03/05/2026
Since I'm in an educating mood let's talk about another controversial subject in the animal world: vaccines. Most vets recommend yearly or every 3 year vaccines after puppy vaccines but science and research says in most dogs that's not necessary. Over vaccinating can lead to health issues like organ issues or allergies and after puppy round of vaccines most dogs will carry antibodies for protection for the rest of their lives. Titer testing, or antibody testing, is an easy blood test to show vaccine protection and is fairly inexpensive costing as little as $31 for a single virus test up to $60 for a dual distemper/parvo test (plus the cost of a tech appt and a blood draw) and done at the UW Madison vet school CAVIDs lab. Most vets don't talk about or offer titer testing and if you ask for it some will charge an astronomical amount to do them because they'd rather vaccinate. Standard vaccine protocols are out of date and titer testing should be the new standard. I'll use my recent experience with my own personal dogs as evidence.
Paisley - Will be 6 in May. Hasn't had a vaccine outside of rabies since her 1 year puppy boosters. Her recent titer test showed heavy protection for both distemper and parvo, despite not having a booster in almost 5 years and passing immunity to 3 litters of puppies.
Logan - Turned 3 in Feb. Hasn't had a vaccine outside of rabies since his puppy round of shots (no 1 yr booster). His titer test also revealed significant protection against both distemper and parvo, even despite not boostering at 1 year, which is common practice.
Ace - Turns 2 at the end of March. Hasn't had a vaccine outside of rabies since Dec 2024 and was not given 1 yr boosters. His titer test revealed significant protection from parvo and while a lower value he still has good protection against distemper. Due to the lower protection for distemper I will run another titer in about a year and a half to make sure he's still protected. If needed at that time I'll booster his vaccine.
Dusty - Turned 5 in Feb. Had his distemper and parvo vaccine in 2024. Has not had a vaccine outside of rabies since coming here to use for competitions. His titer revealed lower numbers but still a decent level of protection.
When I talk about advocating for your pet and their health this is what I mean. While some of my dogs wouldn't necessarily be ready for a 3 yr booster, neither Logan or Ace even had their puppy vaccines boostered and both are still protected. Don't get this message twisted, I am not anti vaccination, vaccines work and it's important to protect our pets, but over vaccinating is not healthy and unnecessary. You can find more info through the UW Madison vet school CAVIDs website if you're interested in titer testing your pets in the future.
https://www.vetmed.wisc.edu/lab/cavids/