About Vaccinations and Schedules

Many vaccinations are available for the most common fatal diseases in dogs. Here is some basic information about the most common serious diseases: rabies, distemper, parvovirus, coronavirus, bordatella, and lyme disease. We've also included a shot record form you can print out and use to track your dog's vaccinations.

We're not licensed veterinarians, so don't take this as a substitute for your vet's recommendations. The Vet Network has good general information about dog vaccinations. A good source of certain non-prescription vaccines is KV Vet Supply. Some vaccinations can be given by the owner, but most pet owners would rather have their vets handling the shots.

Puppies that are still nursing will receive immunity from their mother's milk. That natural immunity can conflict with immunizations received as shots, and is the primary reason that puppies must be immunized repeatedly until they are approximately 14-16 weeks of age for a full immunization effect.

Our Vaccination Schedule

Rabies

In California, the schedule for rabies vaccinations is as follows

• First vaccination at 4 months
• Second vaccination 1 year after the first
• Third and following vaccinations every three years

For more information about rabies, look at these links:

• American Veterinary Medical Association: Rabies
• CDC - Rabies: Epidemiology

We start rabies vaccinations at 16 weeks.

Distemper

Distemper is a common, highly contagious and often fatal disease of dogs and many other animals such as wolves, coyotes, raccoons, skunks, mink and ferrets. It happens most often in young, unvaccinated dogs and older dogs whose vaccinations have not been kept up to date.

Vaccinations should be given 3-4 weeks apart to all puppies beginning at 6-8 weeks of age, and continuing until the puppy is 16 weeks old. Regular boosters will ensure immunity.

We start distemper vaccinations at 6½ weeks.

Parvovirus

Parvovirus is a serious, highly contagious viral infection of dogs that causes vomiting and bloody diarrhea. The usual transmission route is through contact with the stool of an infected dog or exposure to a contaminated environment. Puppies are most susceptible to parvovirus infection and fatalities are extremely common. Vaccinations should be given 2-4 weeks apart to all puppies, starting as early as 4 weeks of age and continuing until 15-20 weeks of age.

We start parvovirus vaccinations at 6½ weeks.

Coronavirus

Bordatella (Canine Cough)

Many people call Bordatella a "kennel cough", and don't feel the vaccine provides adequate protection against it. Some feel the vaccine might even cause kennel cough. We don't know what to think, actually, but we do vaccinate our dogs periodically for bordatella -- especially if they will be exposed to other dogs at events such as conformation shows and training classes.

Lyme Disease

Lyme disease can affects many species such as dogs, cats, birds, humans, horses, cattle, and wild animals. Even though it affects so many different animal species, the clinical signs are generally seen only in humans and dogs. Lyme disease is caused by the Borrelia burgdorferi organism. It is transmitted to animals by the deer tick, Ixodes dammini. The deer tick is very small and difficult to see, so daily searches for ticks might or might not allow you to remove every one of them in time to prevent infection.

Many vets believe that ticks need to be attached for 10-12 hours to cause an infection, so remove any tick you find immediately. Tick repellants also help. The vaccination can be given as early as 9 weeks, and can help prevent dogs from contracting the disease.

There is some controversy about the lyme vaccine. Some breeders believe it contributes to liver disease, and there are anecdotal reports of seizure disorders after shots for lyme disease.

Emryld Siberians chooses not to vaccinate for Lyme Disease, and instead uses a flea/tick repellant to reduce the likelihood of infection.

Problems

Both over-vaccination and under-vaccination are problems with our pets, so there's quite a lot to learn if you're going to fly without a net on your pet's vaccinations. Although many vaccines can be legally administered by pet owners themselves, we do not recommend that most pet owners do this. Instead, unless you have a lot of time for research, a lot of experience handling syringes, and are not risk-averse to handling problems that may arise we recommend that pet owners find and consistently use a good veterinarian for all such care.

• Ivermectin toxicosis — overdose of Ivermec, the active ingredient in Heartgard and Interceptor.

Shot Record

If you haven't received a good vaccination record form from your vet, this form can be used to fill in shot records for your dogs. The file is in the PDF format. You will need Acrobat Reader Version 5 to view and print the file.

This page was last modified on Friday, 24 August 2007