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How to walk my 8 weeks old Border Collie when she hasn't been vaccinated yet?


Lazhar
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Hello guys,

 

In three weeks, I will welcome my Border Collie pup home, she will be 2 months. She hasn't received any vaccine yet, so I have an appointment a few days after she arrives so she can get her first shot(s).

 

How can I walk her and exercise her outside in the meantime, until she receives her three shots? Is it THAT risky to do a 20-minute walk every two hours (housebreaking)?

 

Thank you,

 

L

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Ask your vet about the risk of disease in your locality.

 

Where are you planning to walk her? Do you not have a garden or yard you can take her out to when she needs to go? Puppies don't generally wee and poo by the clock and you need to be quick to get her out when you see the signs.

 

I would take her to the vet for a check up and her first injection as soon s you get her so as not to waste valuable out and about time.

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I think there are quite a few threads on this lying around, but it's a gray area so fair enough if you still have questions after reading them.

Assuming you don't have a backyard, you can go over to houses of friends who do (as long as their dogs are vaccinated) if you really want her to have time outside. Parks or spaces where there aren't usually dogs are pretty likely safe as well. As a general rule concrete is a lot safer than grass, but it really depends on where you are. As far as exercise, the house should be plenty of room for an 8 week old puppy. We potty trained Aed using training pads and the balcony (the latter mostly just to prevent any mess if he missed) and it worked out alright. In fact plenty of people do it that way with no problems. All that said, you definitely should be getting her outside for socialization, just not letting her on the ground where strange dogs have been (or at all outside, depending on how safe you want to be). .

 

When it comes down to it, nearly all pet dogs are vaccinated, so unless you're wandering around an area with lots of strays, she's not likely to get sick...but is it really the kind of risk you want to take?

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I agree with not putting your dog on the ground where there might be a lot of stray unvaccinated dogs. I don't really like putting puppies down at the vet, either... but places like hardware stores and places dogs really shouldn't be eliminating... its like pups gone wild

 

Like suggested, I would talk to your vet. See how prevalent those diseases are in your area.

 

 

I mean... I know people with dogs who have never been vaccinated in their lives and are doing great.

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Jescano - that's exactly what I was thinking at first... So many dogs aren't vaccinated and are fine so my girl should be fine especially if I take precautions (not much time spent on the floor, avoid grass, etc) until she gets all her shots.

 

Mum & Chene - indeed, she can get enough exercise at home, puppies aren't supposed to go for a marathon anyway so that's fine but it was mainly for housetraining. If I use pads, I am worried she will then think "home" is where I pee and poo... I live in London, UK so there are a few homeless people with their dogs around, not sure their dogs are vaccinated, so would rather avoid taking any risk.

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It's the 20 mins at a time part I'm questioning. If my pup didn't do anything soon after being taken outside I took him back in and tried again a few minutes later. I don't have the time to hang about for ages waiting.

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Definitely don't know why I said 20 minutes, but just for few minutes, not waiting for an hour until she does it. If not, trying again later or supervising her and as soon as she wants to, we rush outside.

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We got Callie at 8 weeks old and she had only her basic shots at the shelter. We just went for walks whenever we needed to and if people or dogs approached, we'd just say "She doesn't have her shots yet, so we aren't introducing her to anyone yet, but we can't wait to see you again in a few weeks!"

 

Or just pick the puppy up and keep walking with a purpose. Also scoop pup up if you encounter an unleashed dog!

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Do you have a garden she can play and potty in? I potty train my pups the same way you do - give them lots of frequent opportunities. Generally just giving them the time to be outside will be enough, no need to actually travel very far. I'm far too skittish about them encountering something awful from un-vaccinated dogs who might have been by! :ph34r: And yes, I view it as too risky - potentially fatally risky. But I am a nervous mama.

Psst, you can post pictures of your pup here, once she arrives. :D I hope you have a plan in mind for owning a city-dwelling border collie! That could prove an adventure.

 

~ Gloria

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Mum & Chene - indeed, she can get enough exercise at home, puppies aren't supposed to go for a marathon anyway so that's fine but it was mainly for housetraining. If I use pads, I am worried she will then think "home" is where I pee and poo... I live in London, UK so there are a few homeless people with their dogs around, not sure their dogs are vaccinated, so would rather avoid taking any risk.

 

For what it's worth, I don't think it's very difficult to make the switch from using pads to going outside. Since Aed already understood that the only place he could go in the house was on the pads, once he was vaccinated we taught him that he could also go outside. We rewarded heavily for going outside but gave no reward for going on the pads. When he would happily go to the bathroom outside (didn't take long for him to catch on, and it would have been even faster if he'd known his potty command really well like some puppies do) then we took away the pads and let him out at all the rights times. The hardest part of the potty training was teaching him to go on the pads, not making the switch to outside. We also got the pads for pretty cheap, Petsmart seems to have sales on that sort of stuff often. We never ended up using them all either.

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I exchanged few emails with my future vet surgery that's literally on my street in London and they told me to be careful as there are homeless people with dogs and although some of them got vaccinated, many did not.

 

I will probably keep her home until she gets her second shot, with some outdoor time but to specific areas.

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A city dwelling BC can have a pretty good life here Gloria. Plenty of open spaces to run in London and no farm stock to worry about, just deer in some of the parks.

Especially around me: Shepherds Bush green, Ravenscourt Park, Holland Park, and if I take the bus 10mn, Hyde Park...

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My daughter lived in Lewisham and even there she could walk to Blackheath or Greenwich Park. She moved to Barnes and had the river walk, Barnes Common and Richmond Park within walking distance. No dog though. I live in a rural area and am quite limited because of all the darned sheep everywhere.

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We don't have any grass around the house so we didn't have too much to worry about. Even the vet said it had been many years since she had seen or heard of a case of Parvo in the area. I'd wager that close to all dogs get vaccinated in Japan.

 

We used pee pads for about a month or so with both dogs and seamlessly transitioned to going outside. Juno at 7 months still has the odd accident but for the most part he's pretty reliable about saving it for outside.

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A city dwelling BC can have a pretty good life here Gloria. Plenty of open spaces to run in London and no farm stock to worry about, just deer in some of the parks.

My daughter lived in Lewisham and even there she could walk to Blackheath or Greenwich Park. She moved to Barnes and had the river walk, Barnes Common and Richmond Park within walking distance. .

 

Talking about deer...these days, when someone mentions the possibility of dog-walking in Richmond park.. my mind always seem to flip back to

.

 

Lazhar - All the best for you and your pup

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