Episode #237 Safe Socialization & Stress-Free Vet Visits for Puppies

Bringing your new puppy to the vet before they’re fully vaccinated can feel a little overwhelming — how do you protect their physical health and still socialize them during this critical window? In this episode, Amy Jensen walks you through exactly what to do to keep your puppy safe from illness and set them up for lifelong confidence.

Discover the best practices for early socialization, effective protocols for minimizing risk, and how to prepare for those first few veterinary visits using Fear Free techniques. From comfort kits and happy visits to training for handling at home, we’ll help your puppy build trust and have positive experiences from the start.

Because when done right, your puppy won’t just tolerate the vet — they’ll like going.

📋 Topics covered:
 • How to socialize safely before vaccinations are complete
 • What to avoid (and what’s still okay!) during early outings
 • Preparing for a stress-free first vet visit
 • Using Fear Free techniques to build confidence
 • Turning the vet’s office into a positive experience

Whether you’re headed to the clinic this week or just planning ahead, this episode is packed with practical, puppy-friendly tips to help you feel ready.

🐾 Learn more at baxterandbella.com and enjoy your journey together!

Chapters

• 0:00 Client Question: Puppy's First Vet Visit
• 1:55 Safety First: Protecting Unvaccinated Puppies
• 4:50 Creative Socialization During Vaccination Period
• 6:25 Making Vet Visits Positive Experiences
• 8:35 Training Vet Visits Like a Skill
• 11:30 Episode Closing and Resources

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

Today's episode is answering a client question how do I take my brand new puppy safely to the vet? Welcome to the Puppy Training Podcast. I'm Amy Jensen, founder of Baxter Bella, the online puppy school. Here we are all about helping you create the best possible experience raising a puppy, from training tips to practical tricks, all aimed at fostering a happy, well-behaved dog who truly feels like part of the family. So if you are ready to enjoy the journey and strengthen the bond with your dog, let's get started. Hi and welcome to the podcast. I'm Amy Jensen, so glad you're here.

Speaker 1: 0:42

If you have a new puppy at your house, or if you know of somebody getting a new puppy or maybe they're bringing home an older dog but it's a new dog to them please recommend our program. It's Baxter and Bellacom is our website. We help families learn how to incorporate a dog into their home. We want these dogs to be part of the family. We teach you everything you need to know about doing that successfully. Our goal is to keep more dogs in loving homes, where they belong, so help us spread the word. Our program is reasonably priced In fact, more than reasonably priced. We're part of your family for life. We want to help you at any point in the training journey, so share our program with others. We'd really appreciate it.

Speaker 1: 1:24

Today I'm answering a client question, so we received an email this week. On have a brand new puppy and I need to take them to the veterinarian. How do I do that safely, because they're not fully vaccinated. As soon as you bring your puppy home, you really should plan a veterinary wellness visit, and when I say puppy, I mean any new dog that you're bringing into your family. So schedule a visit with your veterinarian, typically within the first two to three days, is great. This gives your veterinarian a chance to check for overall health, start a vaccine schedule or update their current schedules that they're on, and then answer any of your specific questions. Now, vaccines for puppies are typically administered in a series, so this will be different depending on which veterinarian you go to and which protocol they follow, but in general, this puppy is getting boosters every three to four weeks until around 16 weeks of age, possibly 20 weeks of age for that final rabies shot. So until that final round, your puppy's immune system is still developing and they're vulnerable to diseases like parvo and distemper. These can be serious, and so we want to make sure that you're protecting your puppy from them and while you're waiting to get that puppy fully vaccinated. Now how do we keep them safe while they're still growing and we're helping them become confident and social, because we don't want to just keep them at home. Them become confident and social? Because we don't want to just keep them at home, we do want them to get out and experience the world and hear things and smell things and just get to know in a really safe, positive way, the world they're going to grow up in.

Speaker 1: 2:55

Now tip number one is safety first. We want to protect our puppy from illnesses, right? So a few things you can do on that front are before they're fully vaccinated, we want to avoid high risk areas like dog parks, pet store floors or places where unknown dogs visit frequently. The second tip would be to carry your puppy in and out of the veterinary office or use a crate. So if you want to go to a store and just walk around for five minutes shorter is best then I would just carry your puppy, put them in a backpack that you wear on the front of you, or you can get a specific puppy carrier. You can also get a dog stroller and put your puppy in the stroller and walk in and around the store for a little bit. Most importantly, we want to make sure your puppy's happy and not nervous or scared. So keep sessions short, bring lots of food, rewards, but do carry them or don't let their paws on the ground until they're fully vaccinated.

Speaker 1: 3:45

Another tip is to use your own backyard or a private space for potty training and early play. It's okay to have play dates with other dogs as long as they are healthy and fully vaccinated or current on their vaccination schedule. So if your friend just got a puppy and that puppy is current on their vaccination schedule and they are healthy, then yes, they can have a play date in a private space like your own backyard. But you want to make sure that you do know these dogs personally, that you're interested introducing your dog to other dogs one-on-one. We go into that in other podcast episodes and in our program, but for now just know, yes, it's okay that they're having a play date, as long as it's with a healthy, vaccinated dog that you know personally and it's in a private space. We don't want to pick a place where lots of other unknown dogs are roaming and going to the bathroom to let our puppies play in until they're fully vaccinated. Another thing you can do to safeguard your house would be to ask visitors to remove shoes and sanitize hands before handling your dog. Remember this doesn't mean isolation. We're not trying to isolate our puppy. We're just trying to be selective and smart. We're trying to minimize risk.

Speaker 1: 4:50

Tip number two is making sure that socialization still happens. We just have to get a little creative. So we talk about a critical socialization window for our puppies between the ages of three and 14 to 16 weeks. Their brains are developing rapidly during this time. Our puppy is learning what's normal and safe in the world. So instead of skipping socialization entirely because we're worried about vaccinations, here's what you can do.

Speaker 1: 5:16

You can meet with different types of people in your home. They can wear hats, glasses. They'll have different voices, different looks to them. Children are a good thing to introduce your puppy to if they're going to be around them long term. You can take car rides with your puppy and get them used to motion and city sounds. You can explore new surfaces with them, like tile, carpet, grass, gravel. A lot of these things just happen in and around your own home. We can play sounds for our puppy fireworks, traffic, thunder, play the vacuum, the garbage disposal, the garage door opener, and always pair these things with food rewards. We can visit safe locations, like going to a friend's or family member's home that have vaccinated dogs, or drive through windows where they can hear people and see people, but there's not interaction with those people. Now socialization, remember, is more than just dogs. It's about experiences. What experiences is your puppy going to have as an adult, and how can we give them many experiences when they're puppies to help them see that, okay, the world is a little bigger than I thought, but it's not scary, all right.

Speaker 1: 6:23

Tip number three is to make veterinary visits positive. So when we talk about vaccinations and we're wanting to take our puppy to the veterinarian, we want to make sure that we set the tone for future visits. We want our puppy's future attitude toward healthcare to be a good one. So I recommend bringing some high value food rewards. I like to bring a little bit of string cheese or a little bit of diced up chicken from last night's dinner. I like to have my puppy's records and a list of questions that I want to ask my veterinarian and then even bringing like a favorite toy or something that your puppy's familiar with for comfort. Now be sure to reward your puppy for every little thing If they get on the scale, food reward, if they say hi to the vet, food reward, even sitting on the exam table any little small win that you can find. We want to reward our puppy with praise and good girl, good dog and a little food reward if possible. We want our puppy thinking wow, that was fun and full of snacks. Because, let's be honest, for many dogs the vet's office can be scary, but it doesn't have to be here.

Speaker 1: 7:28

At Baxter and Bella we believe in setting our puppies up for success. We use fear-free techniques that build confidence and create positive associations, starting with their very first veterinary visit. Now here are a few more tips to help make that veterinary visit positive. So before you go, you can practice at home. First, make sure that your puppy is used to you touching their ears and paws, tail, putting your fingers in their mouth. Doing this gently, with lots of praise, on a daily basis can really help your puppy get used to being handled, which will be helpful when you go to the veterinarian office.

Speaker 1: 8:02

Now lift them onto a low table or a bench. You can simulate exam positions If you just put your puppy up on the counter and you practice going over their body again the eyes, ears, paws, tail, mouth, et cetera, rewarding often, and then we gently lift them back down to the ground and we go on and maybe do a little play session that they love. We can introduce them to a stethoscope or even a toy one and have pretend checks. Where we listen to their heart, we can build a predictable pattern that our puppy starts to trust when people touch them. So maybe, instead of me always handling them, maybe my husband comes and handles them, or my children come and handle them, so that different people are starting to touch them and they get used to that and they're okay with it. When you go to the vet office you can bring again that favorite toy, a favorite chew, high value food, rewards. You can even bring us something like a blanket or mat that smells like home.

Speaker 1: 8:54

Now, time it right. I like to choose a quieter time of day for my vet visit, if possible, not a time of day when my puppy's really rambunctious and full of energy, maybe when they are just getting up from a nap. That would be a good time to schedule it Now, give your puppy a potty break beforehand and arrive a little early so you're not rushed. We don't want you to be stressed and we don't want that stress to transfer to your puppy, so do your best to stay relaxed and arrive a little early. Once you get there, carry your puppy inside to avoid contact with any sick animals or unfamiliar smells. They can also be in a crate, so we do want to keep them off the floor of the lobby. You can have them in your lap. You can put them in a mat. You can put them in a crate.

Speaker 1: 9:33

Once you're in the exam room, ask if the exam can be done in your lap or on the floor instead of a cold and comfortable table. Again, have some food rewards available. They might be nervous and not want any, but at least you have some. If needed, you can reward them for calm to behavior. You can praise them, pet them whatever they like. Don't overdo it. We want to keep them comfortable. Stay calm yourself. Your puppy will mirror your energy. They can sense if you're comfortable and calm or if you're nervous, and they're going to mirror that. So pay attention to your own energy and what you're giving off. Speak cheerfully, not anxiously. You're doing great puppy right, rather than oh, no, I hope you're okay. Um, help them be confident. Now. Some fear-free, uh certified clinics may even allow you to wait in the car and come straight into an exam room, or they might use dog pheromone sprays and calming music in the room.

Speaker 1: 10:22

Oftentimes the veterinarian will get down on the floor and get down on your puppy's level, which is not as scary to the puppy. Often they'll have treat stations or they'll, you know, have gentle handling procedures. Another thing you can do for vet visits to train it like a skill. So think of the vet visit like a trick. You can practice it. Set up a pretend exam at home once a week. Maybe you pair each part with a yes and treat or use a clicker if you like that. Instead you can work up to having your puppy wear a muzzle, or standing still for a thermometer or a gentle restraint, if your vet allows. Ask if you can stop by during the week just to say hi, get a little treat from the front desk and leave. These are happy visits that can help desensitize the experience.

Speaker 1: 11:05

Fear-free vet visits aren't just about preventing fear. They're about building trust, and here at Baxter and Bella, trust is a big part of our training process. You're showing your puppy hey, I've got you. This place is safe. You're going to be okay. The more positive experiences you provide your puppy Now, the more your puppy will learn that the vet is actually just another place where good things happen and that lesson lasts a lifetime. All right, you guys. Thanks for tuning in today. Have a wonderful rest of your week and happy training. Thanks for tuning in to the puppy training podcast. I hope today's tips help you feel more confident and excited about raising your dog. Remember, with a little patience and consistency, you can create a loving bond and a well-behaved pup who's a joy to have in your family. If you found this episode helpful, be sure to subscribe, leave a review and share it with fellow puppy parents. For more resources, visit Baxter and Bella online. Until next time, happy training.