All of our previous family dogs only ever had their initial puppy vaccs and then the following booster and that was it. They never went to the vets except for what caused them to die (cancer and pyometra).

But on the other hand, these dogs werent put at the same risk as the ones I own now - they didnt swim in rivers and lakes, they didnt get taken to the kind of places mine do, they didnt come into very close contact with wildlife and they never attended training classes/dog shows etc.

For me, its weighing up these risk factors against the possible effects of dosing dogs up with chemicals and medicines.

Personally I keep mine up to date, but i think it is a personal choice. I will be using kennels next year and they require a up to date vaccination card.

When I had lots of dogs and my own land then I only had the puppy ones done. When I had to rehome my babies I had them all checked over and innoculated as I wanted them to go to their new homes with a clean bill of health and peace of mind for their new owners. It was then left up to them whether they continued to vaccinate.

With Henry I am going to have him done religiously, this is because I walk him all over the place where other, possibly unvaccinated, dogs will have been and I feel that he could be at more risk of picking up some infection than if he was just running on my land.

i think about this alot. daphni is due her boosters.. i dont know whether to do them now and then not bother again, or just do her every 3 years.

i dont think they are needed every year, but i dont know if i could live with something happening because they hadnt had them...

I think I would advise the OP to talk to her vet and ask how long the puppy vaccines are licenced for. After all, if they are liceneced for a minimum of 3 years there`s no point doing them early.
I understood most vets are doing the major ones every 3 years now.
I don`t have my dog boostered.

After I wrote my last comment I remembered my vet speaking with me when I had Hen boostered last year, (I didn't have him as a pup). The vet said that this year he would speak with me about what is needed and that vets were starting to take notice of their customers/vaccine companies and not necessarily vaccinate for everything each year. It will be interesting, come September, what he decides Henry needs in that respect

That's not entirely accurate. Although there are many strains of many types of bacteria and viruses which are not all vaccinated for when the body is exposed to any of them you get an immune response. Similar virus/bacteria tend to be of a similar shape which means, that although the body may not have had an immune response to that particular strain the body remembers similar ones and can deploy quickly the relevant antibodies to combat the disease. So even though they may not be vaccinated for a particular strain, being vaccinated may well assist in combating other strains of similar types of virus/disease.
Becky

No I don't automatically booster, I lost 2 dogs to autoimmune disease ages 4 and 7 years due to vaccination. I also have another lad who died aged 4 years who went down with severe allergies and problems after vaccination that led to his death.
I would never ever want to see another dog suffering so much as my babies did.
All the dogs I have never kept vaccinated regularly have lived good long happy lives with a trip to the vet being a very rare occurrence. My vaccinated ones have practically lived at the vets with problem after problem.

Ours are boostered every year. Like a lot of others on dogsey i am involved with rescue. Would never forgive myself if anything happened through not being vaccinated.

The cats will be done yearly as well

The benefits by far outweigh the consequences...

Since I was at the vets again today I asked the VN if it was possible just to have lepto even if their full boosters were due. All she kept spouting was about their immunity levels needing to be kept topped up but didnt actually answer my question, so i'm still no wiser.

She did say that if dogs get behind with their vaccination routine then if they are vaccinated in the future, the whole thing will have to be started from scratch, just as if they were puppies.