Whenever I have bred my pups they always go with their complementary first vaccination and microchip at 8 weeks.

However, today I bumped into a lady on the school run who was carrying a lovely little 13 week Border Collie, he was quite small for his age granted, I was chatting to her about socialising him etc, and she told me that he had only just been inoculated the breeder had told her that her vet would not vaccinate any of her smaller pups at 8 weeks and that the new onwer would have to wait until 12 weeks to vaccinate him.

Now, BC are a medium sized breed and I am sure many of us have had a smaller pup in our litters, but I have never had my vet ever say that a smaller pup must wait until 12 weeks for it's injections. Especially as some will vacc at 6 weeks now.

Is this a tall story from the breeder or is it viable that a vet may not vaccinate the runt of the litter?

I know a lot of toy breeds do not leave their owners until 12 weeks, but surely even a small BC would not be classed as a toy, and just as a matter of interest, when do toy breeds have their vaccinatons????

My vet prefers not to vaccinate until 10 to 12 weeks - ANY breed.  Research regarding the dam's immunity being passed to pups is still being carried out and he's a firm believer that most vets vaccinate too early. 

Debs

If you leave vaccination until the puppy is 12 weeks or over the puppy only needs one vaccine and not two as up until this age they are protected by their Mother's antibodies.  So one shot at 12 weeks is all they need.

Lepto if given should be given seperately from Parvo and Distemper, and the puppy will need 2 shots of this as it is not a live vaccine.

It's debateable whether or not Lepto vaccine is necessary as it only covers two strains found in the UK and the vaccine is known to only give protection up to 7 months so the puppy will not be protected for a period of time anyway.  It's also the vaccine that causes most adverse reactions.

I believe there is now a titre test for Lepto as well as the others - so this is probably the safest route to go.
Maria

I'm inclined to agree with Debs here, don't think the breed of dog has anything to do with it.

Some vets dont forget are becoming wiser to the facts of reactions in dogs that are vaccinated too young.  Was'nt their a report last year suggesting that 16 weeks is about the right age.  I am sure I read it somewhere.  I usually vaccinate my dogs at 10 weeks, then 13 weeks.  Trying to get them out to classes by 16 weeks.

Rachel

Our dogs are done 10 and 12 weeks.  Also I thought that with different vets using different makes of vaccine it's best to have both jabs done by the same vet and wth the litter we had and the pups we have brought this is wat we have done.

I think the breeder doing one set of jabs can be a problem when the vet then decides he/she needs to do two further puppy vaccinations simply because he/she uses a different brand.

I'm not sure about this one, as I had my Xena's first vax at 8 weeks and it went terribly wrong causing a massive abscess. this then made me change vets (being the final straw with 2 dogs being messed up at same veterianary practice. My new vets uses a different brand of vax and Xena only had to have the 2nd vax and wasn't expected to have a third. So is this maybe a money spin that vets dream up trying to worry us etc?

IMO, it isn't necessary to start the vaccination process again just because a different brand is being used.  As far as the final puppy vaccination is concerned, I think the important thing is to try to give it when maternal antibodies have gone or greatly declined, otherwise they will stop the vaccine being effective.  This is generally thought to be around 10 weeks but titre testing before vaccination is probably the only reliable way to check.

When I contacted my vets to vaccinate my latest additions, I was asked by the receptionist when I had got them and when I said I wouldn't be getting them until that`weekend at 8 weeks, I was told I would have to wait two weeks. I wrote to my vet complaining that I needed to get them vaccinated to get them out being socialised as early as possible and she called me to say she was happy to vaccinate my pups straight away. The policy has come about apparently because people were buying pups from dubious sources and bringing them in for their first vaccination, then illnesses that had been hibernating were showing up and the vets were being blamed along with the vaccination.

The policy has come about apparently because people were buying pups from dubious sources and bringing them in for their first vaccination, then illnesses that had been hibernating were showing up and the vets were being blamed along with the vaccination.

It's a shame that your vet feels they have to do this because of unscrupulous people.  As I stated earlier though, my vet won't vaccinate at 8 weeks.  In his opinion and from his own experiences it's much better to wait til at least 10 to 12 weeks.  A decision that I have to say I wholeheartedly agree with :)

Debs

I have any puppy titre tested before Vax & if the results show a need I have them vax(not Lepto though)I don't think they could refuse to vax a puppy if a titre test shows a need

Another reason for the delay could be that the vet wishes to allow puppies a bit of time to get over the stress of moving to new surroundings away from its litter mates.

I take my puppies home at 7 weeks as I believe that is the optimum time to take them home.  None of mine have ever had their first inoculations and I prefer to have my puppies tattood rather than chipped.

I put my dogs straight away on the ground and do not vaccinate until another two weeks at the earliest.  Mine are not toys however.

I prefer not to vaccinate when they may be going through their fear period and/or when they may be stressed (moving home) as studies have shown this may have an adverse effect on both dogs and humans.

I socialise mine right from the get go as I believe that the risk of catching a disease is far less than the risk (in my breeds) of undersocialisation.

(Having said that I do not live in an area which has a high prevalence of disease).

I agree with you Thome, both of my dogs have gone out (and on the floor) before completing vaccinations as I think this socialisation thing is far more important. But that of course is just my opinion. I have a large breed (dobermann) so I find it absolutely paramount that I get the socialisation completely correct as i don't want people to be scared or worried by my dogs ( even though society seems to have been made like this)

Yes, socialising is indeed part of the reason I query starting the first vaccination at 12 weeks in this case that means to do things officially this pup will be 15 weeks before being able to socialise with other dogs, and on any outside grass areas, which is too late for the socialising window, whatever the pros and cons are for earlier or later vaccinations the socialising window is far more important.

With the bugs and virus's which seem to be spreading throughout parts of the country at the moment I would not be happy about socialising any pup of mine with another dog or anywhere another dog may go until fully inoculated.

There are reports of parvo going around in some areas and in the Midlands one of my older adult pups was near death with a bug caught and apparently the surgery was full of sick dogs around that area, my girls grandmother was also extremely ill last year with something she also picked up, so the threats are out there and I certainly would not risk anything without full inoculations.

There have been a lot of starting at 10 weeks, but to me 12 weeks is very strange.