[Enviro]

Good morning everyone,
We will be getting our new puppy in a couple of weeks! We are extremely excited and cant wait to start this new adventure. However I do have a question which i thought i would ask the group since i cant seem to find any decent answers online.

A bit of a back story - we live in Canada, in a large urban area. We are fortunate enough to actually have a small yard. Our yard is open at the front, and has a hedge surrounding the property. Our puppy will be 8 weeks when we get him, from a reputable breeder, and will have his first set of shots/wormed etc. We have scheduled our first vet visit when we get him (as per breeder contract), and another at 12 weeks for second set of shots. My concern is that we plan on potty training (every hour) outdoors, at the back of the house, in the yard - basically keeping him on the property / leashed. There are very few dogs in the neighbourhood. While there might not be many dogs around, we do however have 'urban' raccoons who visit frequently at night - Ive seen them alot, and i know they are digging in the yard.
My concern is him picking up something from the raccoons

-i dont think pavro is a huge issue in our city (have talked to vets) and i dont think it can be passed between different species (raccoon - dog)?
-as far as i know, distemper is also not frequent here
-Not sure much about Giardia, but something i plan on researching a bit

Am I being over concerned? If a raccoon is walking around your yard at night, would you have any issues letting your puppy play out there? I basically just wondered what your thoughts are on this. Perhaps I just need some reassurance that everything will be okay for a month prior to his second set of shots.
Thanks very much!

 

[chubby]

I too am from Toronto and totally understand your raccoon problem. They are often in our garbage!! Those little rascals....

I would be a little concerned if your pup hasn't had their 2nd shot yet. Just make sure before you take your pup out that there aren't any raccoon feces lying around that he might want to stick his nose in - many dogs actually enjoy rolling around in raccoon/skunk poo, just so you're aware. Maybe just to be super safe, you can put an ex pen in a safe area in the yard that will be his designated spot, so raccoons can't actually enter in that area? You can find a good 8x8 or something even larger to protect the grass there?

There are differing opinions about the dangers of parvo, but so far, in Toronto, there haven't been any outbreaks, so I don't think animals are running around carrying it, but definitely do more research for your specific area, and you can try that way!

 

[Amaryllis]

If you're really worried about it, you can bleach the back yard. Bleach would kill parvo- and most anything else- but it doesn't kill the grass. (That's what I've been told. Please don't blame me if all your grass dies!) Other than the risk of disease, as long as you are always out there with your dog, I wouldn't worry too much about the raccoons. DO NOT leave the puppy alone with raccoons! Raccoons have been known to kill full grown labrador retrievers.