This entry was posted on Wednesday, January 25th, 2012 at 11:41 am and is filed under Tip of the month. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.
To protect dogs against certain diseases, it is vital that all puppies complete a course of vaccinations at an early age. The current guidelines from the World Small Animal Veterinary Association (2010) recommend that pups have 3 core vaccinations against distemper, adenovirus and parvovirus, all of which can be deadly to puppies and adult dogs.
A complicating factor in puppy vaccinations is that puppies born to healthy mothers have a “passive” immunity (maternally derived antibody) against these diseases for possibly the first 6 - 12 weeks of their lives. This means that vaccinations given during this period may not “take”.
To try and ensure the efficacy of vaccinations, many vets are vaccinating slightly later i.e. the puppy only gets its first vaccination at 8 weeks of age. The problem is that without proper testing it is not possible to determine whether maternal antibodies are still functional at this stage and so the recommendation becomes that puppies should not socialize or explore outside the home environment until they have had the second or third vaccination, sometimes as late as 16 weeks.
The very serious problem that results from such late vaccination schedules, is that puppies are unable to attend puppy classes or be taken out into the world to socialize until AFTER the sensitive or critical period for socialization is over (for most breeds this ends at about 14 weeks, but in certain sensitive breeds like German Shepherds, it can end as early as 10 weeks)!
From a behavioural/developmental point of view this can be disastrous as the puppy is less likely to accept new people, dogs and environments once this period is over and may develop nervous/aggressive problems that he or she may never completely overcome.
Until recently most puppies were vaccinated for the first time at around 6 weeks of age, this meant that the second vaccination could be done as early as 9 weeks (each one should be 3-4 weeks apart) and pups could start classes at around 10 weeks of age. WSAVA’s guidelines for vaccinations do mention this problem and admit that it would be acceptable for the 3rd vaccination to take place at around 14 weeks of age (meaning that the 1st could be at 6 weeks, the 2nd at 10 weeks and the 3rd at 14 weeks).
It is important as a dog owner to discuss these options with your breeder and your vet ahead of time to ensure that a vaccination course is started early enough to enable your puppy to be able to begin socialising while he or she is still receptive to new experiences. Don’t be passive about this important issue, as it really could affect the rest of your dog’s life.
Please note that vaccinations are important. Once the initial puppy course is finished, all dogs must also have a booster 12 months after the final vaccination. The current recommended vaccination schedule for adult dogs is every 3 years. It is irresponsible not to vaccinate - these diseases are all too real and kill many shelter puppies and unvaccinated dogs in disadvantaged areas on a regular basis.
To see the full report from WSAVA’S Vaccination Guideline Group for 2010 please go to http://www.wsava.org/VGG1.htm