04/25/2026
Now that puppies from my most recent litter have started heading to their new homes, I wanted to share something that’s come up a lot lately in conversations with both buyers and other breeders.
I’ve had a few people say their vet or friends were skeptical about using a nomograph to guide vaccine timing, and in some cases were told there’s no research to back it up. I know that can make it hard to advocate for, so I wanted to put everything in one place so you can look at the information yourself and have real references if you ever need them.
For anyone new to it, a nomograph is based on a blood test done on the mother. It measures her antibody levels, and from that, a lab can predict when her puppies’ maternal antibodies will drop low enough for vaccines actually to work.
The standard puppy vaccine schedule (every 3–4 weeks) is built to cover a wide range of puppies. It’s based on averages, not individuals. The issue is maternal antibodies. They protect puppies early on, but if levels remain high, they can prevent the vaccine from doing its job.
That’s why you can have a puppy that’s been vaccinated but isn’t actually immunized yet. It’s not that the vaccine failed; it’s that the puppy’s body never responded to it.
On the other hand, if you wait too long, there’s a window when maternal protection has worn off, but the puppy hasn’t been successfully immunized yet.
A nomograph helps narrow that window. It’s not perfect, but it removes a lot of the guesswork.
One of the practical benefits of more precise vaccine timing is that it can make early socialization feel more intentional. When you have a clearer understanding of immune timing, it reduces some of the uncertainty around safe exposure during that critical early period.
If you’re talking to someone who wants to see actual data, here are some solid resources:
The 2020 study out of the University of Wisconsin followed hundreds of puppies and showed improved immunization success when using a nomograph-guided schedule compared to standard timing:
https://www.vetmed.wisc.edu/lab/wp-content/uploads/sites/12/2020/11/Larson-Clinical-Theriogenology-Official-Journal-of-Society-for-Theriogenology-Volume-12-Number-3-September-2020-215-221.pdf
The University of Wisconsin–Madison CAVIDS lab is the group doing this testing and publishing the research. Their site explains how it works and where the limitations are:
https://www.vetmed.wisc.edu/lab/cavids/canine-nomograph-what-is-it/
CAVIDS Links and References:
This is the CAVIDS lab’s reference page with their published research, conference papers, and additional supporting material:
https://www.vetmed.wisc.edu/lab/cavids/links/
WSAVA vaccination guidelines, which are used globally, state that maternal antibody interference is the most common reason vaccines fail in puppies:
https://wsava.org/global-guidelines/vaccination-guidelines/
AAHA guidelines used across the U.S. also emphasize how important timing is in relation to maternal antibody decline:
https://www.aaha.org/resources/2022-aaha-canine-vaccination-guidelines/
If you’d rather listen to it explained, these are worth watching:
Dr. Laurie Larson (UW–Madison) goes through the study and results:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fpA1y0dunvA
CAVIDS: Nomograph and Puppy Follow-up Technical Presentation
This is a more in-depth video from Dr. Laurie Larson where she walks through the actual data from their studies, including how they track puppy immunity after nomograph-timed vaccines:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Yv8MiMFp_E2tzw1Vfk0FIiORs_DoU3d6/view?usp=sharing
Dr. Ronald Schultz explains why vaccination doesn’t always equal immunization:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N9hXKeX1Axc
Dr. Jean Dodds talks about individualized vaccine protocols:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iJzQegwSupo
And this one is a simple visual of how maternal antibodies fade:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f0n8fX9shXo
Nomograph testing is a tool that I’ve chosen to use because I want to be as confident as possible that when I say a puppy is protected, they actually are.
I am not against standard protocols when appropriate. Those schedules exist for a reason and have protected many dogs. This is just about using the tools we have now to be more precise when we can.
I’ll also be running follow-up titers on puppies from this litter and will share those results once they’re back for anyone who wants to follow along and see how everything lines up. I’m also happy to answer questions on the logistics of this if anyone is interested in running titers or nomographs on their own dogs.
If you’ve run into pushback on this, hopefully this gives you something concrete to point to. And I’m always happy to answer questions about how this applied to my current or previous litters.
