Icelandic Sheepdogs and Vaccines

Hello Folks

I was asked a question the other day about why some breeders where recommending that their puppies only get their Vaccine shots in singles or different Vaccines be "split" between visits to their vets, and they wanted to know what I did with my own puppies.

In general, I make sure my mothers are up to date on their Boosters, with my last few litters I did the first vet check and set of vaccines (4 in 1) at six weeks, and again at ten weeks (4-1) at 14-16 weeks, third set plus rabies, and then again at one year of age.

Now, I personally have also in the past done one vet check at seven to eight weeks with first booster (4-1), as in that case, the mothers had their vaccines boosters about a month before the breeding, and also because at that time, we didn't have any active outbreaks of disease in our area.

I do pay more to use the PureVax Vaccines, I have never (knock on wood) had a reaction to this vaccine. The studies have shown that its often not the Vaccine that was the issue in reaction but more so what the Vaccine is based in, and that is the difference with PureVax.

Ok, so this is where I am going to get myself in hot water,

First Case: Breeder X has a lovely litter of puppies and everything is well until you go to get the puppies first Vaccines, and suddenly they are having reactions, in this case, the breeder was not expecting this, and now must in fact deal with a litter or a puppy or two that is reacting to their vaccine, in this case, I would expect and be proud of any breeder that explains this issue to their possable new homes and works with them to make sure that the litter or effect puppy (s) in dealing with this immune system problems.

However, if I was a puppy buyer, I would personally never want to buy a puppy out of the same breeding or a directly related line breeding (as the odds are good that the same problem would come up again within the same full littermates from a different litter)

Second Case: Breeder Y has a lovely litter of puppies and everything goes perfect, no issues with first set of Vaccines and is a lovely healthy puppy, that at the age of one year, that dog has a reaction to his vaccines and the vet had to treat the dog to help it recover. The rest of the dogs from the litter are fine. I would hope that this dog would be removed from the breeding pool, and loved and looked after as a beloved pet. As a breeder, I would hope that that they would consider not breeding those two dogs again, but keeping close records and being open enough with the issue to talk to other breeders and dog owners to find out if there is any kind of pattern to that line in fact having a issue or is it a one off.. only gathering of information over a number of years will allow the breeder or breeders of those lines to be able to make a educted judgement on the issue.

Third Case: Breeder Z has a line that is closely related to each other and they have a litter of puppies with reactions, they continue to breed from the parent dogs, and related dogs, their breeder puppies have litters and within those litters is one or two puppies that also have reactions either as puppies or as adults.. The answer that the breeder has come to, is to break the vaccines down, warn the owners that the dogs might have a reaction? and therefor to watch for it..

Now on one hand, good for the breeder for being honest and keeping the information flowing, but on the other hand, once anyone has proof that they are having immune issues within their lines, why are they still breeding from the dogs? Why would you as a owner want to take on those issues? Why would you as a fellow breeder want to look at a stud dog out of a effected litter(has a littermate or two that is effected?)

Most of the time if a dog has vaccines reactions, it is felt that they have a immune system issue, and this also means more likehood of allergies and other related health issues that with a weaker immune system.

Its up to breeders to breed for a overall healthy dog, and given the world we live in, and that we are required by law to have Rabies, and if we want to be able to have a normal life with our dogs, taking them to classes(Vaccines required) Conformation (Vaccines required) travel with your dogs (Vaccines required to go on planes, across state lines etc) and I am sure you can think of many more reasons.

Having a dog, and line that is strong enough in its overall health to be able to have a normal vaccines schedule given thoughtout its puppyhood and as a adult to me is a important part of having a normal breeding kennel..

So if you are looking at buying a puppy and the breeder wants to split Vaccines, ask why, and talk to your vet, other breeders of different breeds to get different view points, and think really hard about if you are comfortable in the answers given, and what it could mean for the future.

Hope that helps, and a great question..

Barks