Hello,

I have a deposit on a working line GSD litter. After I placed my deposit I have been doing research on vaccines and how damaging they could be and would like to take the holistic path.
Problem is the breeder is not a holistic breeder and vaccinates their pups.
Also I cant find any holistic vets in my area that practice no vaccinations at all. The closest I found was a vet who believes in just puppy vaccines and no follow up annual vaccines. He believes in a raw diet also.

Here is the breeders vaccination schedule. The pup is only 3 weeks so only received his first shot.

Week 2. Deworming
Week 4. Deworming
Week 5. Parvovirus
Week 6. Deworming
Week 7. Distemper, Adenovirus 2, Parainfluenza, Parvovirus, Coronavirus
Week 8. Deworming

Then I will be getting him on week 8.

The vet I spoke to believes this is way too young to vaccinate and he doesn't vaccinate until 12-14 weeks. Since I do not know which pup in the litter I am getting I can't even ask the breeder not to vaccinate my pup.

Any advice?

How harmful do you think just those vaccines could be for the pup?

Vito, Washington is pretty hard up for holistic GSD breeders (and holistic vets for that matter).
I feel your pain.

My dog's breeder is slowly heading in that direction, but I doubt she'll ever be fully there.
I sympathize with breeders. It'd be hard as hell to sell your pups, when most potential buyers would be appalled at a dog that had no vaccinations.

Week 5 is not to early to have selected your pup. I'd talk to the breeder about choosing your pup at 5 weeks prior to the litter being vaccinated, and then witholding vaccination from that pup.

My pup had a couple of rounds of puppy shots before I got her, with no ill effects, thankfully. 99% of GSD pups get their puppy vaccinations with no ill effects.

My very uneducated, pulled from my fifth point of contact guess would be that because the puppies still have a fair amount of their mother's immunities, the vaccinations do not put such an extreme strain on their immune systems.

Those immunities begin to wear out as the dogs age, and therefore the vaccinations they receive later are more of a stress.
Again, I'm basically just making that up, because it makes sense to me.

I have heard of vaccinosis in puppies, but not nearly as often as older dogs. If the dog was going to have an adverse reaction to the vaccines, it would probably be evident before or immediately after you brought the pup home, which would still put you within the time-frame of returning the pup for a healthy one.

BTW, what vet did you find that feeds raw?

(Fingers crossed it's in the Pierce/Thurston area.)

Alyssa

Thanks for the reply.

I live in NJ not WA. The breeder is in WA.

He is a local Vet in NJ. He believes if the vaccines are given 12-14 weeks it will last the dogs lifetime and follow up vaccines are not necessary.
He also believes in raw diet and offers consultations on raw diets with your visit.

I have read (but have no proof) that any vaccines given before a dog is fully weaned are not effective, since the dog has immunity from the mother's milk and those antibodies fight off the vaccine.

Based on this your breeder is wasting his/her money on worthless vaccines.

When I had a litter (rescues), I didn't give them their first shots until 8 weeks.

Are you saying your pup is 3 weeks of age and has already had one vaccine?

If you are really uncomfortable with this you can always find another breeder. THere are breeders out there who do not vaccinate, or who minimally vaccinate. (You would probably lose your deposit).

hi,

what i have read is the whole reason for boosters is you are trying to hit that window right when mother's passive transfer of immunity wears off but before puppy is exposed to any virus.

the exact timing of the wear-off VARIES and so that is why boosters are given at intervals. the only way to know for sure when that window is, is to pull a titer (which only tells you the level for THAT day) and see if the puppy is still covered or not.

Giving the vax that young---the puppy's system will still be covered by the mom's immunity and their immune system will attack the vaccine as a virus and therefor it will be totally ineffective. its stupid. plus the puppy's system is being WAY STRESSED unnecessarily.

while in theory i like the no-vaccine philosophy, make sure you take into consideration where you live---if it is a hi-parvo area you may not want to risk it. in MY area, the risk of getting parvo (and/or distemper) was FAR HIGHER than the risk of vaccinosis. it's a personal choice each owner has to make based on all the info available.

i would agree with the above that at 5 wks you could pick and say "no more". she might ask you to sign a waiver acknowledging the risk, she might ask you to pay in full so that any risk she perceives is YOUR risk and not her's, and you may have trouble shipping b/c the airport will require a health certificate & that will require that all age-appropriate vaccines have been given.

If by "first shot" at 3 weeks, you mean his deworming, then I would like to point out that deworming is NOT the same as vaccinating.

If the pup is being shipped on a flight, do you think it's better off having those vaccines than not?

Would the pup be exposed to any of those diseases in the airport or cargo area?

If I were picking him up I would be more comfortable skipping those but I dont know what he will be exposed to during shipping.

And like Jennifer pointed out, can he ship without those vaccines? I know he needs a health certificate but are the vaccines required?

 Quote: Vito Anasto

And like Jennifer pointed out, can he ship without those vaccines? I know he needs a health certificate but are the vaccines required?

Yes, vaccinations are required when shipping, they also accept Titers.

Vaccinations are NOT required for puppies at 8 weeks old to fly.

The only requirement is a health certificate.