The low down on vaccinations

What you need to know about vaccinating your dog.

Who has the cutest puppy? Picture: Contributed

Question - Can you explain the vaccination schedule for my dog?

Answer - Every area will require a different approach to vaccination, based on the risk of disease.

All I can suggest is the policy we follow, based on the protocol suggested by the Australian Veterinary Association.

Puppies inherit a level of passive immunity from their mothers, which begins to decline from approximately six weeks old but may protect pups up to 12 weeks.

Vaccinations usually begin from six to eight weeks, ideally eight weeks and continue every month to 16 weeks old.

The only sure way of knowing if your pup has developed an immunity from the vaccine is to test it.

This is rarely done because it significantly increases the cost of treatment.

Practically, if a pup is vaccinated at eight weeks, 12 weeks and 16 weeks, it will develop an effective immunity to the dread dog diseases parvovirus, distemper and infectious canine hepatitis.

The only other concern in our area would be canine contagious cough or kennel cough.

Unfortunately many people wrongly believe this infection will only occur with kennelling, this is not the case at all.

Humans often serve as a source of infection to our pets.

We encounter thousands of people directly or indirectly and are able to pick up and carry infections back to our pets.

Vaccination is a cheap and effective way of insuring your pet remains protected.

Finally, annual re-evaluation of your pet's vaccine status by a veterinarian remains one of the most effective tools to keeping your dog healthy.

Your veterinarian will advise you of the safest protocol to follow.