Oh boy, Tobie is in for an adventure this morning. During yesterday’s water run to town Neighbor L saw a notice at the post office for a rabies clinic at the fairgrounds this very morning. Which is weird because on the way to town we talked about how Tobie is overdue on his rabies vaccination and that’s not ideal for a big dog that either runs loose or has been known to break rope. Which Tobie has. It doesn’t need to be anything dramatic like a fight to the death with a rabid wolverine, eating an infected prairie dog will do nicely.
The local livestock vet runs vaccination clinics from time to time though of course I rarely hear about them. The older dogs have been there for shots but Tobie never has. The problem with Tobie is that he’s very friendly – he really loves meeting new people and new dogs but it happens so seldom that he doesn’t know how to behave. He loses his manners and things can go pearshaped when other smaller dogs take offense. So he’s getting his handle collar this morning and we’ll see how it goes.
First off, i love vaccines and Real science. So hate on me for that if you want.
But state laws and general knowledge are WAY behind on rabies vaccine research. Latest i have read (and this was like 10 years ago) is that studies show that the rabies vaccine is good for a minimum of 5 years (per research at the University of Wisconsin if you want to chase the paper down). When those WI researchers were asked what the high end of protection was, they cautiously replied (off the record) that they were looking to prove 10 years but that they suspected that it was probable that a single vaccination would provide adequate lifetime protection for a dog.
Now I am ABSOLUTELY not saying not to re-vaccinate dogs, just that you should have this discussion with your vet. 10 years ago, there were already 3 year-certified vaccines on the market but most state/city/county laws hadnt caught up to that fact yet.
-cf
Be sure to tell us how it goes!
Take video lol
Good luck. Most of the dogs I’ve known or had do not like vets at all.