 3 months old before he could go play. If it is a good facility, it can offer good interaction with dogs at the same energy level, and help him develop good social skills.

[Doreen]

Originally Posted by purplelori

We got Wally much too young as well---he still 'play bites' us, and I'm sure that's part of the reason. If you can, you might look into doggie daycare for Ares. We are lucky to have a number of them here in Portland, and the one we have used was very careful to make sure he had all his shots, and was (if memory serves) at least 3 months old before he could go play. If it is a good facility, it can offer good interaction with dogs at the same energy level, and help him develop good social skills.

That is a good idea too..... Rex had a blast at the daycare when we had to leave him once. And I had to fill out like a 10 page booklet on Rex too!

[Ares]

unfortunatly i have been unable to find doggie daycares or obiediance classes within reasonable driving distance of where i live so his socialization will have to be with my moms dog and my landlords dogs for the first little bit