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🐶 Puppy guide
Your puppy's first 16 weeks, shot by shot
Written by HeyVetto · Updated
In one line
Puppies need a core vaccine series at roughly 6–8, 10–12 and 16 weeks, plus rabies at 12–16 weeks depending on country. The full chart is below.
You brought home a puppy on Friday. By Monday you have a card with three handwritten dates, a vet who said "come back in three weeks", and no idea which three weeks.
Here is the whole schedule in one place — and the part nobody tells you: the card matters more than you think. Groomers, kennels, travel, a new vet after you move — they all ask for it.
📌 Read this first
This is the schedule most vets follow, from the international guidelines they work to (WSAVA 2024 for vaccines, ESCCAP for parasites). It is not your puppy's schedule — your vet writes that one. Where the two disagree, the card in your hand wins.
The chart
Four visits, three to four weeks apart. The core vaccine is one injection covering three or four diseases at once. On the card it appears under a code — DHP, DHPP, DA2PP or similar — not as a list.
| Age | Core vaccine | Also at this visit | Worms, fleas, ticks |
|---|---|---|---|
| 6–8 weeks | First dose: distemper, hepatitis (adenovirus), parvovirus — often with parainfluenza | Leptospirosis first dose, where given this early. Weigh-in, first health check, microchip if not done | Worming every 2 weeks from 2 weeks of age. Flea and tick products from the age and weight on the box, usually 8 weeks |
| 10–12 weeks | Second dose of the same combination | Leptospirosis second dose. Kennel cough (Bordetella) if the puppy will board or go to classes | Worming continues every 2 weeks. First flea and tick dose if not started |
| 16 weeks or later | Third and final dose, no earlier than 16 weeks — this is the one meant to take | Rabies, from 12 weeks. Required by law in many countries and for every border | Worming moves to monthly until 6 months |
| 6–12 months | Booster at 6 months or a year. After that the core three repeat no more often than every 3 years | Rabies and leptospirosis boosters on the interval your country and product set — often yearly | Worming every 1–3 months for life, on your vet's advice. Flea and tick cover on the product's interval |
Sources: WSAVA Vaccination Guidelines · AAHA Canine Vaccination Guidelines
What does a puppy get at 6–8 weeks?
A puppy is born with antibodies from its mother, passed in the first milk. They fade somewhere between 6 and 16 weeks — nobody knows exactly when in any one puppy.
While they are present, they can neutralise a vaccine before it teaches the puppy anything. So the series is not three doses because three is a magic number. It is three attempts to land one dose after the mother's protection has gone, without leaving a gap where the puppy is protected by neither.
- Distemper
- A virus of the nerves, lungs and gut. Rare now because the vaccine is so widely given; still fatal in most puppies who catch it.
- Hepatitis (adenovirus)
- A liver virus. The vaccine uses a related, milder adenovirus, which is why the card may say CAV-2 or A2 rather than "hepatitis".
- Parvovirus
- The one to fear. It survives in soil for a year or more, spreads on shoes, and an unvaccinated puppy who catches it has a serious chance of dying. This is the reason for "no pavements yet".
- Parainfluenza
- One of the kennel cough viruses. In most combinations; not fatal, just miserable.
What does a puppy get at 10–12 weeks?
Same injection, three to four weeks after the first. Usually the second leptospirosis dose too.
This is also the visit where the vet talks about what else the puppy's life will need — kennel cough for boarding or classes, and in some regions Lyme disease or canine influenza. None of those are "core": the guidelines leave them to a judgement about where the puppy lives and what it will do.
What does a puppy get at 16 weeks?
The last core dose is the important one. It should be given at 16 weeks or later, because by then the mother's antibodies have gone in nearly every puppy and this dose will reliably take.
A puppy whose series ended at 12 weeks is not finished, whatever the card looks like. The booster that follows — at 6 months in current guidelines, at a year in older ones — closes the gap for the few puppies in whom even the 16-week dose did not take.
Rabies is a single injection from 12 weeks, on its own rather than in the combination. In many countries it is required by law at a fixed age and interval. For travel into or within the EU it only counts from 21 days after the injection, given at 12 weeks or older. It is the entry on the card officials read most carefully.
Which vaccines are optional or regional?
- Leptospirosis
- Bacteria in rat urine and standing water. Treated as core in the UK and much of Europe; its own two-dose series from 8 weeks. The card says L2 or L4 for the number of strains.
- Kennel cough (Bordetella)
- Up the nose or by mouth, a week or two before the puppy first boards or joins a class. Most kennels and trainers ask for it by name.
- Lyme disease
- Offered where the ticks that carry it are common. Two doses, then yearly.
- Canine influenza
- Offered in regions with outbreaks and for dogs in kennels or shows. Two doses, then yearly.
When do worming, flea and tick treatments start?
These are the dates that do not get a card, and they are the ones owners lose.
Worming starts at two weeks with the breeder and repeats every two weeks until twelve weeks, then monthly until six months. After that, on whatever interval your vet advises for life — at least four times a year, and monthly for a dog that eats what it finds, lives with small children, or hunts.
Flea and tick products each carry a minimum age and weight on the box, and the puppy has to clear both. For most products that is eight weeks and a couple of kilograms.
Write the date and the product down when you give it. A month later you will not remember which one it was.
What happens if you miss a dose?
You do not always start over, but you do not always carry on either. It depends on the gap, and that is your vet's call rather than a rule you can look up. Broadly:
| The gap | What usually happens |
|---|---|
| A week or two late | Simply given; the next one is counted from it |
| More than about six weeks, in the puppy series | An extra dose two to four weeks after the late one, so two doses are still close enough to count |
| A booster a year or more late, in an adult dog | Usually a single dose, not a new series — the immune memory is still there |
What decides it is the exact date of the last dose. "Some time in March" turns a one-visit fix into two.
What must a vaccination certificate contain?
A handwritten date on a card is a note. A certificate is something a kennel, a groomer, a border official or a new vet will accept — and each of them checks for the same things.
Vaccination certificate
4 things to check
WhoName, breed, sex, date of birth — and the chip number, the only one nobody can argue with
WhatVaccine name, manufacturer, batch number — the sticker peeled off the vial
WhenDate given, and date valid until or next due. For rabies, both dates are what the border reads
By whomVet's signature and clinic stamp. An unsigned entry is the one that gets rejected
Photograph the card every time an entry is added, on the day. It is the one document about your dog you will be asked for most often over the next fifteen years, and the original lives in a drawer.
❓ Questions owners ask
Can I skip a booster?
Not in the puppy series. The early doses may be blocked by the mother's antibodies, so nobody knows which of them took. The last one, at 16 weeks or later, is the one meant to land — skip it and the puppy may be protected against nothing. Adult boosters are a different question for your vet: after the first booster the core vaccines repeat no more often than every three years, while rabies and leptospirosis keep their own, usually yearly, interval.
What if I adopted at 4 months with no history?
A puppy with no paperwork is treated as unvaccinated, however many shots the previous owner remembers. At that age that usually means two core doses two to four weeks apart, plus rabies. Some clinics can run a titre test first — a blood test for existing antibodies — and skip a dose the puppy does not need.
How long until my puppy can walk outside?
Most vets say one to two weeks after the final puppy dose — around 17 to 18 weeks — for pavements, parks and anywhere unknown dogs have been. That is about parvovirus in the soil, not fresh air. Before then, carrying the puppy around town, your own garden, and visits with vaccinated dogs you know are all fine — and they matter: the window for socialisation closes at around 14 weeks, before the vaccines finish.
Where do I get a duplicate if I lost the card?
The clinic that gave the shots keeps its own record and can print a new card, usually for a small fee, and usually only for the shots it gave — a series split across two clinics means two phone calls. The microchip register does not hold vaccinations. A photograph of the card, taken when the entry was written, is the fastest duplicate there is.
Four dates, three products, one card. It is not a lot to keep — it is just a lot to keep for fifteen years.
Snap the card once, keep it forever
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