So, rabies isn't required by law where I am, and health officials are saying rabies is all but gone in Ontario except for in the Niagara region. My puppy is getting parvo/distemper at 8 weeks, and the breeder said that I could do a second set, that I don't need to do a third, and even the second set is up to me.

What about rabies? When do you guys recommend doing rabies? The breeder said she only repeats it every 3 years, but I forgot to ask when she first has it done.

Lastly, my pup will be going to obedience shows and tracking classes, and our old vet always had us do bordatella. I'm getting conflicting advice about that, though.

Anyway, any opinions would be appreciated. I did a search but didn't QUITE find what I was looking for...apologies if I missed something.

Rabies may not be required BY LAW here, but you'll need it to do just about everything from boarding to grooming to, heck, even dog walking services. I'm actually not sure if rabies isn't required here... I'm thinking it might just not be enforced? I dunno, I've never bought a dog license or anything.

But you may just want to do the rabies for the heck of it, because otherwise if you ever want your dog de-skunked or something in an emergency, no one will touch them. And believe me, a mad scramble for a stupid vaccine certificate isn't fun. If you ever think you'll BE in that position, it's something to consider.

If you decide to do rabies, do it at about 6 months. Then do a booster at 1 year, which should be valid for 3 years. A good clinic to go to is East York Animal Clinic (Dr. McCutcheon) who is pro raw and anti overvaccination.

Thanks Jennifer. Are you from Toronto as well?

East York is a little far from me, but if it's close to a subway station, I could manage. It'd be worth the extra distance. I'm in the West end.

I wasn't considering not doing rabies, though. I was just wondering when to do rabies. I had read not to do it before 24 weeks and just wanted a second opinion.

I think I'll do the first and second parvo/distemper, but skip the third. Then rabies every 3 years.

When I get another pup, I'd do it militia-man style, and go "off paper" up until the last possible moment before I had absoloutely, positively had to get it pending a situation which required me to provide written documention and a rabies tag.

If it wasn't law, I wouldn't get it at all, and simply try to lie my way into situations which required it as a matter of policy.

If I didn't have to do rabies, I wouldn't do it.

Personally, I think the odds are greater that your dog will have a problem down the road FROM the vaccination, than contracting rabies.

If you do it, wait as long as you can. I wouldn't do it before the dog is completely done teething. I tell my puppy customers to wait til a year old if they can get away with it.

I think I will wait until he's a year old to do rabies, if I decide to do it. He won't be outside unattended, ever, so I'm not really worried. Especially since health officials are saying that my area doesn't have rabies anymore.


Oh, and thanks everyone!

I'm w/Steve and Cindy. I was able to avoid vaccines (by lying and playing "militia woman") until my GSD was going to Canada and needed it to get into the country. He was almost 3 years old;-) He's never once been to the vet for anything but xrays, as compared to my poor little Chi who developed epilepsy after his first shots. Never again will I put the law or a vet's persuasion ahead of my own gut instinct. I'm getting a pup in a few weeks, and he will NOT be vaccinated until ABSOLUTELY necessary, and then it will be rabies only. Before everyone freaks about Parvo and Distemper, let me state that he will be extremely sheltered as far as public places or places where animals may have shed viruses.

I would not do rabies until a year old, if at all possible. As far as the whole boarding thing goes, I feel like it's a small hassle that we owe our dogs to find somewhere safe for them to stay, without being pumped full of poisons to get in the door. I've never boarded a dog or taken a group OB class for this very reason. In the long run, which is more important-short term convenience or long-term health? JMO after extensive vaccinosis research. I'd need better proof of benefits to change my mind.

I won't be boarding the dog for the first year, so I can get away with a rabies-free puppyhood. Fortunately my breeder is in full support of that.

As for parvo and distemper, I am going to go ahead with those. My dog will be in public quite a bit, there are a LOT of dogs in my neighborhood, and we'll also be at obedience shows. I'm a little paranoid about parvo though, too, having lost a dog to it.

bordetella is an absolutely useless vaccine. it's like trying to vaccinate against the common cold. it can't be done. the viruses flying around are many, and the vaccine is just for one. i had a dog who got kennel cough even with having had the vaccine, for this reason.

to get past the regulations for boarding, go to a feed store, buy the vaccine, and simply put the little adhesive label from it into your pet's health record. you don't have to tell the kennel that you didn't administer the vaccine.

this is perfectly legitimate because, like i said, bordetella doesn't prevent kennel cough.

Slick, Alice. I like that one;-) Rabies would be the only exception to that, at least here, b/c you need a vet's sig. and the county recorder's sig.

Heather-keep in mind that vaccines don't=instant immunity. I'd still try to keep pup a bit isolated from other animals for 2 weeks or so after vaccination before going to any shows.

Bordatella is as useless as can be. I have never vaccinated one animal against it. I brought a sick kitten into my home of 3 cats and 3 dogs, all unvaccinated. My cousin's (vaccinated) dog stayed the weekend and got....BORDATELLA!!! Got it from the sick kitten while all my hillbilly animals were a-ok. My APBT was vaccinated for it after she'd been introduced to it at the humane society, and she battled kennel cough for weeks...until I took her off the antibiotics (3 courses prior to coming home, along with a hospital stay)and got her on a raw diet. I am fairly sure she'd have been fine had they not vaccinated her after exposure. It's a totally useless vaccine, and IME, causes a cold more often than not.