Schoor- in what way was your puppy sick? Vaccine reactions ARE preventable. The vet can pre-treat with an antihistamine and steroid, administer only one vaccine (not the same as one shot) per visit, and not give her the lepto vaccine if it is not a problem in your area. Distemper and parvo are much worse than vaccine reactions, and not being near other dogs is NOT going to protect her! Parvo lives quite well outside by itself. Maybe not through a harsh Canada winter, but certainly all summer. She probably won't need another distemper or parvo vaccine for several years. I get titers for my dogs and will vaccinate if the level is too low, but not before. You should check on the rabies vaccine in your province. I'm not aware of the rabies laws in Canada. But most places are doing a one year rabies first time, then every 3 years after that. Two2go: ask the vet if the type of Lepto found in your area is included in the Lepto vaccine. In many cases, it is not. And getting vaccinated for the other types will NOT protect your dog if she gets exposed to the Lepto that is found in your area. CNVH: my titers for distemper/parvo vaccine cost about $80. My vet uses Antech diagnostic lab, which is very reliable. I was not aware of any in-house vaccine test kits. There is a test kit for parvo, but that is to detect the virus in the feces of sick dogs, not for vaccine status. GWA- I wouldn't call the vaccine titers "concrete" evidence of protection. We don't know at what antibody level every dog would be protected. We do know that antibody levels and protection do not always correlate; in some cases an undectable antibody level is still protective and in others a sky-high titer doesn't help. That's because of innate immunity, the variation in immune response from individual to individual, and a host of other issues. Titers can be used as a guide, but there is still risk of under and over vaccinating. Here is a link that might be useful: Lepto info

Nothing in life is black and white, but we see what we experience, I suppose, and after seeing my children struggle, that's all the proof I need. My job is to protect my child, not to worry about herd immunity. FWIW, my children are rarely ill. My friends who fully vaccinate without even reading the inserts or let their children have shots while ill? Sick monthly. Our bodies are made to handle a lot more than we let them, and we're killing those natural responses. In the end, I just hope that people can respect others' choices and realize that we each have to put our own children first. What I saw happen to my children trumps any 'scientific' proof because no one can yet say what causes autism. (And I do wonder, too, what about meds during pregnancy...ultrasounds, etc. Great point!) If you want to read more, read about the national vaccine court awards. They've continually given away money to families with medical proof that vaccines have critically injuried their children. One of my friends lost her child to seizures immediately following a vaccine...a vaccine whose insert said that a side-effect is seizures. Another friend's child is brain damaged and in diapers in her 20's. No matter what the good side of vaccines may be, the fact is that there are side-effects, and we have a right to protect our child from being one. They are not acceptable losses to protect herd immunity. I hope it never happens to anyone here, but if it did, it sure would make you think differently, I guarantee. Most people survive measles, but autism, brain damage and death...they're pretty permanent. Have a good day.

I don't know but what I did read (true or not I'll let the medical field scientists fight it out) is that shingles is on the rise BECAUSE children are being vaccinated against chicken pox. We used to walk through malls, grocery stores etc coming across children who had chicken pox but weren't showing yet and so we were constantly being exposed to chicken pox. Through that we were picking up the "live" vaccine and so being constantly immunized through out our lives. That is no longer happening because kids are no longer getting the chicken pox. It could also be the shingles is on the rise because of our aging population or it could be a combination of the two factors. I have 3 friends all in their late 50's who have had shingles in the past 3 years but people has young as 30 are getting it.

@terezosa / terriks we got our shots at walgreens. They were on top of it - but there was some kind of computer glitch. I had to set up appointments for each of us using a seperate email address. I got my confirmation and then cancellation - about 4 times. LOL The Mr got confirmations and no cancellations. I called the store and they were SO nice. Told me to come on in with him. Which I did, no problems. And, I still have confirmation of my second appointment. It never cancelled that one. (You scheduled 1st and 2nd appt. at the same time.)