At what age do you start taking your litters of pups outside in the garden? Do you vaccinate at 6 weeks or do you wait until 8 weeks?

mine go out side if the weather nice from 5 weeks on the decking away from the big dogs,

Mine go outside from about 4 weeks.  I don't vaccinate my puppies prior to leaving but expect the owners to decide with their own vets what regime they wish to follow.

Mine are also taken outside from about 5wks depending on the weather, they just love to explore and play with their mum and my other dogs.

Mine start going out for short periods between 4 and 5 weeks old, depending on the weather of course, I don't vaccinate before the pups leave, unless they're still here at 10 weeks.

No later than a month old as by then they are screaming to have more space.

Pups are covered by maternal antibodies to all the normally encountered bugs Mum is exposed to, and as your Garden should be private the risk of serious infectious disease not brought in by Mum or kennel mates is negligible even with visiting wildlife.

We make such  todo about taking pups out before vaccinations yet don't do anything like this with human infant who are not fully vaccinated for around five or 6 months.

Like Isabel I don't vaccinate my pups before they leave me, unless they are stayiong past 10 weeks of age.

It's the same with ours.  They love playing out on the decking from about 5 weeks with their mum and occasionally with my other 2.  They do need to let off steam!!

Would only vaccinate if they stay until 10 weeks old.

Mine too would be climbing the walls if they weren't out in the garden by 4 weeks.  I always have spring litters to give me a better chance of decent weather to have the pups outside during the day (although you never know in this country)!  I do not vaccinate the pups before they leave and encourage all new owners not to vaccinate until at least 10 weeks old.

can i just ask why dont you vaccinate till 10 wks i thought 8 wks is the norm iam so confused over vacs it seems most people have very different opinions my other dogs all had there vacs as puppys and ther yr booster

The problem is that if a puppy is still covered by it's Mums antibodies then the vaccinations don't take.  supposedly the new vaccinations are able to overcome this to an extent, but those of us who breed carefully with pups staying with Mums a decent length of time, allowing the Dam to decide when the pups are weaned worry that the pups will have high levels of antibodies at 8 weeks so preferring to go by the protocol that applied until only a few years ago, and that is vaccinating at 10 and 12 weeks.

The whole reason for the 2nd vaccination is in case the first one didn't take anyway.  Actually any dog over 12 weeks old only needs one vaccination with most of the vaccines, despite many vets claiming that a full course is needed when doing older dogs with no vaccine history or if boosters are by their opinion late..

thanks brainless i only ask as i have kept one of the pups my girl had she has feed them herself all the way along and still lets him feed now occasionaly even though his litter mates have now gone he is 8 wks old tomorrow i was going to ring the vet and get him booked in for his vacs this week iam not sure what to do now i need to have him chipped aswell at the same time i suppose it all comes down to how soon i want to get him out in the big wide world and get him socialised.

Hi Saffie

As Brainless says, your pup should have his mum's immunity for a good few weeks yet so there's no reason why you shouldn't get him out and about before his jab at 10 weeks or whenever you decide to jab him.

Whenever I keep a pup, my bitches are still letting them suckle at 8 weeks, so I see no point in having a vaccine just for Mum's antibodies to destroy it.  In the past, I have bought in a pup, and the breeder had 1st jab done at 6 weeks, and my vet said that they were just wasting money.  The last pup I bought in, the breeder was going to do the first jab on the day I collected pup - I asked not to have any jabs done.  She wasn't happy about it, but let me have the pup without jabs.  Two weeks later I got my own vet to vaccinate, and have had no problems.

My puppies go out from about 3 weeks, i start them on k9 nosode then.
they play with the big dogs from around 4 weeks.
interacting with the others helps teach them manners.

iam going to wait a few wks after doing a bit of reading up i think i will be wasting my money at the moment and i will book him in when hes 10 wks he has contact  with my other dogs i was just unsure weather to introduce him to my sisters dog before or after the jabs as we go walking together thanks for all the advice

> i was just unsure weather to introduce him to my sisters dog before or after the jabs

If your sisters dog is fully vaccinated this will be fine.  Most of us have adult dogs that are going out and about whilst there is a puppy in the house.