I am in a dilemma! I really wanted to get Kasey certified as a therapy dog to go into hospitals - a children's hospital in southern California in particular. You must get certified by either Delta or Therapy Dogs Intl and that involves vaccinations.
This is the policy for Therapy Dogs Intl: (Delta is similar)

- Annual Check-up attested to by your Veterinarian with the statement included on our Health Records form that the dog is physically and mentally healthy and free of contagious disease.

- Mandatory Current Rabies Vaccination (MUST BE GIVEN BY A VETERINARIAN)

- An intitial set of Core Distemper Vaccinations

- An intitial set of Core Hepatitis Vaccinations

- An intitial set of Core Parvovirus Vaccinations

- A negative Fecal Exam must have been done within the past year

- A negative Heartworm test must have been done within the past year unless there is no heartworm present in the area or if the dog is on preventative medication.

Here in So. CA they come door to door and you must license your dog and have every 3 year rabies vaccines, so I'm stuck with that unless I want to pay a huge fine every year. But what are those hepatitis vaccines listed above? I never heard of a dog getting those - has anyone else? I did do parvo & distemper at 6 and 12 months, but don't want to do more - does it sound like I'm ok on those if I don't - the way they worded it?

Does anyone have any experience with doing therapy dog work and vaccinations?

Thanks for any info!
Lori

Core:

RABIES
PARVOVIRUS
ADENOVIRUS-2 I think that distemper vaccines are almost always combined with hepatitis vaccine.

I would ask for a definition of "initial set".... but it sounds to me like puppy shots and no mention of annual boosters (which would be good, IMO).

Thanks Connie. I checked on that and they did put hepatitis with the distemper. I'm going to either call or email Therapy Dogs Int'l tomorrow and see what they do mean by 'core'. I really hope that means I don't have to do them anymore, but if it does I'd be sooo surprised! If they require it, I hope they will take titer tests in place of them. If not, then I have a decision to make. Our vet goes with the every three years routine for vaccinations and will do titers if you know enough to request them. We'll see in TDI will go along with that!

Lori,

I'm with Connie. It sounds like the initial puppy shots. I would be a little surprised if they required yearly vacs, since visiting in a hospital you could be working with immune compromised children.

My uncle lived with me when he was going through chemo and I could not have my kids vaccinated for that very reason. Any of the live culture vaccinations could have been devestating to his compromised immune system.

Does anyone know which of the canine vaccines are live and if the disease are even transferrable to humans. I'm curious now.

I know that the rabies is dead rabies virus and the distemper and parvo that our vet uses, and many recommend is modified-live virus. But I'm not sure exactly what that means in terms of the virus being passed on to humans.
lori

Ok, so TDI emailed me back and here's their answer.


All we need for distemper, hepatitis, and parvovirus is proof that the
dog received his or her core (puppy) vaccinations, or his or her latest
booster for each. These vaccinations do not have to be current, so
submitting titer test results is not necessary.


It seems strange that they don't require that "these vaccinations do not have to be current". But if that's right, that's great!

lori

Just to let anyone who is interested know, I spoke to an evaluator this morning and they DO NOT require anything past the initial puppy vaccines. They said a lot of people were upset because yearly vaccines are not needed anymore so TDI changed their requirements and vaccinations are not an issue!