Does My Puppy Need His Vaccinations Before Training or Daycare?

At All Dawgs, your puppy will need his or her first series of vaccinations for Distemper and Parvo in order to begin training classes or daycare. We require vaccination for Rabies when it is age appropriate (usually 16 weeks of age). Puppies are in their ideal socialization window until they are 20 weeks old – so it’s essential to get them out, but they need to be out safely!

The American Veterinary Society of Animal Behavior research shows that it should be the standard of care for puppies to receive such socialization before they are fully vaccinated.

From the AVSAB position paper on puppy socialization:
“Because the first three months are the period when sociability outweighs fear, this is the primary window of opportunity for puppies to adapt to new people, animals, and experiences. Incomplete or improper socialization during this important time can increase the risk of behavioral problems later in life including fear, avoidance, and/or aggression. Behavioral problems are the greatest threat to the owner-dog bond. In fact, behavioral problems are the number one cause of relinquishment to shelters. Behavioral issues, not infectious diseases, are the number one cause of death for dogs under three years of age.

While puppies’ immune systems are still developing during these early months, the combination of maternal immunity, primary vaccination, and appropriate care makes the risk of infection relatively small compared to the chance of death from a behavior
problem.

Veterinarians specializing in behavior recommend that owners take advantage of every safe opportunity to expose young puppies to the great variety of stimuli that they will experience in their lives. Enrolling in puppy classes prior to three months of age can be an excellent means of improving training, strengthening the human-animal bond, and socializing puppies in an environment where risk of illness can be minimized.”

So bring your puppies out!  It’s perfectly safe – and encouraged! – to bring your puppies to daycare or Puppy Dawgs training classes at All Dawgs in Albany, NY! To further ensure the safety of all our clients’ dogs, we retain the vaccination records of all dogs in the building.