So some pass on giving Parvo and Distemper vaccinations? Seems everyone does the 3 year killed Rabies vac?

New 8 week pup coming who has only been wormed.

I don't do any vaccinations on the pups I keep and I breed (and if I am buying I want a pup that has had no vaccines). Consistently these pups when they are titered later (over a year) come back with a good titer to both parvo and distemper. (and they have not been sick). My pups/dogs go a LOT of places with me as I do a lot of herding, so they are around other dogs/stock (sheep, cattle, ducks) and in many different feilds.

I do rabies as LATE as possible. We are not required to do rabies where I live, so my dogs that go to the U.S. with me get it after they are 16 months of age. I do not do it before that.
If possible I will wait later (until 2 years of age). I am given a 3 yr. certificate and I then titer after that. A titer is good for a year with the rabies and the border crossing has bene accepting it as proof of immunity to rabies.

Shelly
I have a kennel and sell quite a few pups each year and I don't want to risk selling an unvaccinated pup and then having it die. The vaccinosis information has my attention. As a breeder have you ever sold or kept an unvaccinated pup that later died from parvo or distemper? How many other breeders, besides Ed, do you know that follow the no vaccination protocol?
Are there any other breeders who want to volunteer experiences for or against?

Might not be the right spot, but how do those that don't vaccinate deal with shipping, boarding kennels etc where up to date vaccination certificates are required? or is that more prevalent here in Australia, seems i can't take my dogs anywhere??

Good question Brad. It is just as bad here in the U.S. It isn't easy, I have only flown one dog once when she was around 6 months and current with her shots, but since then I have not flown with them or boarded them.
Basically you are right, unless you travel by car, you really can't take them to those places, as they won't allow it, unless you are current on vacs.

That is the one reason why I hope the tide changes in regards to vaccine protocols. I wish they would take titer results in loo of having to vaccinate so often.

IMO it's all a work in progress, rather than a conspiracy to rip people off.

IMO if you live in the right place (somewhere cold, where wild type virus is preserved in the environment) and dog/dog contact is controlled, and you feed right, it is possible to raise a pup to maturity, and he will be exposed to tiny quantities of distemper from coyotes, or parvo from coons, and his maternal immunity will wane, and he will become immune. The fact that 90% of dogs with owners give their dogs some sort of "shots" helps to keep the overall amount of wild type virus low in the population. Other peoples vaccines protect your dog in this way. Also, some people vaccinate with modified live CD vaccine, that vaccine multiplies in the dog and is shed, and immunity to this "attenuated" strain of virus can be achieved in this way as well, I think.
Be advised, though, that rabies (7 cases in Minnesota in cats this year) and distemper still exist. For these two fatal diseases there are no preventative measures beyond exposure to minute quantities of weak virus, ie vaccine, for most pets.
Shelly, if your dogs are developing titer, they are "seeing" the agent. They are encountering the virus in their environment. Where do you think they get their exposure?

It's weird, like to take my dogs swimming they all have to be up to date with their C5 (don't have rabies here), but if mine aren't vaccinated isn't the risk only to them and not those that are vaccinated?? it should be our choice/risk to decide JMO.

 Quote: brad higgs

It's weird, like to take my dogs swimming they all have to be up to date with their C5 (don't have rabies here), but if mine aren't vaccinated isn't the risk only to them and not those that are vaccinated??

Only if your dog is healthy, and not a carrier..

This is a touchy subject. VERY touchy...

The above question is how I feel about it, for our animals as well as our children. As parents we go back and forth on this issue when it comes to our next child and the answer is, we feel safe not vaccinating only BECAUSE everyone else IS vaccinating. If we lived in a place where we would send our child to school to sit in an enclosed space and we were NOT sure that every child there was vaccinated against something like Polio or Hepatitis, and not know the conditions and sanitation habits of all these children, would we still send our children to school? Would we choose to keep our dogs unvaccinated if all the other dogs out there were unprotected from virulent and deadly diseases like distemper or parvo; where a parvo infected puppy is owned by an ignorant owner that allows it to defecate on my front lawn 'cause they don't know what they are spreading?

We are the advanced and healthy country that we are because of the minimum standards that our government puts on our health codes. It prevent us from living in third world like conditions. There are casualties, but it is for the "greater good" of our society.

In a perfect world, EVERYONE would educate themselves/be educated about the risks/rewards, causes/effects, symptoms/cures for all manner of life issues, but most of us live on in ignorance and blindly follow the masses and exist in that homo-stasis. Hell, I like EVERY one of you here, started out feeding crap food and over vaccinated because I just didn't know any better. I kick myself for what I did to my previous pets due to my ignorance... But I am now constantly criticised and condemned for going against the status quo and feeding raw and and (gasp!) not vaccinating my animals..

I guess that is my whole point. That because everyone else follows the "rules" I have the liberty to balk and keep my pets completely vaccine free. Neither of my current dogs have had a single vaccine while in my care and custody and are very happy and healthy adults. I feel very good and safe in that choice because I know that most others out there have and I CAN feel safe. And our next child will likely be minimally vaccinated BECAUSE all the other children ARE and my unvaccinated child is safe as a result.

I look at this topic as a double edged sword. And I am grateful that, for now, the choice for me is a simple one...

Maybe lots of people don't need to vaccinate any more, because these diseases are so rare. Maybe you are right. I've been hearing all this for months on this forum, I'm willing to change my opinion.

If titers are happening, though, exposure is happening.

If you do nothing else, you've got to give your child the oral polio vaccine.
An Amish child l hr west of us got polio and died 2 yrs ago. Somehow, that agent has managed to live, to hide out, in modern society.

There are treatments for diptheria, pertussis, and tetanus, these are all bacterial agents. (DPT) There is STILL no Rx for polio.

JMO. If your child got polio, I mean you would never get over the guilt.