by John S Willard Jr

Created on: April 21, 2008

I am a Breeder of AKC Yorkshire Terriers and have been breeding exclusively Yorkies for over eight years. Along the way, I have been educated on vaccinations for pets, especially dogs and small breeds at that. I must say from the start, that there is a difference in breeds and particularly size of breeds when it comes to vaccinations. Since I specialize in a small breed, I will only address them.

Puppies are born with maternal antibodies that can prevent active immunization when vaccinated. Maternal antibodies may last several weeks after weaning. Therefore, it is best to maintain isolation of puppies until they have received a series of vaccinations and are at least 16 weeks of age. Below is a recommended schedule for administering vaccines to puppies:

3 weeks* 6 weeks 9 weeks 12 weeks 16 weeks 20 weeks
Measles x
Distemper x x x x x
Parvo x x x x x
Corona x x
Adenovirus Type 2 x x x x x
Parainfluenza x x x x x
Leptospirosis x x x
Lyme Disease x x
Giardia x x
Kennel Cough *x (or older)
Rabies x

I believe in taking your precious little ones to a Veterinarian when at all possible! However, there are some things that a pet owner can do on their own. Rabies vaccination, as well as heart worm medications have to be given by a licensed Veterinarian, because Rabies vaccinations are usually state controlled for records keeping. Now I'm NOT advocating that one not frequent their Veterinarian nor am I'm I advocating that one adopts the next statement. You can give all the other vaccinations that your pet will usually need. And, save some expense as well. However, you MUST be very careful where you purchase the medications! There has recently, in our community, been an instance where someone purchased a Parvo vaccination from a local farm supply and so far, over six dogs have died from the vaccinations, all purchased from the same store. One possible reason is that the vaccine was out of date or the refrigeration had been interrupted for some time.

Vaccinations have to be kept on refrigeration until they are used. Most On Line Pet Catalogs that offer vaccinations, require that they be shipped either by one day or two day air to prevent spoilage. I use one and only supplier for all the vaccines that I use. The vaccine that I use is Progard 6 - 25 x 1 dose. It consists of 25 doses. Also, the vaccines will have an expiration date stamped on the container and the supplier will tell you what the expiration date is before you order. This particular vaccine is a high titer, MLV vaccine

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