I’ve been using the Clubhouse app lately and having conversations with veterinarians and other dog trainers. I asked two questions recently to gain some clarity on a couple of pieces of advice I give out regularly. One is to not jump your dog until your dog is about 12-16 months of age. The other was it is okay to take your puppy out in public before fully vaccinated. Let’s get into a little detail on jumping or running and socializing your puppy.
Jumping and Running
Here are some tips for jumping and other high-impact activities. To start, you should not be running a dog if they’re less than a year of age. What I mean but is they shouldn’t be running on surfaces such as concrete and asphalt. Inside your home, it will happen some, but you want to keep the hardcore running directed at the dirt and grass. This is also true for jumping.
Climbing steps isn’t necessary a bad thing according to the veterinarian I spoke to. As a general rule, don’t let them jump higher than their elbows. Once the dog gets 12-16 months, you can start introducing the dog to higher jumps. To determine whether it’s 12 or 16 months, you should get an x-ray and see if the growth plates have fused. If they’ve fused, you should be good to go, considering their hips and elbows look good.
Vaccinations and Socialization
So now let’s say you want to socialize your puppy but they haven’t had all of their vaccines yet. You are afraid of them catching something. The veterinarian stated that you actually do more harm to them by not socializing during that period of time than you do by keeping them safe from those things. You should try to avoid unhealthy animals, and even the urine of wild animals (where leptospirosis comes from). You’re not likely going to find those things on the pavement. So walking, not running, on those the surfaces I told you earlier will be good.
I hope these tips on running and socializing your puppy were helpful. Please remember you can visit my YouTube Channel or stay right here on my website at www.longoriahausdogtraining.com for more tips like this!
Happy Training!
