A very nice woman came into the shop the other day and we had a lovely time talking dogs. She has two – a young, little energetic fellow and a 15-year-old Dachshund named Sammy. Her objective that day was to find a harness for her young dog, so we were having a good time discussing his personality, habits, training, etc.
It turned out that Linda was the “aunt” of a Boston Terrier we’d known since the day his family brought him home – Frankie was a wonderful model for us. So, as dog people do, we started talking about all the things that go along with having dogs.
The world is a very small place – Linda’s veterinarian was the same one we’d been referred to when Golly was a puppy and had a congenital heart defect. Dr. Johnson recently retired and sold his practice. Linda hasn’t been very happy with the new veterinarians.
She told me that she and Dr. Johnson had reached consensus with her little old Sammy – they would treat whatever symptoms he had with medications. Sammy is okay for a 15-year-old Dachshund – he eats, he sleeps, he cuddles and he’s happy. He has some senior dog health issues, and they think he may have a liver problem, but they’re not going to harass him with tests and biopsies. As long as he’s happy.
The new vets apparently want to take blood tests every quarter. They want to see Sammy for regular exams. And Linda’s really not interested in that. She says Sammy doesn’t need the stress of going to the vet, or being stuck with needles.
And then Linda said, “I’ll just take him for his rabies shot.”
I asked “Why?”
At this point, why would you vaccinate Sammy? What chance is there that Sammy will be bitten by a wild animal? Or that he’ll bite someone else? And after 15 years of religiously getting the vaccination, odds are strongly in favor of Sammy having long-lasting protection from rabies.
We’re not anti-vaccine. Our dogs are up-to-date on vaccines to participate in our dog classes and sports. But we don’t vaccinate automatically – we try to put some thought into it!
When we get a new puppy, we separate out the “regular” vaccines as much as possible. If a dog does have a reaction, we know what caused it. It’s a bit inconvenient to go to the vet every couple of weeks, but we think it’s worth it.
As our dogs grow up, we still separate vaccines. We have small dogs. We don’t want to overwhelm their bodies. And we want to keep them safe.
Many of our friends subscribe to the minimal vaccination protocol developed by veterinarian Dr. Jean Dodds. Here’s a link if you want to take a look at it: https://goo.gl/24NffT
We want you to think and decide what’s best for your dog. As consumers, we’re entitled to ask questions and explore options. If any pet professional doesn’t listen to your concerns – it may be time to take your concerns elsewhere.