Immunity
Puppy immunity is initially dependent on the health status of the mother dog (Dam). When a puppy is born it has blood and immunoglobulins from the mother via shared blood circulation through the placenta. Once the umbilical chord is severed that connection is lost.
The next step in gaining immunity involves mother's milk. For the first 24 - 36 hours post-partem (after birth) the dam produces special milk called colostrum. Colostrum is extremely rich, filled with immunoglobulins (immunoglobulins are disease fighting proteins). For the first 24 - 36 hours of life, the puppy's gastrointestinal tract is open. What that means is, when a puppy nurses, all immunoglobulins in the colostrum are freely absorbed in the intestines and enter the puppy's circulation. These immunoglobulins then protect the puppy from disease for 8 - 16 weeks. In order for a newborn puppy to have protection from the most deadly dog diseases, the dam must have strong immunity to these diseases before being bred. That means she either is well vaccinated or has been challenged and recovered from these diseases.
The next step in a puppy's immune system is where the puppy begins to produce his or her own immunoglobulins. This is achieved through vaccines and by natural exposure to disease causing organisms (bacteria and viruses). Since the maternal immunoglobulins last a variable period of time we vaccinate puppies on a schedule starting at 8 weeks of age and continuing through 16 weeks of age. It is important to understand that maternal immunoglobulins may actually interfere with a puppy's vaccine response. That means that some vaccines, in some puppies (those that have strong immunoglobulins from the dam), will not respond to the early vaccines. It is essential in these puppies to continue vaccinations through 16 weeks of age. We generally vaccinate puppies every 4 weeks in order to cover any window of opportunity that an infectious organism can sneak in and cause disease.
It becomes difficult to identify if a specific puppy has complete immunity at any given time in its development. There are many outside influences to a puppy's immune system development. The two most important are stressors and timing of exposure to infectious organisms. Stress is extremely important to recognize in puppies. Puppy development is physiologically stressful. Growth itself requires a tremendous amount of energy. In theory anything that changes a puppy's environment can cause a stress response, which can cause a dip in the immune system status of a puppy, causing susceptibility to disease.
Common stressors are moving to a new home, being shipped across country, spending time at a pet shop (being handled by many different people), house training, obedience training, exposure to environmental stimuli (kids, cars, loud noises, crates, thunder & lightening, fireworks, etc).
Timing of exposure to infectious organisms comes in to play when a puppy is stressed (shipped across country) and is challenged by a respiratory virus. This is the classic scenario for a puppy at a pet shop that is suffering from Kennel cough. It's not that the pet shop has done anything wrong it's just that a puppy is stressed, immunocompromised and challenged with a common infectious organism all at the same time. If the same puppy was challenged with the same organism once it's settled in a new home it may not contract the disease.
These same stressors can even affect the response to a vaccine. A vaccine works to challenge a puppy's immune system in order to build immunity to a specific disease. If a puppy is stressed it may not get the same response to a vaccine as a non-stressed puppy. The stressed puppy then has a window of opportunity available for an infectious organism to invade and cause disease. In order for ideal puppy immune system development you need to have a healthy, well vaccinated dam, perfect nursing immediately after birth, vaccines starting a 8 weeks of age (given every 4 weeks until 16 weeks of age), no stress, and no exposure to infectious disease. This is all very difficult to achieve in the real world.
So how do we do it?
Sass Levine, a dog trainer (www.thek9clubtraining.com) and I sat together and came up with these ideas on how you can expose your puppy during this sensitive period of learning and health challenges. We came up with some suggestions that might help. We both agree that these are the most important weeks of a puppy's development and to compromise mental or physical health has horrible consequences. We agree that there are ways to do this effectively while remaining safe.
- Consider consulting a private trainer who is skilled in the area of socialization of puppies so that you proceed appropriately, while following the instructions of your veterinarian who will advise you of the low - high risks involved with respect to contracting disease.
- For instance, you can take your puppy with you in the car and stop next to the train station, the soccer field, the grocery store and the schoolyard in order to have him hear and see and feel all the commotion. You can invite individuals to approach the car and visit with your puppy providing they follow your instructions. These instructions might be NOT to touch the puppy that day, but just stand a few feet from the window and speak to him in a soft voice while you offer food rewards in their company.
- Invite other dogs and puppies to play with your puppy providing they have had all their vaccines up to date and are free of disease. They should not have diarrhea, a runny nose or a cough. Make sure that these playmates are gentle and non aggressive!
- Rank environments as being low - high risk areas and decide how you can keep your puppy safe. Hold your puppy instead of putting him on the ground. Walk your puppy in the middle of the blacktop or concrete instead of the grassy area. Avoid wilderness areas until all vaccines are up to date as these are the most risky.
 Be sure to check out this month's companion article by Sass Levine about Socilaization
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Dr. Ellen Leonhardt
Animal General
East Norwich
(516) 624-7500
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