puppy staying outside

Question
Hi. I'm torn between whether its ok for my 3month old pitbill puppy to stay outside during the cold.I had a friend to tell me it was okay but I want to make sure. I would rather her stay inside with me  but my roomate is terrified of her. Can u please help me??

Answer

Hi Crystal,

Frankly, how your roommate feels about dogs is something you should have considered long before you ever brought home a puppy.

A three month old puppy is much too young to stay outside. By keeping a puppy outside at this age, you would not only be making her more vulnerable to disease, as her immune system is not fully mature yet, but you would also be isolating her from her new human "pack" at the most crucial time for bonding between you and her.  Puppies need human contact!

At just twelve weeks, she (should have already had her first two sets of puppy shots and) but is still lacking the third set. This means that she is still succeptible to a host of diseases and illnesses. Keeping her outside in the bitter cold stresses her immune system, which isn't fully developed yet, even further. This increases the chance of her getting sick even more.

I would venture to say that it would be okay to leave a puppy outside during the day as long as the temperature is above 40 degrees Farenheit, provided she has a well insulated dog house to go in to stay warm. However, at night, or during the day if the temperature is below 40 degrees Farenheit, she should be brought inside. In all honesty, this rule applies to adult dogs as well.  Dogs should not be left outside in freezing weather, and especially without a warm, dry place to stay warm.

Your puppy should not be having the run of your home (because she's not yet house trained). By containing the puppy with either a couple of child-gates, or a dog crate that's the correct size, your roommate won't have to interact with the puppy and the pup will be safely kept inside.

Best of luck,
Patti