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Vaccinations For Golden Retriever Dogs

Vaccinations for Golden Retriever dogs protect them from several common deadly dog diseases.

To get your pet immunizations program off to a good start, you’ll need to provide active immunity for young puppies at an early age.

Puppy Vaccinations -- Get Those Puppy Shots!

Vaccinations for dogs begins at an early age.

My Peaches was a good mama to her little ones (posing for us here).

But we needed to help out by getting some puppy vaccines into those furry little bodies.

In newborn puppies, 95 percent of their puppy immunity comes from colostrum.

That's the milk the mother dog produces soon after giving birth.

But this immunity slowly tapers off as the pups get older.

While puppies still have their mother’s natural antibodies, puppy vaccines are not effective.

An excellent reason for getting off to an early start with dog vaccines is because it's impossible to know the exact status of maternal immunity at any given moment.

That's why it's important to keep with a puppy immunization schedule.

Doing so will ensure that your pup is safe no matter how much or how little natural antibodies he still has from his mother.

When should Puppy Pete get his first shots? Puppy shots should ideally begin at five or six weeks of age.

They'll continue over a period of several weeks, up to sixteen weeks.

Afterward, vaccinations for dogs in the form of annual booster shots will provide the protection your dog needs. Be sure to stick to the puppy vaccination schedule your veterinarian sets up to insure the highest level of puppy immunity.

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Safety Through Vaccinations For Dogs

Dog vaccines are available for a number of specific infectious diseases.

These include the following:

Canine Distemper
Canine Parainfluenza
Canine Parvovirus (CPV)
Canine Caronavirus
Infectious Canine Hepatitis
Kennel Cough
Leptospirosis
Rabies

Frequency of Vaccinations For Dogs

Many dog vaccines were once routinely given annually.

Now, most of them are formulated to provide protection from disease much longer than one year.

In fact, most vaccinations for dogs (adults, that is) last at least three years.

Some even provide lifelong protection.

The rabies vaccine may be effective for either one or three years, depending on the type of vaccine used.

Your veterinarian keeps up with the latest information on vaccines for dogs. He'll make sure your pooch gets the right shots at the right time.

Vaccinations For Dogs -- The Core Vaccines

Core vaccines are used against diseases that are fatal, extremely difficult to treat, or zoonotic diseases (transmissible to humans).

These immunizations generally include the following:

Rabies
Canine distemper
Infectious canine hepatitis
Canine Parvovirus

The use of core canine vaccines means fewer trips to the vet for shots.

But it also means that you must be aware of which dog vaccinations your Golden Retriever has received.

That's especially true when you're on the move.

If you're traveling to another state with your dog, ask your veterinarian if your dog will need additional inoculations.

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Vaccinations For Dogs -- The Non-Core Vaccines

Your veterinarian will help you decide if your dog needs any of the non-core vaccines.

This decision will be based at least partially on where you live and how much time your Golden Retriever spends outside and with other dogs. These canine vaccinations include:

Canine Parainfluenza
Kennel Cough
Lyme Disease

Reactions To Vaccinations For Dogs

In recent years, some people have been reluctant to administer dog vaccinations following publicity about possible adverse dog vaccine reactions that can result in a small number of cases.

However, there is no convincing study that shows a greater incidence of the problems ascribed to vaccine reactions than in the general canine population.

Immunization Schedule Keeps Track of Vaccinations For Dogs

If you have more than one dog in your home, it’s important to give them all the same protection. You can do this by establishing a household pet vaccination schedule.

This avoids the possibility of allowing infectious dog diseases to spread within your canine clan.

If you’re introducing a new dog into your furry family, you can vaccinate some of your dogs early to match the vaccine schedule of your newer dog.

Then everybody’s shots will be due at the same time.

That makes it a cinch to set up a synchronized dog vaccination schedule, providing the whole pack with the same amount of active immunity at all times.

This "matching method" worked well for us when we welcomed Molly, our Husky mix, into the family (pictured above).