Puppy making older dogs sick

[fairlight]

Our dog park rules state no pup under the age of four months plus without vaccinations can enter the park. We had a lady come into the park on Sunday with an 8 week old pup. I was nearly having a fit. It was a mastiff mix and it ticked me off. I told the organizer of the meetup that no pups or dogs under the age of 4 months should be allowed in and she agreed.

I just received an email from her asking if pups can actually make an older dog sick even if the older dog has all of their immunizations. I would think so!!! If anyone has any stories or URLS about this I would love to cross post them to my mastiff forum.

[AtomicSkies]

i have no idea on that but the older dogs could make the puppy sick...heck just being in the park at all could depending on age and immunization status

[Dogstar]

Puppies of that age are little WORM factories. :P That would be the main thing I'd worry about, that they were shedding parasites. (That said, at a dog park? Worms are probably already there.) About infectious disease, I wouldn't imagine a dog with a normal immune system could pick up anything from a recently vaccinated puppy, but I have no idea. It'd be a good question to ask a vet though.

[Cearbhaill]

I think the "nothing under four months" rule is more to protect the puppies than the adults. Same reason kindergarten classes have a minimum age- young immune systems are not fully functional.

[golden&hovawart]

No,never heard of an adult dog catching something from a pup,unless he didn't have his shots,himself!!.

[UnDun*]

I have my doubts the puppy could really affect the older dogs. Like the others said, it's most likely to protect the pup. I've seen people walking 10 wk old pups around town before and it just drives me...

If the adult dogs have gone through their immunization programs as a pup, they'll be fine. Then again, who knows what dogs have been and haven't been? I doubt the dog park can actually screen and ask for up to date vet records each visit...

While dog parks are great social environments, they really are cess-pools for dogs anyways. I wouldn't be worried about a puppy harming my dog!

I just feel bad for the pup. There seems to be a lot of people who dont understand the hazards of taking a pup on public land without a full set of shots/immune system.

[fairlight]

Originally Posted by Cearbhaill

I think the "nothing under four months" rule is more to protect the puppies than the adults. Same reason kindergarten classes have a minimum age- young immune systems are not fully functional.

Darn! I was the one having a fit about this situation. One woman rescued the pup and brought it to the meetup and gave it to another member. I was ticked because even though it was said, there were no shot records of this pup and it should not have been around ANY of our dogs. The only thing I can think of is conjunctivitis.

[weezyNollie]

Puppies are the ones more susceptible than the adults. Partially due to immune system.

The other thing about puppies at dog parks is that they are usually intact, and if people choose to keep their dogs intact beyond 6 months of age could be an issue. Although, once again, there shouldn't be any intact animals at a dog park anyway! Yet, I still see people bringing their intact males or females to the parks.

The things I can think of that would be easy to contract at a dog park would definitely be parasites (both endo and ecto), potentially parvovirus, giardia (although that can happen at any age), kennel cough (same as giardia).

I think that the other thing to keep in mind, is that you make a decision by bringing your pet to the park. If you don't want to chance anything to begin with, you probably shouldn't be exposing the dog! It's a risk you have to be willing to take, regardless of what the rules are or what other dogs are there.

[fairlight]

Originally Posted by weezyNollie

Puppies are the ones more susceptible than the adults. Partially due to immune system.

The other thing about puppies at dog parks is that they are usually intact, and if people choose to keep their dogs intact beyond 6 months of age could be an issue. Although, once again, there shouldn't be any intact animals at a dog park anyway! Yet, I still see people bringing their intact males or females to the parks.

The things I can think of that would be easy to contract at a dog park would definitely be parasites (both endo and ecto), potentially parvovirus, giardia (although that can happen at any age), kennel cough (same as giardia).

I think that the other thing to keep in mind, is that you make a decision by bringing your pet to the park. If you don't want to chance anything to begin with, you probably shouldn't be exposing the dog! It's a risk you have to be willing to take, regardless of what the rules are or what other dogs are there.

So parvo can be passed on even if your dog has had it's shots? I know no immunization is 100% full proof.

[weezyNollie]

Only if the dog was not up to date on vaccines, had a low immune system (if they have a immune mediated disease), etc.

It's pretty unlikely, but always possible.