Puppy can't go out for another month!

[Shia]

We were under the impression that yesterday when we had our second vaccination that we had to keep him off the ground for another week and then start going out properly.

WE ARE GOING out with him and holding him but he is increasingly frustrated that he can't get down out of our arms. HE IS A VERY WRIGGLY whippet!

Yesterday we were told he has one more vaccination in two weeks time when he will be 12 weeks old and then we must wait two whole weeks before he can go out!

We don't know anyone with a dog, so can't invite any round to socialise in our garden nor can we visit anyone.

Puppy classes won't have him until all vaccinations are complete and then two weeks after, so again we must wait a month.

When we take him out he is very friendly and loves everyone but as he is growing rapidly it's getting harder to hold on to him as he wants to get down when he sees another dog.

Any tips please?

we have had 8 parvo pups in our clinic this week(all the same litter) 2 dead already in-spite of treatment. The rest still on IV fluids, meds and force feeding, all still (day 3)with bloody diarrhoea and vomiting up bile as theis stomachs have no food in them.the poor little things are so very miserable and another one is beginning to look unlikely to last the night.
its a virus so supportive care is all you can do.

If its a hot spot area take heed of the warnings and take the last vaccine, its not worth the risk.

Poor puppies. Arudonto, that is very sad.

If you don't mind my asking, how old are the puppies and were they taken out without having been vaccinated?

It's very frightening and I will be telling anyone straight who tries to tell me not to worry.

I should add that my daughter has gone away for a fortnight and I've taken the time off work. When we go out now with the puppy there are two pairs of hands, so now I'm on my own for a bit I have to make sure he is secure, safe and protected.

I hope the rest of the puppies in your care pull through, it sounds horrendous.

She actually has 7 to wheel about so you really have nothing to worry about

I nearly spat my water over the screen, laughing so much at the pic.

I'd be far more interested in a gorgeous pointy pup than in a baby.

greyhound pups,unvaccinated.10 weeks.Just beginning to get out and about on walks but are also in a kennel/yard situation with other older dogs who are travelling frequently.Where the original source of the virus was is still unknown.

My main concern now is the kennels they come from uses a lot of popular dog walking spots to exercise their dogs so we are anticipating a possible parvo breakdown in the area. The parvo spores can live in the enviornment for months :(
In this case the adult dogs from the kennels may have been spreading the virus to all those areas while walking before the pups were confirmed as parvo.. they share the same yards so the pups and adults have been intermingling so virus exposure is fairly high.

Uptake of vaccines where I am from is also not high enough and many people walk puppies before the courses are finished(in spite of the warnings people just don't listen)...and its summer so more people are out and about...
Its not uncommon to have parvo during the summer months,and they tent to come in waves.
Hopefully it wont happen but we are bulk ordering more fluids,gastro foods and rehydrations sachets just in case.

The kennels dogs are all been kept in lockdown(voluntarily by their owners-for greyhound trainers they are very good, vaccinating issues aside, they do spay,passport and rehome their xracers etc)
All their yards are also being disinfected with disinfectant we gave them(not all disinfectants kill parvo).So hopefully that will prevent further spread.

Parvo is very much a situation of risk assessment. No puppy leaves my consult room without the scare talk on parvo! BUT we have yet to need a 3 vaccine protocol here though.
I would not like to work somewhere thats required. parvo is horrible to try and treat and 3 vacc protocol in place generally means there is a high level of parvo in the area( I would describe ours as moderate risk ie we see parvo outbreaks once every few months) and that they have had situations where pups in the area are not being adequately covered with 2 vaccines.

I haven't had a dog for some years and whilst I had heard of Parvo, I was unaware just how serious it was and how easily it can be caught.

Hope the greyhound pups are recovering well.

BonnieCaley, a pram full of GSD puppies would be fab and I agree with scuttlebutter that I'd rather coo over a puppy in a pram than a baby!

Talked to vet who said that puppies won't catch things from foxes and badgers, but lepto can be carried in cow urine, so no walks in fields for us yet.

Parvovirus!!!! Not lepto, which is rat urine ... Of course.

That's odd LaBelle. My vtt specifically sid that he could catch leptospirosis from foxes.

A bit more easily accessible and clear information about risk factors would help!

My pet stroller was delivered yesterday. I greeted the driver with pup in arms and we had a giggle over what he was delivering.

Then he told me the sobering news that he had previously had a puppy that just before her second vaccination had caught parvo, possibly from their other dog (fully vaccinated) bringing in traces of faeces from her walks.

He didn't go into detail but from the look on his face it was clearly a very distressing death.

Pet stroller looks great. I tried puppy in it but he kept trying to leap out. There is a d ring to attach lead or harness but if he jumps the lead isn't long enough to reach ground. He's in a harness not a collar so not a danger of hanging, but still dangerous.

The stroller is very lightweight, much much lighter than a human one, so when he leapt out the whole thing toppled over.

I tried to take photos but because he wanted to get out it was very difficult as I had to secure the stroller.

Basically, if you have a dog that will sit or lay down, it's absolutely brilliant. I can understand the reviews left by people with older or sick or injured dogs finding it a godsend in taking their dog (or cat) out.

However, a wriggly, excited puppy will topple it over and you must keep hold of the stroller at all times or it is dangerous.

He had helped me unwrap the box so perhaps was over excited.

At bedtime in the dark I got him in it again, this time no lead or harness and managed to zip it all up so that he was contained. He didn't lay down but I walked him in it for a couple of minutes.

I need to think of a better way to secure him in it.

Superglue! ;)

Once he is in it it's a joy to push and quite honestly if he was laying down in it, you could walk along and it wouldn't be that obvious that a dog was in it when all the mesh bit is done up.

It's early days and once I can secure him in it, I think it will be good to take him out in.

Just one more thing, vet said because he is a whippet/ big girls blouse, I should wait until I have him castrated and have him microchipped whilst under anaesthetic.

Apparently his sensitive skin means it will be very painful if he is microchipped now.

I don't intend to put him in a vulnerable position where he could go missing but it is worry in me that we have to wait to have him microchipped.

He is a big baby (aren't they all?!) and I hate the thought of him being in pain.

Although I was quite happy to have my children vaccinated! Ha ha

Spicy ... Since foxes are so closely related, that would seem obvious ... No the fields anyway.

Foxes aren't that closely related - they're Vulpine not Lupine.

Can't you just take the puppy to 'puppy party' type classes? Most of the vets near us do them and they take them after the first injection because all the other puppies are also too young to go out yet. Good for socialising.

Puppy class's won't have him until two weeks after his final vaccination. The same as taking him out normally on the floor.

They are adamant that they will not accept them until then.

Nearly three more weeks.

He is growing very quickly. I'm beginning to wonder if he's a greyhound and not a whippet! Ha ha

He is very strong and whilst holding him recently he made an attempt to get down. I struggled to contain him in my arms.

Giving the pram another go later on.

He is full of zest and is very playful. He now takes an interest in playing football which is helping him to burn off energy. However, when we are out and about he is so frustrated at being held and just wants or get down, whereas before he liked being carried around like a baby!

It's more difficult at the moment because my daughter is away so we can't take turns in holding him.

As bad as it sounds your dog is far more likely to get a behavioural problem from lack of socialisation than to contract a disease.

I would take him as many places as possible. As long as he had his mothers milk for an appropriate amount of time there is a small chance of him contracting something.

www.4pawsu.com/Messer_Socialization.pdf

Use something like this to ensure you cover everything. Also you need to do all of these regularly even when he is an adult to ensure he remains well socialised.

www.petprofessionalguild.com/Resources/Documents/PPG-Client-Puppy-Socialization-Download.pdf

Thank you, great links.

Unfortunately he was away from his mother at only six weeks.

The vet is insisting we do not take any chances with him and adamant that we wait a full two weeks after his third vaccination.

This is now almost three weeks away.

He is increasingly frustrated when we go our at being held all the time. So much so that he has frantically wriggled so much that when I momentarily put him down next to my car to unlock and put a parcel in, he went into a frenzy and wriggled out of his harness.

Thankfully he is a greedy fit and I was able to lure him almost immediately with a treat and recapture him but it could have ended badly.

Everyone I meet tells me not to take a chance. I met a woman with three dogs in petsathome and she said she'd lost a fourth to parvo when her puppy escaped only for a short period of time whilst she was holding it.

I think it's affecting him as crate training has gone awry.

He was doing so well but now goes frantic in his soft crate, so much so that he has bitten the mesh and escaped so I can't use it! Because he is a whippet he can fit through a small opening.

I'm going to try and return it to petsathome and get a metal crate instead.

I'm off work and am doing all I can to stimulate him in the garden but I can see he is getting bored as he starts playing then stops. He absolutely loves the guinea pigs and will lay next to the metal run kissing one of them but after while he spoils it by getting up and barking. The guinea pig doesn't then like that so scuttles off and puppy is crestfallen.

Same with the cat, he gets as low as he can to the ground, his tail wagging like mad, disparate for her to play with him, but she clouts him and he can't understand why she hates him!

I think once he can go out, he won't be so pent up at home and desperate to play with the cat.

I feel very sorry for him at the moment as my daughter is away and he only has me.

I just don't know anywhere that could be safe for him to go on the floor.

Same problem; puppy getting more and more wriggly and three weeks to go ...
Met friend with puppy the day before yesterday;they played all afternoon and then ours slept for nearly the whole day yesterday! I was really worried ... I think that all that sleep must have led to sudden brain development ... Puppy worked out how to go upstairs this morning, which is a nuisance ...
Are there any puppy parties near you? Our vet not doing them in the summer because it is 'too hot' ...
If not, could you try stimulating his brain with some training? Posts here seem to indicate they can achieve a lot with clicker training even when really young.

Lots of playing and training.

He can 'sit', 'leave' and 'down', and recall when we are alone. Recall when he sees our cat or neighbours cat is not so good as he is so pleased to see them. He will stop and his tail is wagging furiously and he will waving his head from side to side to look back at me and then to the cat.

I deal with this by walking away and either going in or out of my garden so that he thinks I've gone or disappears. Then he will run back as he is a big girls blouse!

I have lots of toys which come out in a rotation. He mainly likes things which aren't toys! I have a mans tweed flat cap that is like a soft frisby which is great for him to shake around and me to throw for him.

I have an agility hoop set up in the garden and he goes through it to receive a treat each time!

I have a an old wooly scarf that he holds one end and I hold the other and he whirls around like a dervish!

He is involved in everything I do. If I'm looking at plants in our mini greenhouse he inspects them with me etc

But, he needs the stimulation of going out for a proper walk.

Just phoned petsathome about the soft crate that he chewed through and they are letting me swap it for a metal crate. I don't have the receipt and I think the soft crate is on sale at th moment so they will probably only honour the sale price and I'll have to pay towards the metal crate but at least I won't lose out totally.

Harness is a real problem at the moment as I tried loads on him in there and he slips out of them all.

Maybe a straight jacket!?

They are expensive but for a wriggly hound there is only one harness I recommend and that is a Ruffwear Webmaster.

The additional band at the back goes round the smaller part of the hound so they cannot back out of them. Due to their large chest to waist and neck ratios, harnesses with one strap behind the legs just aren't secure, particularly for an escape artist or wriggly excitable young dog. They are quite adjustable so one size grew with my whippy terrier mix from 5 months to adulthood but that will depend on the dog.

Uk website is here: www.ruffwear.co.uk/webmaster-harness

You can get them cheaper from other stockists though, e.g. www.ruff-it.co.uk/categories/dog-harnesses-travel-gear/ruffwear-webmaster-dog-harness.html#.U9YrgfldXmc

That is a nice harness. I've seen lots of nice harnesses for when he is bigger but at almost ten weeks he is a slender young thing!

This is what I'm using at the moment. It's slightly too big for him but the size down is too small!

Ruffwear harnesses are fantastic for escapologist sighthounds.

We have a Perfect Fit harness for Pip. I've found it perfect for a growing pup as you can replace individual straps as the pup grows, which is great for a sighthounds as, for example, Pip has only just moved up from the smallest sized chest-piece to the next size up at around 1 year old, but has gone through two girths and two back-pieces - at different times, so rather than having to replace the whole harness we could replace each piece separately as he grew. He is very narrow chested, but, being a sighthound his depth of chest grew rapidly and we would have had to buy him a new harness at least three times by now to accommodate the growth. We have the chest-pieces with a front D-ring and they've been perfect for us - but Pip isn't an escapologist

I had to get a something yesterday as every time we go out of the door he can chase our car or the neighbours cat unless I'm holding him.

Petsathome is nearby, so I got him a new harness and he cannot escape from it.

Every time we go from front door to my car or to side gate he is put on a lead, and the cats know they can stay put on my path as he can't chase them. He is less excitable this way.

I have a very long training lead and last night we had a lovely time out the front of my house as it's a small car park and no one has dogs and the hard ground is helpful in keeping his claws down!

Forgot to say that petsathome were brilliant, I didn't have receipt but I got my full £40 back and used it towards a metal crate.

I bought sacks of his puppy food, guinea nuggets, hay and other bits and bobs and the staff held him for me so I could make journeys to my car.

Just under three weeks or go before we can go out!