Safe to go out for walks after rabies shot?

Hello everyone,

So up here in Alaska we get just a few precious months without snow, and in the past couple of weeks it's started to be nice enough to take my 4-month-old puppy out for walks. He's had all four rounds of puppy vaccines now, and last Friday he had the rabies shot. Previously I've kept him inside (or at least, not beyond our yard) for about 10 days after each set of vaccines, so I'm wondering if I should plan to keep him in for a while again now.

I don't want to take him outside if his immune system hasn't fully recovered from the rabies vaccine yet, but he was just starting to get the hang of walking around the neighborhood without so much pulling and getting distracted, and I don't want to lose all that progress either. Plus, the weather is so nice for a change!

Any thoughts? Am I just being overprotective?

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Permalink Reply by Beth on April 29, 2013 at 6:08pm

He should be fine. The reason you keep them away from dogs and stuff for 10 days after a shot is because it takes awhile for the immune system to build antibodies to the vaccine, which means your dog is not protected from the disease he was vaccinated against for one to two weeks.

But rabies is transmitted by the bite of an infected animal, not by just walking through an area. So unless you have a huge problem with rabid wild animals in your area, then he's fine to go out.

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Permalink Reply by Anna Morelli on April 29, 2013 at 9:21pm

No need to wait and, at 4 months, socialization is a very high priority, especially in your geographic location. Take him out and enjoy life together.