Mini perhaps I have not thought them through, apologies for you taking offence. When I say things like 'most people' I don't mean a single person on Dogsey. I mean the people in the street. People I have spoken to. One out of 50 I can have a conversation with about natural alternatives, or people who are interested in diet. I meet lots of new people, so from my experiences, the majority don't know about vaccines, and would be shocked if I mentioned it. The same with food, most people, outside of Dogsey, do not seem to know, in my opinion, that human food is not toxic (to dogs), or what actually goes into most dog foods, or WHY pedigree chum is the TOP name brand.

Jess...I'm still waiting for evidence.


I have to admit to being concerned that you say you speak to many people that don't know anything....until you tell them. That concerns me greatly.

In jess's defence,,, as she does training as I do, I must admit that the biggest % of people who come training,,,dont know what most on hear would call basic dog care,

but against jess, I would be struggling to come up with the statement that 1 in 50 may be informed about vac's
the reason being, the people who come training dont really go into this, its more they dont know how to deal with the every day stuff, like toilet training, play bite, mouthing, chewing the house up, that sort of stuff, If you know what I mean, I would say these are the highest % of the issues they ask me about, the next highest would be feeding, hyper dogs on high value foods with little exercise is my biggest problem to be honest, so I would say the % of people that dont know what goes into food and how it affects you dog is far higher than vac discussions, ...........................runs

Just been speaking to my friend from Wellcome (I used to work there).
Just refreshing my memory for and against as it has been a while since I had to argue the case.

She reminded me why I don't tell most people NOT to vaccinate, and indeed I don't as it is a headache.

Can I be clear that I think people should know that there are risks and ONLY healthy dogs should be vaccinated, therefore if a dog is suffering an autoimmune disease it should not be done - by the manufacturers own recommendations (unfortunatly neglected by most vets)
but I am stating once and for all that I believe the general public should vaccinate pups.
Where educated indiviudals feel differently, it is up to them to know the facts, and to make a desicion based upon them, until such a time as the choice is taken away.

Jess I hope you don't talk down to the members of your training class like you do on this forum. Sorry but I find your tone extremely patronising. I made an educated and informed choice in having all of my dogs vaccinated, past and present as pups. I know the risks, but I also feel I know the greater risk in not having it done. You still keep saying the General Public we, you ,I, everyone is the general public, no better or worse than anyone else.

Can I ask do you have your dogs insured ???? I just wondered if you can insure them if they are unvaccinated?

What bit was patronsing?
Do you not find that the people you meet don't generally know about the great vaccine debate?

M&S I believe insure you but not against the illnesses that you are not vaccinating against, which makes sense.

Jess your tone is patronising I agree with Moonstone totally on that one.

'Educated people' have a choice????

I am STILL waiting by the way.

I suspect you cannot post any evidence at all which suggests that not giving puppy vaccines is a safer and healthier option for puppies (as I've said 8 million times...this isn't about boosters and older dogs...just puppies).

I am still waiting, but I suspect i will be waiting for a very long time.

Also as I think I have said a million times, puppy shots are recommended, unless you feel, through your 'education' (is that a bad word?) that the risk to vaccinate is greater.

I couldn't agree more! I have put myself through hell over these very issues ... all of them!

The Great Vaccine Debate ... can't remember if I commented on this, so apols. if I am repeating myself.

With Hal, he had all his puppy vaccinations and then his annual boosters up to and including his 3rd year, and then that was it, we stopped completely. I was wracked with guilt about this decision on occasions, mainly because living in the country we are surrounded by foxes and badgers and the risk of lepto and TB was presumably therefore quite high.

However, being a northern breed mix ... husky, mal etc. ... I decided that the risk of anaphylactic shock was far greater. The lady who bred Hal lost several of her husky and mal crosses and GSDs to anaphylactic shock following annual vaccinations, and so did several of her clients. Her advice to me was to follow my conscience, but if I did go down the vaccination route, then to wait in the waiting room at the vets for a couple of hours following the vaccination and to keep a very close eye on him, just in case. This I did. She agreed with my theory that vaccinating him for 3 years was giving his immune system a jolly good kick up the ****, such that if he picked up something nasty, it would be recognised and dealt with smartly.

I will never know whether I made the right decision or not, but when another Hal weedles his way into our hearts and home, I think I will follow the same procedure again.