What You Need to Know About Vaccines for Dogs

Vaccines are vital to helping your pet live a long and healthy life. Let’s face it, all of us want that for our pets! Vaccines fight illness from the viruses they may encounter every day and as well as other pathogens. This can be achieved by certain combinations of vaccines and by having them done at a particular age to have the most benefit for your pet. It’s like when you make sure your child receives shots or when you get your measles shot. Vaccines help your pet’s body prepare their immune system to fight the disease so that if your pet happens to come across a disease, he or she would be able to beat it!

How do you decide when to vaccinate your dog?

While it is not always necessary to vaccinate on every disease according to the ASPCA, factors in that may cause your pet to require vaccinations include age, medical history, environment, travel habits and lifestyle. Your local vet can evaluate your pet to determine which vaccines would be best!

Vaccines for DogsWhat vaccines are available for dogs?

There are different vaccines you may come across when getting your dog vaccinated:

Core vaccinations – These are vital vaccinations due to the risk of exposure, severity of the potential disease, or if a disease can be easily be passed to humans. These vaccinations should be given to every dog.  Core vaccinations include:

  • Canine parvovirus
  • Distemper
  • Canine hepatitis
  • Rabies

Non-core vaccinations – These are a just recommended based on the environment or other factors. Non-core vaccinations can include

  • Bordetella (kennel cough)
  • Bronchiseptica
  • Borrelia burgdorferi (lyme diease)
  • Coronavirus
  • Canine Parainfluenza
  • Leptospira bacteria

Core vaccines are highly efficient, last a year, are done annually. Side effects from core vaccines are normally low. Noncore vaccines seem to last for a short length of time. The efficiency of these vaccines can have varied results.

Vaccines for DogsWhen should dogs get vaccinated?

Dog vaccines can start from 5 weeks and last into adulthood. Puppies start at six to eight weeks of age because breast milk from their mother gives it them antibodies to fight infection, however Parvovirus may be a recommendation. A combination of adenovirus cough and hepatitis, parainfluenza, distemper, and parvovirus are given to puppies at three- to four-week intervals because some vaccinations can cause illness. These intervals also to get your pup’s body used to vaccines. Another combination could be leptospirosis (7-way vaccine) and coronavirus.

As for adult dogs, core vaccinations that most likely are annual include Rabies, Lyme, and Coronavirus. Each state has their own laws when it comes to vaccines, especially rabies. Some require rabies vaccines annually while some require them every three years.

Have you been up-to-date with your pup’s vaccines? Did you know there were so many? Leave a comment and let us know!

9 comments

  • John Carston

    Thanks for the helpful info for vaccinating my dog. I didn’t know there were vaccinations and non-core vaccinations, but thanks for listing all the types. I’ll have to follow these steps for my future puppy.

  • Amanda Drew

    Thanks for letting me know that some core vaccinations are rabies, distemper, and canine hepatitis. I have recently gotten a little dachshund named Hot Dawg. Hot Dawg is a puppy and hasn’t gotten his vaccinations yet because I wasn’t sure which ones he’d need. I’ll need to find somewhere to take him to and get him his necessary vaccines as well as the non-core ones he’d benefit from.

  • Ridley Fitzgerald

    It’s good to know what vaccines our dog will need. We’re looking at adopting one as soon as we possibly can, and I want to make sure they stay healthy. I’ll be sure to at least get the four core vaccines, and I’ll probably get a few of the other ones too.

  • Taylor Bishop

    Thanks for the interesting article about vaccines for dogs. it’s nice to know that other vaccines can be recommended depending on the environment. If that’s the case, perhaps it’s beneficial to talk to a vet about what additional vaccines would be good to have, especially if they are local to your area.

  • Dio Marsaille

    It was really nice when you explained that rabies, canine hepatitis, and a few more are considered core vaccines and that the dog needs to get this because the illnesses involved can pass onto humans. If so, then I was right when I said that we need to get my little bro’s new dog vaccinated as soon as possible. This is more important since he was found in the shelter, and we do not know if he has already been vaccinated.

  • Hazel Owens

    That’s good to know that you need to start getting your dog vaccinated at 5 weeks old. My daughter just got a Australian Shepherd puppy, so I’m looking into what to do to make sure it stays healthy. We’ll have to find a vet we can go to since the puppy is only 3 weeks old right now and will need to get vaccines soon.

  • Dave Anderson

    That is really nice to know that those vaccinations are vital due to the risk of exposure and severity of the potential diseases. That is something that I would want to avoid for my dog. It would be important to me to make sure that they have the core vaccinations.

  • Dave Anderson

    Something I didn’t realize was that dogs are susceptible to a lot of diseases like us. Maybe it would be good for them to get all the necessary vaccinations to protect them. Soon I will have to take my dog to the vet to get more vaccinations done to ensure he doesn’t get sick.

  • Liz Hudson

    It’s good to know that dogs should be vaccinated starting at 5 weeks and have their core vaccines redone annually. I’m getting a puppy in a few weeks, and I want to be sure to keep her up to date on her shots and general medical care. I will start looking for a good vet office nearby so I can be prepared to take her in for her first set of shots.