Quote:
Originally Posted by fadeddenim  yea i plan on having him walk around the neighborhood. i won't take him to the dog park ever. he has never set foot outside and he's 6 months old. i'm so overprotective. i wanted to make sure he got all his shots first. now that he's going in for his last set of shots, i'm just excited to take him out. i want him to enjoy being a dog you know? |
I hope nobody takes offense to this... but I really think six months strictly indoors is
much too long. I understand being over-protective but they're DOGS. I've never heard of a dog not going outside for six months, no matter how small they are. My vet told me it was fine to take him outside even after he had only had his two sets of shots (he got three sets total + Rabies). I strictly potty-trained him outside from the get-go as I didn't want him to learn peeing/pooping in the house is OK only to have re-train and do it all over again teaching him to go outside. I never took him into a Petsmart or a dog park or anywhere like that until he had all of his shots... but Jackson LOVES it outside. He's 8 months old now and I couldn't imagine keeping him indoors from December-April.
I feel you miss a great deal of socialization and learning experiences during that 6 months when they're isolated from the world. That's not fair to them. Even newborn babies only have to stay out of public places for a few weeks. During those 6 months, Jackson experienced and loved snow, grass, water, running around in the backyard chasing balls, exercise, walking properly on a leash, meeting new people & seeing new things. Has he EVER been around another dog? He probably won't know how to act around other dogs. How many other people besides you has he seen? I don't know - I just feel it's unfair to the dog.