Apartment Puppy & Parvo

ktbabe530

We are picking up our puppy when she is 8 weeks old.  We live in apartment and I'm getting very worried about parvo.  Does anyone have any experiences with puppies in apartments?  Do we use our balcony and/or puppy pads until we can safely take her outside OR do we take her outside with the risk of parov out there?

Caz1221

I would ask your vet what s/he recommends, but we lived in a tiny apartment with no outdoor space in NYC when we got our puppy (he was 13 weeks old), and our vet never told us to keep our puppy inside. He just told us to avoid dog parks and interaction with dogs we didn't know until our pup was fully vaccinated.

I personally would stay away from puppy pads because they can just confuse the dog and make him think it's ok to potty in the house. Unless your vet tells you not to take the puppy outside at all, I would start potty training immediately by taking the puppy out very often and praising/rewarding like crazy when he potties outside. Crate training also helps with potty training. That's what we did, and our pup was pretty much potty trained in a week (though he was 5 weeks older than yours when we brought him home).

This ship has probably sailed, but if you are getting the puppy from a breeder, please make sure it is a truly reputable one rather than a backyard breeder or puppy mill. It can be tough to tell sometimes. GL!

aggiebug

The best thing you can do is be vigilant abot your puppies vaccinations. Parvo lives in the dirt for over 10 years so there is always a risk that any dirt you take them on could contain the virus, even if you lived in a single family home with a private yard there is still the risk.

It is important to train them to use the potty outside from the start. I just recommend limiting the grass time to potty breaks until they have had at least 2 Parvo vaccinations and no contact with dogs with unknown vaccination history, dog parks or pet stores until fully vaccinated around 14-16 weeks.