To vaccinate or not to vaccinate? That is the question every dog owner asks when they first get a dog. I didn’t understand vaccinations when I got my first dog. But, when I became a trainer, people started asking whether vaccines were necessary. So, I researched so you won’t have to.
Every dog needs vaccinations against contagious diseases that can harm their health and life. Vaccines help protect dogs against diseases like canine parvovirus, rabies, distemper, and tracheobronchitis.
The vaccines not only help protect your dog against these diseases, but they also protect other dogs yours get in contact with. It helps stop these contagious diseases and helps save more dogs than you realize.
Not Every Dog Needs the Same Vaccines
The recommended vaccine schedule can differ depending on your local situation, though. Some areas are more prone to certain diseases than others. For instance, some places might have more dogs getting the parainfluenza virus than others. On the other hand, you might want to take your dog to daycare or travel across borders.
All of these factors in which vaccine you should give your dog. Luckily you don’t have to figure it out by yourself. Your local vet can advise you on which vaccines are necessary to keep your dog healthy based on your area and situation.
What are Dog Vaccines?
Many people don’t fully understand a vaccine, which scares them. If that’s true for you, don’t worry. You’re not alone. I was nervous about what substances I allowed in my dogs’ bodies when I took them to get their vaccines.
A dog vaccine is a substance formulated in a controlled lab that strengthens a dog’s immune system against certain diseases. Regulatory bodies in your country tested and approved them, meaning they’re safe for dogs. So, only a registered vet can administer vaccines to your dog.
“A vaccine is a preparation of either killed or altered microorganisms that is administered into the body. The vaccine stimulates the immune system to learn how to fight the microorganism so that if the microorganism is encountered in the future, the dog will either not get sick or will have a less severe illness.”
VCA Animal Hospitals
While it does sound scary to allow “a preparation of either killed or altered microorganisms” to enter your dog’s body, it’s not as frightening as you might think. The actual disease doesn’t enter your dog’s body. It is a weaker version that scientists created in a lab and is a key to the dog’s immune system.
How Vaccines Work
Here’s a breakdown of how a vaccine works in your dog’s body:
- The vaccine contains harmless versions of the disease. These versions are either dead or weakened forms of the virus. It teaches your dog’s immune system to learn what conditions it should fight in the future.
- Your dog’s body uses the harmless version of the disease to make antibodies. Antibodies are blood proteins recognizing specific viruses, bacteria, or substances that shouldn’t be in your dog’s body. Each antibody specializes in a particular disease. So, your dog’s body needs antibodies for each contagious canine illness.
- When one of the diseases enters your dog’s body, the antibodies signal the immune system to fight it off. Now that your dog’s body learned what illnesses to look out for, it can effectively fight off the disease without making your dog sick in the process.
So, because the vaccine introduced your dog’s body to a harmless version of the disease, it was able to prepare for future infections in a safe environment. If your dog didn’t get the vaccine but got exposed to the disease, your dog’s body should make antibodies and fight off the disease simultaneously.
Unfortunately, some dogs’ bodies can’t handle all the strain and suffer the consequences. Their immune systems weren’t prepared to fight the disease and can’t make antibodies fast enough. Sadly, these dogs either end up in the emergency room or pass the rainbow bridge.
What Types of Vaccines Do Dogs Usually Get?
No laws specify which vaccines your dog should get (a rabies vaccine being the exception in some countries). But most veterinarians suggest that your dog get core vaccines protecting your dog against:
- Canine parvovirus,
- Caninerabies,
- Canine distemper,
- Infectious canine herpes, and
- Canine parainfluenza.
Luckily, your dog doesn’t need one shot per disease. Some of the vaccines cover multiple illnesses in one. So, your dog usually only gets two shots to cover the core diseases. Here are the different vaccines most vets worldwide suggest dogs should get:
| The Core Dog Vaccine | The Disease it Protects Against |
| Rabies vaccine | Rabies |
| DAP (without parainfluenza) or DHP (with parainfluenza) | Distemper, hepatitis, parvovirus, parainfluenza |
While these only cover the core diseases, there are other diseases you can vaccinate your dogs against. It’s not always necessary, but inoculations like those against kennel cough are usually required if you want to take your dog to a daycare or doggy hotel.
The Pros and Cons of Vaccinating Your Dog
Like any informed decision, you should consider the pros and cons. This way, you can weigh them against each other and base your decision on facts and not feeling. Remember, it’s your dog’s health and life we’re talking about here. So the better informed you are, the better the outcome for your dog.
The WSAVA* VGG** made global vaccination guidelines for dogs, considering international differences in economic and societal factors. It is an organization that ensures that all pets worldwide get adequate care for a healthy and happy life.
*WSAVA: World Small Animal Veterinary Association
**VGG: Vaccination Guidelines Group
The Pros of Vaccinating Your Dog: Based on Science
Science suggests some apparent benefits of canine vaccinations and some interesting ones. Canine vaccines have been around for about 40 years now but imagine what diseases dogs walked around with before that.
Because of these diseases, Louis Pasteur had to invent the human rabies vaccine. If a dog infected with rabies didn’t bite a person, there wouldn’t have been a need for the vaccine in the first place. Then, many years later, scientists adapted the vaccines to help prevent deadly and contagious diseases in dogs.
Vaccines Protect Your Dog Against Fatal Diseases
This one is obvious, but vaccines help your dog’s body fight diseases that they wouldn’t have been able to otherwise. It signals to your dog’s body what the condition looks like so it can identify and fight it in the future.
Vaccines Help Create Herd Immunity
The more dogs get vaccinated against a specific disease, the less it can spread. That’s because the bacteria or virus needs a host (your dog) to flourish. But if more dogs are immune, the bacteria or virus will have no place left to go.
“Herd immunity, or community immunity, is when a large part of the population of an area is immune to a specific disease.”
WebMD
Non-Core Vaccines Help Protect Your Dog Against Diseases Specific to Your Area or Situation
These vaccines are optional, and not every dog has to get them. It depends on the amount of exposure your dog gets to the disease. For instance, people who take their dogs to daycare or doggy hotels should consider getting kennel cough inoculation. On the other hand, people who travel with their dogs might need to get vaccinations specific to their region.
If Your Dog is Vaccinated, You Help Protect Other Dogs
Not every dog that is infected will show symptoms. These dogs can still spread the disease to other dogs without you knowing they’re sick. So, keeping to the vaccine schedule, your dog can help save other non-vaccinated dogs from fatal diseases.
Dog Vaccinations Can Keep Your Family Safe
Some diseases, like rabies, can pass from dogs to people. So, if your dog gets vaccinated against them, you and your family members are protected against it as well.
A Vaccinated Dog Can Save You Money
Although there are upfront costs to dog vaccinations, you can save money in the long run when your dog is vaccinated. You might already know that pet care is expensive. Not to mention the vet bill when your beloved fur friend gets sick. So, your dog is at a lower risk of dying at the vet due to these preventable diseases.
The Cons of Vaccinating Your Dog: Based on Science
Like any other medical treatment made in a lab, there are cons to vaccinating your dog. Every dog is different, so not every dog will react similarly to the vaccines. So, it’s up to you to evaluate the pros and cons to decide on your furry best friend’s health and safety.
The Vaccine Can Fail in Puppies Due to Maternal Antibodies
The mother’s immunity remains in the puppy’s system for a few weeks after birth. So, whenever the puppy gets a vaccine, the mother’s antibodies fight against the weakened version of the vaccine, making it less effective.
“When a puppy is born, it receives passive immunity from its mother in the form of maternal antibodies. Maternal antibodies protect the newborn from the diseases against which the mother was protected.”
VCA Animal Hospitals
That’s why puppies get multiple doses until the pup is 16 weeks of age. If this isn’t possible due to your financial situation or other reasons, the VGG suggests that the puppy should get one vaccine only at 16 weeks of age.
A Vaccine Doesn’t Produce 100% Immunity in All Dogs.
Like any medical substance, it remains a lab-manufactured substance, and each dog’s body reacts differently. Most vaccines have a high success rate, but your dog won’t necessarily be entirely immune to those diseases.
For instance, your dog might be sick already when getting the vaccine. Then, their immune systems aren’t strong enough to handle the weakened version of the vaccine, making them sick. Luckily, your dog won’t get as ill as they would have without the vaccine.
Re-Vaccination is Necessary
All lab-manufactured vaccines are only effective for a certain amount of time. So, you’ll need to get a booster vaccine every year or every 2-3 years, depending on the type of vaccine.
However, new research shows that re-vaccination may not have to occur as frequently as we thought. Non-core vaccines are only required to top up every 2-3 years after the initial doses at the puppy stage because the duration of immunity (DOI) is quite long. For core vaccines, the DOI is shorter (only one year).
Duration of immunity (DOI) is how long the vaccine can protect your dog against specific diseases. The DOI depends on the particular disease, the vaccine, and your dog’s own immunity.
pawsperspective.com
Re-vaccination is a tricky topic. It’s difficult to determine if your dog needs it because it depends on your dog’s immunity, exposure to diseases, and the type of vaccine. The best way to know if your dog needs a vaccine booster is to take blood tests to see how many antibodies they have against each disease.
It might be the easiest way, but these tests can be more expensive than re-vaccination. Not only is it expensive, but it can put your dog into an unnecessarily stressful situation!
The VGG suggests that dog owners take their dogs for annual vet checkups. At these checkups, the vet can decide whether a vaccine dose is necessary. So, if you’re unsure whether your dog should get re-vaccinated, ask your vet.
Your Dog Might Get An Adverse Reaction
Again, like any substance, each vaccine comes with a risk. Your dog might get an allergic reaction to some of the vaccines. Although most vaccines have a high success rate, adverse reactions can still happen.
So, the VGG urges all vet practices to report it when dogs get these reactions and the batch number to the manufacturer. This way, the manufacturer can look into the batch to see whether it was not very accurate, or they can improve their formula to be safe for as many dogs in the future as possible.
The Paws Perspective
Now that you know a little more about vaccines and their pros and cons, I urge you to take your dog’s health into your own hands. You are your dog’s voice, and no one knows your dog better than you do.
Remember that your dogs can’t speak for themselves, so an unbiased decision is necessary to keep them as safe and healthy as possible. They will always be loyal if you keep their best interest at heart.
If you’re still unsure whether you should vaccinate your dog or not, schedule a chat with your vet. They know the latest vaccination research and can give you the advice you may need.