I want to enroll Nanook in classes and take him hiking and go to the dog park but the vets keeps telling me no. I guess Parvo is really bad right now and she wants me to wait for as long as I can. I thought after 3 of his puppy shots we had the clear to go :-( I was all excited, went in for his 3rd and she says to wait. By the time we can go it will be to hot ( PHX) and we will have to wait until Sept to do anything outside...I am just complaining..we just picked the wrong time of the year to get a puppy LOL
The vet is really adamant about not going into pet stores with him, is that a bad place??

One of the highest places to contract Parvo is places like Petsmart/Petco, if you take him in places like that don't let him walk on the floor- If your area is having a parvovirus outbreak it is best to keep your dog out of the places of most risk, that is places where there is a lot of dog traffic- Petstores, dogparks, and training facilities. There have been a number of Parvo outbreaks this past year where dogs that were UTD on vaccines were still contracting the disease, so keep your pup safe. You can still go outside with your dog in the summer, just choose early am or later pm when the temps are slightly cooler and limit the time if you have to and ensure access to clean cool water. I raised 2 Siberians in Phoenix, summer can be difficult but not impossible.

Believe me it's better to be safe than sorry. Luna got her 3rd Parvo shot and then got sick, when I took her into the vet she said Luna may have contracted Parvo even with her shots because her body hadn't built up the tolerance yet. Luckily it was not bad and she recovered just fine. But I do feel for your impatience!!

We go for walks around the block and to my moms house so we do get out, I just want to get out more often and in more places Of course I want to do what is best for him so we will ot go against the Vets orders...I just want to do it all now. How in the world am I suppose to socialize him if we cant go anywhere darnit!
Make sense about the pet stores when you put it that way.

I'm having the same issue. Especially since I want our pup to be my PSD, we REALLY need to socialize him. But, we don't have anyone with dogs or children that we know around here! So we're at a loss of how to do it.

Our vet also told us the same thing.

Apparently the new Parvo strain can still hit dogs that are UTD on shots--and some dogs don't even respond to the immunization.

This is another question in this area. Would it be possible to have the vet do titer test? Or does immunity wane until the final booster?

Immunity isn't technically built up until after the final booster, which is why you have to do the whole series. I believe it's 3 months after the last for the best results? May be 6 months after I forget.

I think you can still titer test for immunity up to two weeks after the vaccine. I'm fairly certain, but not 100%. Maybe you could google up Jean Dodds' website and see what they say? I know that her company, Hemopet, does (cheap!!) titers, so I'm sure you could call them and ask questions too.

I kinda wonder about the whole "oh no, wait until the last booster!!!!" thing. I'm not knocking it, but just wondering about it. There's so many different vets out there that have different protocols, how can you know that the last booster is the magic amount for immunity? The vet I work at does 4 boosters on puppies, the vet that I took Ava to as a puppy did 3 boosters on puppies, the vet that teaches at my school does boosters until the puppy turns 16 weeks old, and I think there's a program out there to only do 2 boosters on puppies. I've even seen some puppies at work get as many as 5 boosters, or if they're starting their shots at 6 months old, they only get 2. Which one of those last boosters is the right one for protection? If I was dealing with puppy boosters, I'd definitely look into getting a titer done to see what the puppy's blood could tell.

http://drjeandoddspethealthresource.tumblr.com/post/34024828409/dodds-canine-vaccination-protocol-2012


You can ask her specific questions at the bottom of the page.