How might my dog get worms?

Much of the time, dogs will get it from their environment. So that's generally going to be the ground, whether at your home or if you're around the neighborhood or in the dog park. Sometimes puppies can be born with certain types of worms.

Your dog can get worms through two main ways: not being on a prevention treatment and exposure to an environment with worms. For example, if your dog has access to another dog's feces with worms in it, they can become infected. Additionally, dogs can get tapeworms through fleas if they are not on a good flea prevention treatment.

Dogs and cats can get roundworms and hookworms from their mothers either through the placenta before birth or through milk while nursing. As adults, they can ingest the larvae of roundworms and hookworms from grass or when they lick their feet. Dogs can also get whipworms by ingesting their larvae. Both dogs and cats can get tapeworms either from ingesting a flea or eating a small mammal like chipmunks, mice, moles, squirrels, rabbits, and the like.

Typically, dogs get worms through fecal oral transmission. This means that they either step in feces and then lick their paw, or sometimes they eat other dog's poop. In some cases such as tapeworms, they get worms by eating a flea.