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Can my 11-week puppy sleep outside with unvaccinated dogs?

Updated on September 23rd, 2025

Pet's info: Dog | Mixed Breed | Female | unspayed | 2 months and 17 days old | 5 lbs

I have an 11 week old puppy and since she was born I kept her in my room. Now I'm wondering if I can take her outside and let her sleep there. I have 4 other dogs outside. By the way none of my dogs have had shots.

1 Answer

Most Helpful Answer

Answered By Kevin Sanada, DVM

Veterinarian

Published on February 1st, 2018

Assuming that it is appropriately warm, sheltered and she has access to water, then it should be OK. I would slowly introduce (over a couple of weeks) her to staying outside rather than going from full-time in your room to 100% outside. This way she has some time to adapt.

The fact that you have a few dogs that are not vaccinated out there carries a big risk for the pup. One risk is that she will be attacked by the bigger dogs. These attacks can be deadly for a puppy this size. The risk of disease transmission is equally as concerning. It's definitely possible that Princess could contract a deadly disease like Parvo or Distemper from your older dogs. I highly recommend they all get vaccinated before introducing them and it's best to wait until Princess has gotten her 16-18 week vaccination prior to exposing her to other dogs.

I hope that helps and all is well with Princess.

1Pet Parents found this answer helpful

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