Educational template only. Your veterinarian should approve timing, products, and what you give versus what the buyer’s vet will complete after go-home.
Choose a birth date to generate dates.
How a typical puppy vaccination timeline works
Puppies are born with maternal antibodies from the dam that fade gradually over the first weeks of life. Those antibodies protect young puppies but can also interfere with vaccines, which is why core vaccinations are given as a series rather than a single shot: a first combination vaccine commonly lands between six and eight weeks of age, with boosters every two to four weeks until around sixteen weeks. Deworming typically starts around two weeks of age and repeats on a regular cadence through go-home.
The exact products, start age, and intervals are your veterinarian’s call—local disease pressure, especially parvovirus, changes what protocol makes sense for your kennel. What a template like this one does is turn whichever protocol your vet approves into concrete calendar dates you can act on and share.
What the breeder handles versus the buyer’s vet
In a standard eight-week go-home, the breeder is usually responsible for the first vaccine in the series, the early rounds of deworming, and a vet examination shortly before pickup. The remaining boosters—typically two or three more visits—are completed by the buyer’s veterinarian after go-home. Spelling out that handoff in writing prevents the most common new-owner mistake: assuming a puppy that has had “its shots” is fully vaccinated and taking it to high-traffic public places too early.
Include the schedule of remaining boosters in your go-home folder and reference it in your contract’s health section, so every buyer leaves knowing exactly which appointments they still owe their puppy.
The records buyers and vets expect to see
For every vaccine and deworming, record the date given, the product name, and ideally the lot number and who administered it. Receiving vets take a breeder’s records far more seriously when they look like medical records rather than a handwritten note, and some states require documented vaccination history for sold puppies.
Keeping those records per puppy—not just per litter—matters once puppies go home on different days or a buyer’s vet requests history for one specific dog. That per-puppy health log is exactly what Breeders Companion maintains alongside your litters, so a printable record is ready whenever a buyer picks up.
Run your kennel with less chaos
Breeders Companion brings litters, puppies, buyers, and paperwork into one place.
Log vaccines and vet visits per puppy inside your breeding softwareFrequently asked questions
- Why are there two protocol options?
- Kennels in higher parvo-pressure situations sometimes use tighter early schedules; others follow a more traditional timeline. Both are starting points—your vet knows your local risk and the products you use.
- Does this replace my vet’s protocol?
- No. This page helps you communicate dates to buyers and staff. Product choice, route, and boosters belong to your veterinarian.
- Can I print a copy for puppy folders?
- Yes. Use Print / Save as PDF from the schedule section once you generate dates from your litter birth date.