There are a number of health concerns with new puppies. Be sure you feed your puppy dog food formulated for puppies for their first full year. Do not take a puppy to a dog day care or dog park until it has had all of its 16 week vaccination as shown below. All puppies should be checked for worms at least once. And we often recommend testing them twice. Bring a fecal sample to your vaccination appointments for a quick test for parasites. Fecal samples should be less than two hours old or refrigerated.

If you are not planning on breeding your puppy you should plan to have him or her spayed or neutered at about five to six months of age. Studies have shown spaying your female dog prior to its first heat cuts its chances of developing mammary tumors by ninety percent! If your puppy does have its first heat prior to being spayed, spaying still drastically reduces the possibility of mammary tumors. Remember that it is best NOT to spay your dog while she is in heat. Neutering a male at an early age reduces his chance of developing prostatic hypertrophy, as well as helps reduce or eliminate marking, aggressiveness and running away.

You should keep your puppy protected from heartworms after 8 weeks of age. We will give you a free heart worm pill (good for one month of protection) on your first puppy visit.

Vaccine	8 weeks	12 weeks	16 weeks	1 year
DHLPPCVK	X	X	X	X
Rabies			X	X
Bordetella (injected)		X
Bordetella (Nasal)		X		X
Lymes		X	X	X

The DHLPPCVK covers Canine Distemper, Adenovirus Type 2, Leptosporosis, Parainfluenza, Parvovirus and Coronavirus, and can be given as early as six weeks, with boosters given four weeks and eight weeks after.

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