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Parvovirus
I am wanting to put Maggie in puppy Kindergarten. The pups have to be 8 weeks old to do this at the facility I want to take her. But I am having second thoughts on taking her because she wont be done with her round of Parvo shots. She is going on 9 weeks old. Do I have to wait until all her Parvo shots are given before I enroll her in classes? So far she has had 2 shots.
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A good puppy class will require all the pups to be up to date on vaccinations (not completely done - just current). They will also have the class in an area that's been well cleaned. If this class seems good, I would go for it. My personal preference is to wait until two rounds of shots and then start. Waiting until they are completely done misses an important window of opportunity for socialization, imo.
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I am no expert at all but here's what I did since I am very paranoid about parvo. Oakley meet all king of people in our house and yard from the time we brought her home.. After her second set of shots she met some neighborhood dogs that I knew had shots and we ventured out of our yard and into the street a bit knowing that we have no stray dogs in the neighborhood.. The puppy class I have her enrolled in starts after her third set of shots which is required before she can start. I think it's such a fine line between socialization and the threat of parvo.
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The mist important time for socialization of a puppy is now and a good puppy k class is wonderful for the little ones. Maxx started just before 10 weeks and it was the best thing I did.
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I would never bring a puppy to a puppy class without all of her shots.
Why not discuss this with your Vet? Better safe than sorry...Parvo is horrible and most of the time, it is deadly.
I would absolutely wait. There is a lot of time for kindergarten class.
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I would talk to your vet. I lost a puppy to parvo years ago and it was one of the worst experiences of my 55 years! We had thought we were the lucky ones to get a seemingly pure 8 wk yellow lab from the pound. All of us who adopted these pups couldn't imagine why someone would drop these pups off anonymously a at the pound. Well two days after she came home to us, she had parvo and so did the entire litter. One week of being in intensive care and we had to out her down. Clearly the owner of those pups knew they had been exposed. So, having had that experience, I am paranoid about parvo and educate myself as much as possible about parvo.
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I truly believe in puppy education, but I truly believe that the pup should have all his shots. Can still work with your pup up until he/she is covered by those most important shots.
Parvo is nothing to mess with. And if my pup was to come down sick because I just couldn't wait for one more shot, sorry, better safe than sorry. Making sure my pup will be fully covered.
KAZ
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Bacon went to class at 12 weeks, but we are in a low risk parvo area. Most classes are for vaccinated pups only.
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At that age, they should have 2 shots under their belt, and if so, they should be fine for class.
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Just remember, if you wait until 16 weeks, (after the puppy vaccination series is complete) to socialize your puppy, you will have missed a huge developmental window between 8-12 weeks. Good dog training clubs should sanitize the flooring before puppy class, or puppy kindergarten starts, and all of the dogs of any age have to show proof of vaccination before they can train there, it is a relative safe place to train and socialize a young puppy. I insist that my puppies do a minimum of puppy kindergarten and a beginner class. I also suggest that they meet at least 100 different people of different ages, wheelchairs etc... Between 8-12 weeks. I was told by a very experienced field trainer years ago that you need to expose puppies to things you are going to do with them by 12 weeks, including introduction to birds, (so they will pick up a bird later, some have an aversion to feathers if they haven't felt them before) boating, gunshot, other dogs, car rides, hotels, etc....
You just have to weigh being smart about it, and and taking them to safe places. I would never wait until 16 weeks to begin taking my puppy places.