I'm really wanting to take Huck Finn to club.

With my last dog, I did pull titers and wrote that on my application line. The vet was fine with that and so was club.

With Huck, I haven't pulled Titers even. Titers are a snap shot of that moment in time...ONLY.

I'm wondering, is it simply MY risk with my (rawfed healthy) pup....taking him to club? SO long as I am ok with this, the vet will say ok, and it's fine? It's my dog at the greatest risk for disease (as opposed to the mature immune dogs at club), right?

This no vaccs is new to me with these last 2 dogs, and I'm still learning.

Just wondering your thoughts. What do you do with your 12-13 week old pups? Do you recommend taking them to club? At what point do they go?

In the process of discussing this with my vet.

Part of me feels like I've jumped onto a bandwagon of no vaccs, and yet my (strong) feelings and beliefs about vaccs have been founded with my vet in agreement about not "if a dog develops a reaction to vaccs, it's when"...

My club is good with whatever my vet is ok with...vet thinks around 6-7 months pups have a much stronger immune system and that would be a better time to take Huck to club. I agree with him.

I'd just like to go back to club and actually participate, but perhaps this is not the best thing for lil pup.

It seems whenever this topic is brought up, theres not an abundance of response. The no vaccs and club subject. ?

Ok, on with my discussion (with myself!!! LOL :grin

My decision is with my lil pup, to give him a set of puppy shots. I vaccinate my kid. I was given vaccs as a kid. It makes sense in my mind to at least do one set of shots to afford me the luxury of training my pup. I believe it is possible for this pup to be stronger for it in the long run too.

My fascination with the topic of immunity is insatiable.

Michele,

I thought I would post so you weren't left talking to yourself

I think you may be interested in reading these books, I refer to them quite often

http://leerburg.com/977.htm

http://leerburg.com/965.htm

Thanks Cindy!
There really is so much information out there...thanks for the suggestion for what appears to be some quality reading. Will be adding to my reference collection today.

 Quote: Michele McAtee

Ok, on with my discussion (with myself!!! LOL :grin

My decision is with my lil pup, to give him a set of puppy shots. I vaccinate my kid. I was given vaccs as a kid. It makes sense in my mind to at least do one set of shots to afford me the luxury of training my pup. I believe it is possible for this pup to be stronger for it in the long run too.

My fascination with the topic of immunity is insatiable.

You sending yourself PM's, too?

I was hoping you'd get more discussion out of this. I'm new to this no vax stuff. It can be tough to change your way of thinking.

I've stopped vaccinating my dogs. It would still be a tough call for me if I had a new puppy.

It was an EXTREMELY tough call for my newborn baby. Just had to go with my gut. It is scary both ways, I just had to decide which way I truly felt was best.

Anyway, no real help here. Just thinking out loud.

P.S.
Stop talking to yourself.....people are starting to stare.

michele, if it helps....i'm trying to raise neb no-vaccine (other than rabies) as well. he was vaccinated at 6 weeks, by the rescue, but has had nothing since i got him.

i did start taking him to the field at 11 weeks, but i was also comfortable w/the people and dogs there, and the location itself. he's 5 months old now, healthy as horse, but i still avoid taking him to areas that are high-dog traffic like parks. i will wait until he is a bit older for that. my vet has been fine w/this approach, if it helps. parvo has been her biggest concern.

Hi Michelle,
I rode the same emotional rollercoaster you are currently on with my now almost 6 m/o puppy Cleo.

The breeder had given her a multi-vaccine at 8 weeks in order to ship her to me in Hawaii.

I learned about vaccinosis here at leerburg and did additional exhaustive research.

Hawaii is rabies free, so whether to give a rabies vaccine was never an issue. However, parvo, lepto, and distemper are big problems here.

With immeasurable thanks to Cindy, I came to the conclusion that the following protocol was best for Cleo:

Starting at 13 weeks, I gave Cleo one parvo vaccine, followed 2 weeks later by one distemper vaccine. Note: I did not give a combo vaccine or cocktail.

2 weeks after the distemper vaccine, I did a titer for both parvo and distemper.

I did not allow her to come into contact with any dogs or areas where dogs have been (parks, grass, beach, etc.) until after the titer results were in.

When the results came back, her antibody levels were exponentially higher (especially for parvo) than the minimum level required for immunity. This fact reconfirmed to me that the prevailing re-vaccination policy is criminal.

Although the Rottie I had before Cleo almost died from it, I have not, and will not vaccinate for lepto. Based upon my research lepto vaccine is highly ineffective, whatever immunity is conferred is short lived and has a high incidence of adverse reactions.

Since receiving the titer results, I have take Cleo everywhere to expose her to as much as possible. She is healthy and happy. BTW, I feed her RAW (again, thanks in large part to the great people of this site and forum).

I hope this helps. Of course all of this is JMO.

Thanks for all the input here,(at least people have quit staring at me!! lol) sharing your experiences and thoughts. It really does boil down to a very personal decision based in your own research and needs.

I will say it just plain sucks to be in the situation of club versus no club due to vaccinations. With my particular club, they are lenient, requirement is to follow vet recommendation.

Apparently, before they had this in place, someone did bring a pup to club and it broke with parvo 2 days later. Ugh. Bad experience for all involved.

I did order the books Cindy suggested and will be discussing things further with my vet. He predicts in the future, there will be puppy vacs, and follow up with yearly titer checks against immunity, with titers happening right there at the clinic (versus having to be sent out) and not quite so pricy as they are now. He compared this to the heartworm test and its changes over the years. He does support minimal vaccination.

hi,
i managed a large and small practice here in Northwestern NM. my GSD pup is just turning 5 months this week. i too wrestled with the same issues. the clear diff HERE in my area of the country is that Distemper nad Parvo RUN RAMPANT. i mean even in the dead of winter with a foot of snow on the ground, we had parvo cases in the clinic (and if you have ever seen one---its heartbreaking). people here DONT vaccinate, never have and it is a cycle that doesnt end by itself apparently. i am in total agreement with much of the "no vaccine" philosophy, but you have to weigh in the risks present in your particular area of the world. the risk of vaccinosis <in my area> is far lower than the risk of getting parvo or distemper. so for my puppy, i DID do the series, but i only used a Parvo and Distemper vaccine (NO lepto and NO corona---those are not very common here like the other 2). i hated to do it and i held my breath, but the probability was SO high that he could get it if left unprotected. AND i opted to not take him anyplace where sick dogs might be (like the vet clinic!!). i bought the vaccine OTC and gave them myself at home. at this point, he made it thru the vaccines safely, he had no reaction and i thank God every day for that b/c that is also frightening! he is now going to Club meetings but those dogs i know are healthy.
: )
jen