Question regarding vaccinations-again!

Love you guys

So I have a questions of what would you do. Pup, Pup is coming to me with no vaccinations, now I probably will wait to 12 weeks to get his first shot then again at 16 weeks or wait till 16 weeks and then leave it at that. Titer in a year.

Called the local vet regarding if they see lots of parvo and distemper in this area, said they get and out break every year, this time of year. Now I don't know if that is correct or just a scare tactic. Because I talked to the local holistic pet store. The owner is very, very into the dog community around here and she has never seen an outbreak. So I don't know who to believe. I will probably be calling some more vets as well as the local holistic vet.

Now to the questions. We do a lot of boating and camping this time of the year, like every weekend and I am in mental turmoil if I should wait to take the puppy out until 12 weeks or if I should say screw it and take the pup out boating and camping anyways. Would you guys worry about taking your pup out without vaccinations?

Thanks guys.

I personally wouldn't take a pup out without vacc(parvo/distemp). To me it isn't worth the risk at all.

I agree with xpaeanx 100%.

I know I take mine out at our own risk, but I take them everywhere from the time I get them. I keep hearing how dangerous it is, yet most everyone I train with vaccinates minimally or not at all. I'd say 50% of those I train with don't do anything but rabies. Those puppies go everywhere. I laughed when my last dog had titers drawn at 1 year and showed normal titers. When the vet found out I didn't vaccinate they said I needed a parvo vaccine ahhh, ok? I asked them if they thought I was stupid.

Same thing happened with a guy I train with now. The puppy came from a breeder that does zero vaccines. Took him in at about 6 mo's and had a blood titer done. Normal levels and they still said he needed parvo and distemper vaccine. He wasn't stupid either and asked them why? Their answer, because he wasn't vaccinated and therefore he didn't have protection against them. He didn't want to argue with them so he just declined and came and told us the story. He was wondering to himself for 2 days if he was just an idiot about the whole thing because they were so insistent on vaccinating his puppy even though the blood titer clearly showed he was exposed and had normal levels of antibodies to parvo already.

I would want the pup to have had at least one vaccine 2 weeks prior to taking him out and about. That was the requirement I had for puppies in puppy class when I was teaching group classes.

With Aeri, she got her second right before our trip home, so I was careful about where we stopped for potty breaks, but not too concerned. She got her third and final somewhere between 4 and 5 mo.

Given that you have a breed that will need extensive socialization, I'd be tempted to get a vax at 9-10 weeks so I could start going out and about earlier. The socialization window closes between 16 and 20 weeks, with some breeds (usually the bigger ones) seeing it close closer to 14 weeks.

Brooks came to me with three vaccines, so I've taken him out and about. In past times, with puppies who are in the beginning of their series, I do take them out and about, but am MUCh more careful about where we go. My area has Parvo year round and this time of year is when the number soars(we see several positives each week..by next month I'd expect at least one positive result per day). While I am all for not vaccinating too young, and I do not over vaccinate, I do NOT mess around with Parvo, since I see puppies die from it frequently, and treat very ill pups routinely. In fact, I currently have double bagged clothes and shoes in my trunk, waiting for a hot wash cycle. (we have two parvo pups at work right now and the bloody poo explosions that occurred (and that I cleaned off the walls) were so gross that I called my husband to bring me new clothes at work.

Once they're adults I do very sparse vaccines or titers, but pups get their series.

I think seeing a puppy go through parvo is what got me the most. I know there are a lot of unvaxed dogs that don't get parvo, I know if they get parvo and you rush them to the vet (while expensive) they have a decent survival rate.

But to risk putting MY puppy through ANY of that, simply bc I didn't vax before taking them out? So NOT worth the risk to me. I do minimal vax when they get older, but I don't mess with puppy and parvo.

you don't think this happens to vax'd puppies?

I think if I have an option to decrease the chance of it I'm going to take it.

I am sure it does.(although I presume you are talking about puppies in their series) In over 8 years of working in veterinary clinics I have yet to see a fully vaccinated puppy (who has completed a series, and not had shifty vaccines from our feed store, where there was a known instance of poor storage somewhere along the line) develop a positive test result for Parvo. And it is everywhere here, so I'd think I'd see it here and there by now.

I will not vaccinate a million times, starting at 7 weeks, but I will definitely protect my pups the best I can, particularly when I know I am in an area with a high instance of disease.

Just like kids, not vaccinating puppies is all well and good when almost everyone else is doing it... but enough people drop out of the herd and we're going to see some parvo outbreaks. I think it's fairly inevitable that the pendulum will swing that far at some point in the next 5-10 years. Adults, whatever. But I am not a fan of not vaccinating puppies. Most of the time you're probably going to get away with it, but I don't feel there's a compelling enough reason not to. Different people comfortable with different risks, I guess.

There's no way I'd take a pup out with no vaccines in that age range. The odds that the maternal immunity has worn off in that age range is extremely high. I would just start the series when you get the puppy. Parvo and distemper are truly horrible diseases.

I agree with the comment that we're going to start seeing more of these as more people balk at vaccinating. There have been several recent parvo outbreaks already. Distemper isn't as common in domestic dogs, but there's a pool in wild animals, and as people decline to vaccinate, I can easily see it making a comeback.

Again, 100% agree with this. All of it.

It's easy to take for granted how well vaccines work; especially when most people or dogs out there are probably vaccinated.

But, there are alot of crazy diseases out there still.

I agree with limited vaccines, though. No cluster vax for me or mine. Some vaccines, like bordatella, I don't do.

I don't do that one because there are so many strains of it. Plus, most vets do the intranasal version and I've read that's far less effective then the shot.

There are some really strong opinions on this issue. I know there are risks to vaccines. I know that some dogs have had really bad reactions, as have people. But, on the whole, I feel that vaccines do more good them harm.

Also, as mentioned in a previous comment, I would not want to be the person who found out the hard way. Titers are all well and good, but antibodies CAN fluctuate with the environment especially if there is stress on the body or the mind.

This. I am very "minimally vaccine" but I think the puppy shots are SO important, particularly parvo.

I've never kept a puppy indoors until all shots are completed - but usually it's just visiting family, or in our yard, etc. I wouldn't be doing dog parks or pet stores right away, or where lots of other dogs have been.

I don't know why I'd wait personally. I'd get vaccinated earlier so the pup is more protected by the time you want to take out and about.

Yep I would not mess around with parvo.

When I got Siri she had her first 2 sets, I think? I took her EVERYWHERE, but I didn't put her on the ground until she had her 3rd set. So she still was exposed to all those other things, just from my arms. She did meet lots of people, and dogs that I knew before she got her 3rd set though.

I wouldn't take a puppy out and about that has had NO vaccines.

I'm super careless about it and took Juno to the dog park and everywhere else before she had finished her puppy series. Whatever. I was not concerned about it then and still wouldn't be today. But I would have been much more careful if she had no vaccines on board already.

There's not really a high incidence of parvo in my area though, either, which of course is also a factor.

When I got Kris, my Doberman pup, she was 11 weeks old and had no shots. I gave her one right away and only took her for walks out in our fields where there are not usually any dogs. She had her second shot at 14 weeks and won't get another till a year from now, then no more shots.

I firmly believe in giving puppies their shots. You may luck out and have no problem but why take the risk?

so you think the reason my dogs don't die from parvo is because everyone else vaccinates for it? I hate to break it to you, parvo is everywhere. My dogs are exposed from a very early age. Their titers prove it. I'm hardly alone.

people can think it's just luck or piggy backing off everyone else's "sacrifice" I tend to think my dogs are healthy for other reasons.

Ok. hypothetically if i get the pups first shot at a few days after bringing him home around 8 weeks would you be ok with taking the pup out camping, boating and going for walks. while keeping the pup away from strange dogs and areas dogs venture.

Socializing this dog is very important to me so I really don't want to keep the dog inside until he is fully vaccinated.