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What type of care should my puppy receive? What vaccinations are important? When can I safely walk my puppy?
- Prior to acquiring your puppy, be prepared and set up a veterinary visit and plan it within the first week of getting the puppy. In this way, your veterinarian can make sure your puppy is healthy.
- Depending on your location and your puppy’s lifestyle, your veterinarian will discuss appropriate vaccination and deworming schedule with you to make sure your puppy is healthy.
- Your puppy will need core (essential) vaccinations- including DHPP (Distemper, hepatitis, parainfluenza and parvo) and rabies vaccinations. Upper respiratory virus vaccinations (Bordetella, canine influenza) are also recommended so your puppy can safety interact and socialize with other dogs. Leptospirosis and lyme vaccinations may be recommended based on your puppy’s exposure.
- Puppies start receiving the DAPP vaccination around 7-8 weeks of age and should continue receiving this vaccination every 3-4 weeks until at least 16 weeks of age. Parvo is a life-threatening disease in dogs and this vaccination will protect your puppy from this disease. This disease is transmitted by fecal-oral contact and contact with unvaccinated, sick dogs. Until this series is done, we recommend only taking your puppy to areas where you are sure that no sick animal has been. You can take your puppy for walks once this series is completed.