The following vaccine protocol is offered for those dogs where minimal vaccinations are advisable or desirable. The schedule is one I recommend and should not be interpreted to mean that other protocols recommended by a veterinarian would be less satisfactory. It’s a matter of professional judgment and choice.


9 – 10 weeks of age

Distemper + Parvovirus, MLV
e.g. Merck Nobivac (Intervet Progard) Puppy DPV

14 – 15 weeks of age
Distemper + Parvovirus, MLV

18 weeks of age
Parvovirus only, MLV
Note: New research states that last puppy parvovirus vaccine should be at 18 weeks old.

20 weeks or older, if allowable by law
Rabies – give 3-4 weeks apart from other vaccines
Mercury-free (thimerosol-free, TF)

1 year old
Distemper + Parvovirus, MLV
This is an optional booster or titer. If the client intends not to booster after this optional booster or intends to retest titers in another three years, this optional booster at puberty is wise.

1 year old
Rabies – give 3-4 weeks apart from other vaccines
3-year product if allowable by law; mercury-free (TF)

Perform vaccine antibody titers for distemper and parvovirus every three years thereafter, or more often, if desired. Vaccinate for rabies virus according to the law, except where circumstances indicate that a written waiver needs to be obtained from the primary care veterinarian. In that case, a rabies antibody titer can also be performed to accompany the waiver request. Visit The Rabies Challenge Fund for more information.

W. Jean Dodds, DVM
Hemopet / NutriScan
11561 Salinaz Avenue
Garden Grove, CA 92843

28 responses to “Dr. Jean Dodds – Dog Vaccine Protocol”

  1. […] Inoculations are a very important part of a puppy’s health.  They protect our canine loved ones from several potentially fatal illnesses.  But as important as it is that our dogs are inoculated, it’s equally important that it’s done in such a way as to not overwhelm the immune system of the puppy.  Normal Havanese inoculation protocol is for your puppy to receive their first Distemper/Parvo (DHPP) shot at 8-10 weeks of age, the second at 12-14 weeks of age, and the final one at 16-18 weeks of age.  Due to high instances of adverse reactions in the breed,  the Leptospirosis vaccine is not recommended for Havanese unless your puppy is in a high risk area or environment.  If your vet does deem it necessary, the leptospirosis shot should be administered separately from any other inoculations to minimize the stress on your puppy’s system.   The rabies shot should be given 3-4 weeks apart from any other vaccines, at around 18 weeks of age.  After one year, a DHPP booster should be given, and rabies 3-4 weeks later.  It is strongly recommended that titers be drawn every three years after that to determine whether further inoculations are necessary, when allowed by law.  This ensures that your dog is not over inoculated, which research is showing might be a contributing factor to life threatening conditions such as cancers and auto-immune diseases.  If you’d like more information, this is a great website. […]

  2. Melanie Bell says:

    I find this global minimalistic approach to vaccination somewhat scary. We are in a rural area with endemic lymes disease. Web crawlers are willing to take your recommendations over their local vets because you are an “expert” in vaccinations. Where are your credentials that make you this expert. Disclaimers for following the veterinary recommendations in a clients area are small and meaningless to a client. I feel you are not helping protect pets throughout the United States with these protocols. Unfortunately when dogs contract lyme or lepto it won’t be you they are mad at, it will be us.

    • Susan D says:

      And an epidemic of Lyme’s has what to do with her vaccination protocol??? Absolutely nothing, you don’t vaccinate to prevent Lyme’s. Oral or topical preventatives or collars like Soresto what help prevent Lyme Disease. There are also holistic approaches like essential oils that prevent tick bites.

      • Christine says:

        Essential oils on pets? Despite the current beliefs carried on by dotters they are not safe for your pets.
        I m a herbalist and a aromatherapy essential oil professional. These are not to be used on animals without the consultation of a vet who is well versed in essential oils. A dogs olefactory system is 300 times stronger than ours and can be easily irritated by such concentrates. As for Lyme disease, you can treat your dogs area with beneficial nematodes. We are rural and ticks are a part of life. Treat your yard, not the pet. Hope this helps you.

        • Hello, Christine. As you noted, yes, there are veterinarians who are well-versed in Essential Oils. One is Dr. Melissa Sheldon, DVM, who is a practicing veterinarian in Minnesota, but who has a website http://www.animaleos.info. Some people will not find an oil-aware veterinarian in their area, so Dr. Sheldon is an online practitioner who makes all of her own oils. I have used them with great success on my furbabies. – Pam

    • Kathie N says:

      Before you criticize I would suggest you do your homework and research. Dr. Dodd’s protocol has been accepted by the 27 top veterinary schools in the USA.I think may qualify her as an expert on vaccinating our pets. Lyme is not a standard vaccination. I also live in a “ground zero” area for deer ticks however my pup has become deathly ill with the vaccine…so the next year they gave Benedryl before giving the 2 step Lyme. It helped some with the symptoms however he has developed a big lump at the injection site. We won’t be giving the lLymes vaccine again, but that is my PERSONAL choice. As far as Lepto goes my dog is walked on a leash, our yard does not have standing water with rodent droppings therefore my pup will not be getting that vaccine. Pet owners need to take responsibility and research what they do or do not do for their pets and then make an INFORMED decision. If they fail to do that they have no one to blame but themselves.

    • JC says:

      I would urge you to research more before you call some of the leading immunologists in animal vaccinations phony or internet web crawlers. Dr. Dodds & Dr. Schultz are very well respected in the vaccination community. And if you would read a lot of their work and findings you would find many vets are over vaccinating our animals. My own vet is 100% on board with my chosen vaccine protocol and my choices for my puppy. Actually commented that she is glad I’ve spent time researching. I think you’d be surprised to find what these immunologists actually choose to do with their own animals.

    • Judy says:

      You really need to do your research before writing such an email. Sadly MOST V VETS do not care about vaccinosis and will even deny it is the vaccine that has caused the reaction.
      If you did your research you would find vaccines such as Lyme are pretty worthless and efficacy is very low. Vets get their vaccine information from- the DRUG companies that never did ANY studies to see how long their vaccines lasted! It took Jean Dodds and other GREAT CARING vets to have AVMA change their feline vaccine protocol. Sadly I think you have a false sense of security thinking that your pet is protected against disease such as lyme because they are vaccinated. You also could be doing more harm than good! You need to take responsibility for your pets and do your own research before you blindly follow the advice of a vet – I worked in the veterinary field for years and their continuing education is a joke. Some take advantage of it and some just go to get the time in. Most do not study a lot about vaccines!

  3. Sarah Dean says:

    Our puppy reacted badly to the current puppy vaccination programme. He was very poorly for 48hours after his 8wk injections. Then had an adverse reaction to the 12wk vaccine.Three weeks later he was admitted to a specialist vetenary unit & diagnosed with Steroid Responsive Meningitis. He fought hard for the last year, but finally passed away in the new year. We’ve been heartbroken. His immune system was unable to cope. Even after losing him in this way I am not anti immunization. However, we are over innocolating our pets. Basically practices & drug companies are making to much money to want to put an end to this. Thank you Dr Dodd. We need more professionals like Dr Dodd to speak out. My dog’s case has not been recorded as an instance of adverse reaction, because the vet practise came up with a whole host of other reasons why he fell ill. How many others like me are out there, trying to do the right thing by their pets, and finding out the truth about over innocolating their pets too late!

  4. christine Manzella says:

    i received this email todayfrom a well known rescue after i applied to adopt one of their dogs. can anyone give me their thoughts on this? ty

    Thank you for your recent interest in one of our Dogs. Our team of volunteers has reviewed the information you submitted. In processing your application, we were unable to verify that your dogs were kept up to date on all core vaccinations.

    We hold all of our applicants to the same standard, and unfortunately, we won’t be able to approve your application. TracysDogs, like most every other rescue, works hard to find the best possible fit for our dogs. The evaluation criteria varies from rescue to rescue and therefore, this decision is not a reflection of the applicant(s) as a pet owner.

    We wish you all the best in your search for a new family member.

    I asked what their “core” vaccinations are and this was their reply:

    Hi Christine,

    We consider vaccines for canine parvovirus, distemper, canine hepatitis, and rabies to be core vaccines in addition to anything else your vet recommends for your area or specific dog. We don’t require non-core vaccines, like bordatella and lepto, as they are given depending on the dog’s exposure risk.

    A TITER test doesn’t check to see if the animal has been vaccinated. Having an antibody “titer” (above a certain arbitrary level) only means that the dog was exposed. In most diseases, the antibody titer level that correlates with protection hasn’t been established. It could be natural infection or vaccination. In our opinion, it is irresponsible to rely on such a test as a reason to not vaccinate because the science doesn’t support it. Additionally, having non-vaccinated dogs around other dogs poses a risk to all of them, especially rescue dogs that have compromised immune systems from neglect and malnourishment. If in your rescue work you have not seen sickness and death that is completely preventable by vaccination, you are lucky. I encourage you to go to our YouTube channel and watch videos of some of the dogs we have lost to distemper. It is absolutely horrific and tragic. And completely preventable. It is why we’re very serious about vaccinations. Over vaccination is not an issue. We’ve not lost one single dog to being over-vaccinated.

    You have every right not to vaccinate your dogs, just as we have every right not to adopt to you (or anyone else who won’t provide the care we require). Not all rescues or shelters have this requirement, so you’ll likely be able to adopt from another organization.

    We appreciate your interest in our rescue and wish you the best of luck.

    • Kittie Deemer says:

      The first statement that raised suspicion is the ” Our team of volunteers has reviewed the information you submitted.” Nowhere is a veterinarian, or an expert in either vaccination protocol or titer protocol been cited. I would categorize this rescue as “fake”.

      Best regards,
      Kittie

  5. Nancy Schanda says:

    I’ve heard of folks asking for special rabies vaccines that do not have mercury? Is this a thing? Is there anything we should be careful about? Time for my 7 yr old sheltie to have a rabies vaccination and I’m a little nervous.

  6. Olena Bocmanov says:

    Hello, I have 11 weeks old puppy that came from breeder to me yesterday. Puppy was given 5 way puppy vaccine at 6 and 9 weeks old.
    When and what vaccine should be next?
    Thank you

  7. Doreen says:

    I would like to follow your protocol for dog vaccinations. The breeder did give first DHPP to litter at 7 weeks. Would you suggest giving again at 9, 14 and 18 weeks for a set of 4 vaccinations or just at 9 and 14 for a set of three vaccinations. Your expertise woudl be appreciated. Thank you.

  8. Diana Scoccia says:

    Many heartfelt thanks to Dr. Dodds for her continued efforts to shed a proper light on over vaccinations. I have also personally witnessed what over vaccinations have done both to my cats, who were given every shot in the book at once. Both cats got an inexplicable sniffling problem within a month or so. The one cat had bloody sniffles her whole life and got diabetes even though she was thin her whole life. In cats diabetes is an autoimmune disease. My GSD was forced at 11 to have the rabies shot in order to travel by air to AK. He had only been in recovery from allergies for a couple of months. Within a couple months or so of receiving the rabies vaccination he developed both cancer and DM!! He was a very young 11 year old before the vaccine, with the energy and playfulness of a young dog. I will
    never get over that loss. Anyone with any sense knows you don’t vaccinate a dog with allergies, especially a GSD at 11. This is all about making money and not the
    true welfare of our beloved pets.

  9. Anita says:

    Hello – I’m looking for an answer please. Vet called and said both my 2.5y old cavaliers are due for distemper/parvo vaccine which will be for 3 yrs.
    is this part of Dr Dodd’s protocol or should I skip this?
    They are kept in backyard in suburbs for quick bouts out.
    Then in as they wish. They are leash walked.

    Not sure what to do. Thanks –

    • I would google Dr. Dodds protocols; this is not her site.
      We suggest that you order titers on each dog. If the titers show they are adequately covered, you can then research if you need to get the shots or not.

  10. Tamara Ryker says:

    If I gave my puppy her first vaccines at 8 & 12 weeks and now realize that may have been a bit too soon, do I need another distemper/Parvo, MLV?

  11. Annie Pettit says:

    Jean Dodds graduated veterinary college but has never held a veterinary license. California Veterinary Medical Board fined her for practicing veterinary medicine without a license in 2021.

  12. cyndi perry says:

    We are trying to follow you protocol with 4 golden pups of the same litter. However we are having great difficulty from a Vet who will administer ONLY the Distemper & Parvovirus. Do you know of Vets in the Northern Virginia Area who carry the 2-way. All offices we have contacted carry only the 5-way DHPP. If no offices carry it where can I purchase to give the vaccinations myself?

    • Unfortunately, we are located in Southern California and serve the Southern California pet community through our non-profit and are not aware of resources in you area.
      I would check with Allivet, Jeffers Pet and sources like that where people buy pet medications online, being very careful to find a credible source.

  13. Jennifer Morales says:

    does anyone have any information on rabies and what to do when a previously vaccinated 6 year old dog was bit by a rabid raccoon? i called every vet in town and half say he will be fine, half want to give him another shot. please advise, im so afraid for my baby

  14. Bonnie Richards says:

    Dr. Dobbs absolutely saved my cocker boy Maxx’s life and gave him 6 more years of quality life after I was considering euthanizing him!!!! Now I absolutely adhere to her protocol and make the best possible decisions for each individual dog that I breed and raise. Non essential vaccines like Lyme are made for each individual dog that I own. That means Dog A may get the Lyme vaccine and Dog B may never get it. My decision, my choice and my dog. My vet dosen’t always agree with me but respects my choices.
    Thank you Dr. Dobbs and all of her staff for your care of all our pets. I know Maxx loves you all. Rest in peace buddy

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