# Feeling Isolated/Trapped with new pup



## ckiggins (Sep 24, 2009)

I wanted to see if anyone had some suggestions. My pup is 9 weeks old, just had her second round of shots and deworming (DA2PP, etc) last Saturday.

The vet says that she should not be going to places where other dogs could have defecated (e.g parks or on walks) until she has her last round of shots in late-November.

Obviously she has a TON of energy, but I sort of feel trapped in the house with her right now. Our playtime consists of constant supervision where she will chew on a kong or a stuffed toy for a bit before running off into the hallway, where I have to go after her to make sure she doesn't chew something inappropriately or have a housetraining accident.

What other types of things can we do while she is being held hostage by her immune system? We have a small fenced yard that we can go play in, but she mostly will just run around for a second and then plop down and start to chew grass or dead leaves. 

I feel this will resolve itself once we can go on walks or to places like Petsmart for puppy kindergarten, but until then I need to figure out how to better burn off some of this excess puppy energy so that it might cut down on some of her inappropriate behaviors - mouthing/chewing/biting/etc.

Help!


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## skelaki (Nov 9, 2006)

Relax and just take her out for some nice long walks if she's leash trained. Go to the park (NOT the dog park) and play with her. We have gotten absolutely ridiculous about risks. Pups and dogs have survived for thousands of years and are not so ultra-delicate (at least not yet) that you have to be confined to the house for months at a time. This is when she needs to be out and about being socialized to all kinds of people, places and things. just use a bit of common sense about the whole thing.


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## TooneyDogs (Aug 6, 2007)

Take your pup to all the places not frequented by unvaccinated dogs. Go to the office, car rides, go for walks on the sidewalk or in the street, friends houses, meet kids, other people. Don't put off the socialization.


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## ckiggins (Sep 24, 2009)

See I didn't know if a walk on the sidewalk AROUND the park was OK. My vet was scaring the crap out of me with all of the parvo talk and that parks are a no-no that I figured it was best to stay away.


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## Cracker (May 25, 2009)

Socialization to people, places, things, sounds and healthy vaccinated puppy friendly dogs is much more important in the big picture. Avoid places where dogs frequent and don't forget puppies CAN be carried around when they are small to get by the "risky" places. 
The first 13 weeks are prime socialization time for puppies and the establishment of "the world is a safe, fun place" is important for the long term EMOTIONAL health of your dog. So don't be a shut in, just be careful. Vets sometimes are very black and white because unfortunately the clients can be unclear on things after they come out of the visit..lol.
Oh and don't forget tiny little training sessions several times a day...your pup is not to young to learn to learn! sit, down, come, hi five whatever. Make them short and very fun and always end on a success.

Good luck with your puppy!


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## BEX&NYX (Aug 4, 2009)

We were vigilant about the quarantine for the first 16 weeks of my puppy's life. She never left the apartment for two months. We were having the same trouble with abundance of energy and no real outlet. We just played with her as much as possible. We taught her to fetch and that gave her some running time. We also found that keeping her mentally active really helped as well. I taught her to sit, down, stay, come, paw, up, and stand all in my apartment.

Now that we're going outside I'm wishing we'd been able to sooner. She's timid about new situations and the loud noises of the Manhattan sidewalks make her nervous. I know it will get better as she learns that nothing bad is going to happen when we go for walks, but nontheless, it's stressful.


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## ChrisS (Aug 19, 2009)

My vet told me to go ahead and take my puppy out from the time I brought him home at 7 weeks with just his 1st set of shots. She told me to aviod places with lots of unknown dogs (like the dog park) and to avoid other puppies (as they are not likely to be fully vaccinated yet either). Walks around the neighborhood and socialization with know, healthy adult dogs was fine. In fact she told me the risk of him catching something was really, really low and far outweighted by the benifits of early socialization and experiencing the world. 

I take my boy out for walks every evening, take him on hikes, and I let him greet the other dogs we meet but not other puppies. He's meet all of my friends dogs. I am carefull not to let him sniff around or get to close to other dog's poo. I don't take him to places like Petco and I'll wait until he's had all his vacinnations before I take him to classes. That's about all I'm doing for precautions.


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## agility collie mom (Jan 26, 2008)

Puppy classes are fine as long as they require all puppies to be vaccinated. I would avoid classes at places like petsmart. Just too many dogs come into the store with unknown vaccine histories. Look for a local training club in your area and sign your little girl up for a puppy kindergarten class. It will burn up a ton of energy and she will meet and socialize with other puppies and people. Plus you can begin basic fun training. Here is an example of a class offered at the club I belong to. 

Puppy Kindergarten

Puppy Kindergarten is a seven (7) week long series of classes where approximately half of the class time concentrates on socializing young dogs, with puppies matched for age and play style. The remaining class time is devoted to "junior obedience" and covers sit, down, coming when called, and walking on a loose leash. Also covered are handling exercises and resource guarding prevention exercises. Each puppy receives "The Ultimate Puppy Tool Kit" as a reference guide.

Prerequisites:


Puppies must have had their second set of vaccinations and must be six (6) months of age or younger.

So relax and enjoy your puppy!


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## ckiggins (Sep 24, 2009)

Thanks all for your responses. We have been walking 10-15 minutes in the evening to burn off some energy and it appears to be helping.

Also, our local humane society teams with a local dog training organization to do puppy pre-K and puppy Kindergarten. The owners have to go to a 2.5 hour session on training FIRST before your pup can go to any training classes, which I think is a good idea.

We are going to our human training session next Monday night and then we can enroll our little girl in puppy Pre-K at that time - it takes place once a week on Monday nights, as well - so two weeks from today she can go to her first socialization class. They require the pups to be at least 8 weeks old and to have had their first or second set of shots at least 10 days before the first session.

Hopefully this wil help as well!


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## KaseyT (May 7, 2008)

Your dog should meet 100 people and 100 dogs in it's first four months. The risks of under socialization is far greater then the risks of disease.


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## SandyPuppy (Aug 8, 2009)

My vet said people are so paranoid nowadays, they try to keep their puppies in a bubble and that is really unrealistic and damaging to the puppy mentally/behavoirally. He told me to take Sandy right away after her first vaccine and get her socialized and HAVE FUN with my puppy


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## Spirit_of_Cotons (Jun 21, 2009)

Play fetch in your yard, but keep your puppy on a leash while you run after her running after the ball. Each week you can slowly let her go further and further. Or you can play in the house with her.

Don't worry these days go by quickly. I remember doing that with Luke and I listened to my vet. I know people say to take the dog out and not to worry, but I wouldn't do that. But that's just me, you do what you feel is right.


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## LilMissSunshine (Nov 1, 2008)

Outdoor malls, homedepot, lowes are great dog friendly places  

I would stay away from petco.. and stuff like that tho


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## 2puppies (Feb 27, 2009)

Having had a puppy die from parvo last year (it was my Mum's, I was living with her at the time), I actually err on the side of caution. When hubby and I got our 2 boys, we were very strict about not letting them out until all their shots were done and the vet gave us the definite clear... It was just so devastating to see Morris (my Mum's puppy) get so sick... he spent the last 4 days of his life on a drip, because the vet didn't want to put him to sleep *in case* there was a chance he could be saved. How traumatic. And this was a puppy who had not been taken out in public other than to the vet, a few training car rides, and my grandparent's house (they haven't owned a dog for over 10 years).

Our dogs went to puppy pre-school, and we weren't allowed to come unless we ensured that, during the 5 weeks we were going to classes, they didn't go out in public at all. We weren't even allowed to walk them across the vet car-park; we had to carry them. A puppy in our class ended up with kennel cough because his owner admitted that she had not taken all the precautions.
Obviously socialisation is important, but our dogs are perfectly socialised - they love meeting new dogs.
I don't know, it seems most puppies are OK, it's just not a risk I would EVER want to take, personally, after my experience... But I have a friend who took her puppy out to the dog beach at 8 weeks and he was fine.


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## zimandtakandgrrandmimi (May 8, 2008)

flirtpole. google it. a bit of light play with a flirt is a good way to burn a little excess off the top of the energy pot before you take puppy out for walks or outings. also can pave the way for good training practices if you use the flirt as a reward.


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## Kalamalka (Jul 1, 2009)

when I got Kali at 10 weeks, I had the same problem- SO much energy, and she was REALLY very shy. Of everything. And because I wanted her to get socialized and get better around people, I took her out, and just used common sense. No dog parks, but I took her to a school across the street, and stores like Rona and walmart. I thank god I did that- she is still really shy, but would have been way worse I think if I didnt take her out early!


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## Labsnothers (Oct 10, 2009)

Check these 2 links,

http://www.akc.org/enewsletter/akc_breeder/2008/winter/puppy.cfm

http://www.apdt.com/po/news/docs/Messer_Nov06.pdf


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