Congratulations and welcome to YorkieTalk. Through the years, none of my Yorkies had the lepto vaccine. If you decide to give it, you can buy Children's Benadryl for your little boy. You should check with your vet, but you can administer this at home a little while before you go to the vet. You can use this as a guideline for administering the medication, but your vet would know best.

@yorkiemom1, I currently reside in Arkansas. I've made the account when I was visiting my Mom's at Hawaii and just came back couple days ago... Forgot to change it. Haha. But I've decided on not getting Lepto and Corona later. It seems too risky now..

But how do I find out if Lepto is predominate in Arkansas?

@colesmommy01, I only thought rabies were administered at 12 or 16 weeks.. from what I've been seeing online. The vet I've met was saying that he can get the rabies shot next time along with his 2nd dose of puppy DHP. I'm not sure if the vet I went to specialize in small animals... but when I did get there, there were lots of puppies and kittens, as well as birds and such... And since I'm fairly new to this area, I don't know anyone who has pets or know anyone who knows vets around the area.. I've asked my breeder but she doesn't know one where I live.

I've registered for the AKC puppy kindergarten coming up in May 24th. By that time, if he goes by the vet's vaccination plan, he should have his 2nd shot and rabies shot on the May 15th. Will this be too early for him to take the class?

@lisaly, Thank you :) I'm still debating on lepto and corna shots, but I'm leaning more towards not doing it. I'm scared of what kind of reaction he may have.. I'm not that comfortable with administering any kind of medicine even if it's just benadryl... Maybe I'll try to learn that from the vet later lol.. :/

I've provided an excerpt from Science Direct for you to read along with the link where you can read more about the disease(lepto) as you see fit.


"The Americas
The disease is absent from Canada and has been removed from the notifiable diseases list in the USA, where few annual cases occur, randomly related to recreational activities in fresh water. Hawaii is the exception, with an estimated annual incidence of 12.9 per million population."


Again, as I and other have stated, please wait to get rabies at least a month after the last DHPP and as a standalone vaccine. Contact Petsmart and ask them what vaccines are required for their puppy classes and if you can prolong recieving rabies for your puppy. Your vet can give the rabies vaccine with the DHPP but that doesn't mean he/she should. I suggest you wait two weeks after the last DHPP to attend any classes.

Hi and welcome. I live in Arkansas. Can I ask where you are at? What vet are you seeing? Mine did not recommend the lepto shot.

More recent:

Medscape: Medscape Access

@babygirl rosie, Hihi, thank you :) I'm in North Little Rock Area, and the vet I've visited was at North Hills Animals Hospital

@colesmommy01, Thank you for the link. Checking it out now :)

There is an epidemic of highly contageous "canine flu" going around....many states have put in place very strict restrictions on dog parks, puppy classes, boarding facilities, etc....be very careful "socializing" with this flu going around....be very cautious about this....

You are about 4 hours away from me. I was hoping you were closer because my vet is great! However, I would question the lepto. I am thinking its carried by cattle? Does anyone else know? Being in the Littke Rock area I wouldn't think there would be a demand for the need of the lepto vaccine. Anyway, welcome to Arkansas!

When I brought my puppy in for initial puppy check with vet, he also was questioning my breeders vaccination schedule and was wanting to start the vaccinations from scratch stating that unless the vaccinations were administered by a licensed vet, he could not ensure they were done correctly. I thanked him for his concern but respectfully put my foot down as I did not want my puppy over-vaccinated. I had thoroughly vetted and researched my breeder beforehand and trusted her records and ability to administer the vaccines correctly. I asked him to proceed with the recommended vaccination schedule from her age (14 months) onward and he respected my request. He did not recommend Lepto and I requested Bordatella which he agreed would be good as I was planning to take her to regular dog handling classes and dog shows.

@yorkiemom1, I've heard of the canine flu... I'm worried about that too.. I think I'm worried about everything since I became a puppy mom.. lol :/ I'd like to take him outside soon, but it seems I'm stuck for a bit.. :/

@babygirl rosie, aw. if you were close to where I live, I was going to ask if you wanted to have our puppy to have a play date. lol I've contacted the AKC Puppy Kindergarten instructor that I've singed up for and asked about what was going on. He was saying always trust the vet, and apparently the one I've went to was known to be good... I just emailed him asking what he thinks about lepto and corona so I'll be waiting on his response.. :) (still leaning towards not doing it though lol)

@smelcerk, I'm regretting letting him get another *1st* puppy shot.. vet was recommending it and so was vet tech... So I wasn't sure what I was supposed to do... I've only had a dog when i was little and I did not pay attention to the vaccination and what not..

Do you guys think he'll get some kind of reaction later on for repeating those 2 first puppy shots? He seems perfectly fine right now though. I'm calling couple vets asking what they think, but it seems I'm only getting to the receptionists and they are saying its fine, but I'm still paranoid and I'm constantly looking over him to make sure nothing is wrong with him... ugh I feel like I'm being a terrible mom..

If there was no reaction at the time those shots were administered, I'm sure your dog is fine. My Bella's worst reaction was to her first rabies vaccination--she was sleepy for a few hours, but was fully recovered by the next day. I agree with the others--have the rabies shot done on a separate day from the other shots, preferably a couple of weeks separation.

I personally don't think you need to do Benadryl unless the dog has previously had a reaction. Benadryl is for allergic reactions and can be administered intramuscularly along with a steroid if needed for an allergic reaction. I've never in 15 years of owning my yorkies had to administer Benadryl ever. I've done more than core vaccines. However, if the dog had a reaction then that's an issue for future to be discussed. Puppies are not the ones reacting, it's usually to an adult shot except in very small number of cases from what I understand.

But I agree, dump the vet.

My vet chose to break up Gracie's immunizations because she was quite a tiny puppy. We took her in for tech visits to have them done except for the rabies that was done later on when she had gotten a chance to get quite a bit bigger. The vet is required to give the rabies injection anyway.

We chose not to have the additional injections such as for Lyme disease.

There are some vets that are raising concern about the over vaccination of pets. They are looking at titer results and finding that many pets still have antibodies at the appropriate level when they are scheduled to have added immunizations. I'm sure if you google it you can find reading on the subject. It is something every concerned pet owner needs to study and decide what they think is best for their pet. I have titers drawn on Gracie twice a year and will not re-vaccinate until she needs it. Of course, by law she must have the rabies done despite the titer level.

I have spoken to many people who have been advised by vets to repeat vaccinations that were done before the pet was brought to their office. Everyone has to decide about the wisdom of that decision. How much do you trust your breeder or previous owner to give the correct information about previous injections. I know you can't change it now but hopefully others will look into these things ahead of time thanks to your post.

my vet will not give rabies and shots together, yorkies are to small, do them seperate

@pstinard, yeah i think he's ok for now... i haven't really been seeing any kinda reaction from his shot... i'm just worried about his next few ones that's coming up soon..

@107barney, i'm thinking if i really should change the vet or not.. i mean.. even if i do, what then? what will happen to his next shots..? i feel like since he had his 2nd-first set of puppy shot again, he'll just continue as planned.. not sure... :/

@gracielove, yeah, i was wondering why she didn't do the titer test too.. she could have simply done it, just to see how he was.. maybe she was over confident.. i donno... i'll make sure to ask her that later.. i've been reading up on vaccination and titer test, but i'm paranoid since i really don't want to make my puppy sick..

@chestermama, i've been calling around and different vets are giving me different answers.. it seems most of you guys are advising me to give a bit of a break between vaccinations though... this whole vaccination is just feeding my paranoia.. lol... i just want my puppy healthy... :/