We had our first Puppy Party with the wonderful people at Elevation Custom Builders this week and it was a blast! These parties not only socialize the puppies to new people in new places but they help get them adopted and bring joy to the people in our community…and we all need a little extra joy these days. We also had a wonderful family of potential adopters come by the house to meet everyone.

Since a puppy is not fully vaccinated until they are about 16 weeks old, you might ask, "Isn't it dangerous to take young puppies out into the public before they are fully vaccinated?" This is an excellent question. Yes, there are risks but they are small compared to the risk of not adequately socializing puppies before they are 12 weeks old. The #1 reason for surrenders to shelters and cause of death in dogs under 3 years old is behavior problems, not infectious disease. And as long as you take basic precautions (no shoes in puppy pen, puppies don’t touch the ground outside the pen and individuals that have been to a shelter or vet clinic must wear clean clothes) then the benefits FAR out weight the risks.