Vaccination schedule for a puppy; breeder adamantly suggests a 12th-week single shot for DHLPP

[ronnielol]

I'm really concerned about this. Our puppy just hit 9 weeks old, and per the instructions of our breeder we haven't taken him for any vaccinations yet. He (the breeder) has pointed us to a few articles online suggesting that if you vaccinate your dog for parvo/distemper/etc. at 12 weeks, you have hit the timing perfectly and you don't have to give a booster every 2-3 weeks. He doesn't want us overvaccinating our dog.

Here's the main article that this guy gave us to read: http://www.dogsnaturallymagazine.com/3-puppy-vaccination-mistakes-too-early-too-often-too-much/

In a study performed by Vanguard, it was found that a combination vaccine (which typically contains parvovirus, distemper and one to five other antigens), given to six week old puppies had only a 52% chance of protecting them against parvo. This means that the puppy has all of the risk of the vaccine but only half the potential benefit. At nine weeks of age, 88% of the puppies in the study showed a response to the vaccine. At 12 weeks, 100% of the puppies were protected. Some vaccines will provide protection earlier or later.

Vaccinating puppies under 12 weeks of age, and certainly under nine weeks of age, for parvovirus is a high risk, low reward approach. Not only is the parvovirus component of the combination vaccine not all that likely to be effective, it can actually work to block the effectiveness of the distemper component. It also makes the vaccine more dangerous, because the more antigens contained in the vaccine, the greater the risk of autoimmune disease (including allergies, joint disease and cancer).

I have some concerns with this as there are few people suggesting this. It looks like the overwhelming majority stick to a series of shots, not a single shot.

Are there any professionals on here, or well-educated people, that can help me decide what to do? I'm wondering what the consensus is here at /r/DogCare. #confused.

Update 1: Interesting comments on this article: http://www.dogsnaturallymagazine.com/ten-vaccine-myths/ --- who do you trust more? ugggh.

 

[cuchallain]

@ronnielol I would recommend calling the vet you trust and plan to use and talking to them about your concerns due to your breeder's suggestions and the current vaccination guidelines.

The thought of not vaccinating before 12 weeks of age is because this has been the age found in most dogs to be when their mother's antibodies are no longer interfering with their own immune systems ability to fully utilize a vaccine. The puppies series guidelines are in place because not all dog's immune systems are the same and by boostering the distemper/parvo vaccine once every 3-4 weeks you are hoping to give them some of their own immunity in case their mother's antibodies are disappearing sooner than the textbook 12 weeks.

Parvo is such a deadly disease in puppies, I would not personally risk my own puppy not being protected as much as possible.

There are a lot of very opinionated people out there about vaccines. Do your own research (especially peer-reviewed articles, not just anecdotal blog articles and comments), talk with your vet(s), and please always remember that correlation does not equal causation.

 

[jesseessej]

@ronnielol Everyone has their own opinions when it comes to vaccines and dogs. Talk with a vet(or a few) and get their opinion(s). Read articles. See if you can talk to other owners that got their pups from the breeder and ask what they did as far as vaccination schedules. Use your best judgement or go with your gut or both.