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Pupforum presents your training questions answered by professional dog trainers.
Fran grew up teaching everything from chickens and goats to dogs and horses. These days, Fran works with DOG GONE IT rottweiler rescue, is registered with AKC as a Canine Good Citizen Evaluator and continues to train dogs in Las Vegas, Nevada. She also writes a canine question & answer column for a local news paper, The Hilltop & High Desert Shopper News.
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Fran Williams
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[Edit]
8/8/2007
I just adopted a pitbull/shepard puppy that is three months. I’m trying to potty train her at the moment and that can be frustrating. The other articles on housetraining are helping and they assure me that I’m on the correct path with my training her. The shelter told me not to let her out of the house until she’s six months of age and has had her three shots and her rabies shot, is this true? She is currently ten weeks old. She needs one more of the three shots and her rabies shot. We live on a couple of acres so she will be exposed to much of the outside elements that may cause her to get sick, (spiders, insects, etc.) (Alfredo, California)
I think you might have misunderstood what they said. Do you live in an area that has a lot of DOG TRAFFIC? That’s where the danger is; not with spiders or other insects. The shelter is trying to save your pup from getting Parvo or Distemper. These diseases are easily spread through dog droppings but if your land does not have a bunch of loose dogs on it you should be safe taking your pup out for a run or to allow her to go poop outside. You should NOT take her to parks or doggie parks are any place a lot of dogs are running around.
Where is she doing her business now, if she is not allowed outside?
Also its very important this pup gets to see the outside world BEFORE she turns 6 months old! She should be taken for walks on a leash on your property (as long as there are no loose dogs
that run that land) she should be learning to Sit-Down-Stay and Come. All this can be taught to her now. But most important is you do not want to suddenly take a 6 month old dog out into the world for the first time and have her panic at the sounds and movement of things around her.
Take her in the car to every place you can think of that’s noisy so she gets used to the sounds. DO NOT take her out of the car-DO NOT let her touch the ground. When I have a young dog I take them to a school yard during recess so they get use to the sounds, but I stay in the car and let them watch from the window. I also like to go to public places while my dogs are young and let people touch them its very IMPORTANT this dog get as much human contact with others as possible so you have a dog that is social and not afraid of people or sounds.
Let her see the world around her as much as possible and if you have friends with safe older dogs that have had all there shots -let them come and play with her so she learns outside dogs can be her friends. I see no reason that after a few weeks of having her last shot that she not be allowed to walk in public. This is going to be a dog of large size so its so important you make her a valuable member of society. Check in your area for puppy classes and start taking her. It’s a great place to learn the skills it takes to raise a dog and its great for her mental well being. Please contact me if you have any more questions .Fran Dog Gone It
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