- Not a substitute for professional veterinary help.
When it comes to taking your puppy for a walk, you have a unique balancing act on your hands. On one hand, you can take your puppy outside anytime as long as you do it safely. On the other hand, taking your puppy to the streets before they have all their vaccinations increases their risk for contracting diseases.
That’s why, according to Dr. Sehaj Grewal, a veterinarian and CEO of The Melrose Vet, puppies shouldn’t go out into public spaces until they’ve completed their third round of vaccinations. Full protection, however, isn’t in effect until 7 days after the last vaccine. This means your puppy could be 16 or 19 weeks old before they can go outside safely.
Thankfully there are always special ways to navigate this time period so that your puppy also gets their socialization needs without risking their health. With advice from vets, we’ll explain why timing your puppy’s outdoor adventure matters and how to safely socialize them.
What Are the Risks of Taking Your Puppy Outside Too Early?
According to Dr. Grewal, without a complete puppy vaccination schedule (three rounds of distemper, adenovirus, parvovirus, and parainfluenze), your puppy is at risk of contracting infectious—and potentially fatal—diseases, such as:
- Canine distemper: The distemper vaccine protects against the canine distemper virus. This fatal neurologic virus is usually transmitted through aerosol droplet secretions of animals infected with the virus.
- Adenovirus: The adenovirus vaccine protects against infectious canine hepatitis (ICH), which is caused by the canine adenovirus 1 (CAV-1) virus. This virus is transmitted to other dogs when they come into contact with the saliva, urine, or feces of an infected dog.
- Parvovirus: The parvovirus vaccine protects against canine parvovirus (CPV), a highly contagious and often fatal intestinal virus. Parvo is transmitted through direct contact with the feces of an infected animal.
- Parainfluenza: The parainfluenza vaccine protects against the canine parainfluenza virus (CPIV). This highly contagious respiratory virus can cause kennel cough.
- Rabies: The rabies vaccine protects against the fatal rabies virus, which causes brain and spinal cord inflammation. It is transmitted through the saliva of an infected animal.
However there is a trick to getting your puppy outside to socialize them. With your vet’s approval, you can also use a dog stroller, wagon, or backpack/tote to make sure your puppy doesn’t touch the ground.
Where Can a Puppy Safely Go? Guidelines & Timing
A vet can provide more personalized guidance on when your puppy can go outside based on their health, age, and vaccine status and can advise you on what age to start walking your puppy on a leash. Here is a general rule for where puppies can go outside, based on their vaccination period.
Explore the backyard after one round of vaccines
After the first round of vaccines at 6-8 weeks, puppies can typically venture out into your backyard and begin potty training — as long as your backyard is fenced and not accessed by dogs who could carry infectious diseases. Ask your vet about how many cases of viruses they’ve seen. This can help you assess whether you can safely bring your puppy around your block or if your backyard is less risky.
If you have a shared backyard or front yard where unfamiliar dogs have access, consider puppy training pads for extra safety.
If you live in an apartment building, pick one spot outside the building for your puppy to use and carry them to the spot. Choose a spot that isn’t highly trafficked by other dogs or near any type of animal feces, and try to choose the same spot every day.
Take the first walk after three rounds of vaccines
Vets recommend keeping your puppy in your backyard until they’ve received all three rounds of vaccines.
Going on walks with your new puppy will inevitably bring them into contact with other dogs. As you don’t know the vaccine or disease status of these dogs, it’s best to wait until your puppy is fully vaccinated before taking them on walks.
Keeping them close to home will help lower the risk of them catching any life-threatening viruses, like parvovirus and distemper. These highly contagious viruses spread very easily through direct contact, Dr. Grewal explains.
Visit the dog park two months after the third round of vaccines
A week after your puppy’s third round of vaccinations, they’ll have full protection from the worst of the puppyhood diseases. Your puppy is now ready to say hello to unfamiliar dogs and explore the great outdoors. That said, it’s best to wait until your dog is at least 6 months old before you take them to a dog park.
Depending on your community, a dog park can have more risks than benefits for a puppy. A negative encounter can cause your puppy to fear the dog park or dogs, perhaps for life. When you do try out the dog park for the first time, Jennifer Abrams, an Associate Certified Applied Animal Behaviorist (ACAAB), recommends always paying close attention to your puppy.
“If you have a puppy interacting with other dogs, it is especially important to make sure the puppy is having a good time,” Abrams says. “They may need help recognizing who is a safe playmate and who is too rough.”
Important: Sometimes adult dogs can get upset with puppy behavior, so it’s important to make sure your puppy learns to recognize and respect an older dog’s back-off signals, like growling.
What to Do When Your Puppy Can’t Go Outside
Dealing with a rambunctious puppy who’s eager to explore the world can be challenging, to say the least. However, before your puppy can go outside, you have plenty of options for keeping them mentally and physically stimulated indoors.
Try these ideas:
- Train them in different areas, from potty training to obedience training.
- Teach them tricks.
- Ask your friends to bring their healthy, fully vaccinated dogs over to your place for puppy play dates. Just make sure to wait one week after your puppy has had their first round of shots!
- Exercise them with hide-and-seek games. Try hiding yourself or treats!
- Play games like tug-rope or fetch.
- Offer food puzzles for mental stimulation.
- Set up a window space for a quieter form of stimulation.
- Enroll your puppy in socialization classes to encourage their social development. You’ll need to wait a week after their first round of vaccinations before they can attend the class.
Abrams explains: “It’s important to have a mix of interaction, active play, and quieter solitary play. As you get to know your puppy better, their play styles and preferences will become clearer, and that can help you decide which games are the most fun for you both.”
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Kirill Gorshkov via iStock
When In Doubt, Ask Your Vet
Despite what the internet agrees on, it’s best to ask your vet about your puppy’s individual needs. A vet can provide more personalized guidance on when your puppy can go outside based on their:
- age
- health
- vaccine status
- your county or neighborhood’s parvo or distemper cases
- living environment (i.e. shared spaces with other dogs)
When your vet gives you the all-clear to take your puppy out for a walk, it may be tempting to embark on a long stroll around the neighborhood. But keep in mind that a young puppy can easily tire out, so it’s important to keep those first few walks a short and positive experience for your pup.
As a general guideline, a puppy can walk five minutes for every month of their age, starting at 2 months old. So, a 3-month-old can walk a maximum of 15 minutes per day, while a 10-month-old puppy can walk up to 50 minutes per day.
Remember that puppies need plenty of practice as they perfect their leash-walking skills, so make sure to have patience with them and give them ample opportunities to practice their leash-walking. By doing so, you will be helping to successfully set them up for a lifetime of walking and outdoor adventures together.
