I lived south of Alvin for fifteen years.  Some of those were pretty great years, and I really enjoyed raising my kids in the Alvin 4-H Club and in Top Dogs 4-H of Brazoria County.  The Brazoria County Fair has got to be the best county fair anywhere in the world.

What I never enjoyed was living right on Highway 35.  Not only did we lose some of our own animals to that road, but we often found abandoned puppies thrown out along that road.  And the people dumping those pups never realized they were condemning all those puppies to death either by car--or by parvo.

Parvo lived in the soil on that place.  There was no way around it.  Every puppy we had that ever got outside prior to its' first shot died or nearly died of the disease.  We only ever saved one of the dumped puppies from parvo, after paying a few hundred out of our own pockets for his treatment.  Even Blaze, Alyssa's show border collie, after his shots, came down with it around five months of age.  We almost lost him too.

Now I am paranoid about losing puppies to it.  So I always keep them indoors until after their first shots.  It is a huge chore cleaning up after them.  But it is better than watching a beautiful little puppy die. 

There is an added bonus to me; these puppies will always know exactly who I am, and they will be very socialized to humans.  Someday they will make someone wonderful companions; they will be friendly, happy, and healthy.