London insomniacs who ride the Tube never need to count sheep. When a train stops at one of the 272 stations, a voice over the loudspeaker reminds passengers to “Mind the Gap.” This is a polite way of keeping over 5 million passengers per day—or 1.1 billion passengers annually—from tripping in the space between the car and the platform. I don’t know if there are that many gun dogs in the world, but you and I always mind our own gap. In our case, it’s the Immunity Gap. We do this through a proper puppy vaccine schedule.
How a Puppy’s Immune System Works A brief overview of the puppy’s immune system shows that it isn’t located in just one place. Instead, the puppy’s immune system is located throughout his entire body. Major parts of the immune system are lymph nodes, the thymus gland, blood, bone marrow, and many others that contribute to the puppy’s overall good health.
“Puppies have over 100 lymph nodes that are located throughout the puppy’s body,” says Dr. Johnny Myers of the Animal Kare Clinic in Paducah, Kentucky. “They provide an initial line of defense for the puppy, and work by capturing and filtering harmful antigens that cause sickness. The thymus gland is positioned in the chest cavity, in front of the heart. The gland produces a form of white blood cells that enter the blood and are activated when harmful microorganisms become present. White blood cells are important because they engulf and destroy invasive bacteria. Bone marrow found in the center of the puppy’s long bones produce all other blood cells, as well as another type of white blood cells. When an infection is identified, these and other organs and cells work together to help our puppies—and those that grow to become adult dogs—stay healthy.”
How Puppies are Protected from Sickness by Mom When a puppy is whelped, all of his body systems are immature. The immune system is unique in that the newborn receives passive immunity help from the dam in the form of colostrum. Colostrum is a unique milk produced by the dam after whelping and contains essential antibodies that augment and fortify the puppy’s immune system. Pups that begin nursing shortly after birth receive an immediate immune boost from colostrum.
The 'immunity gap' is the time between when puppies get their puppy vaccines and when they lose their protections from mom. A Puppy’s Most Vulnerable Time Before Vaccinations Our gap, the Immunity Gap, is the period of time when the puppy is between 4 and 12 weeks old. After weaning, pups no longer receive beneficial antibodies from their dam’s colostrum. Add to the fact that the pup’s own immune system is not fullydeveloped, and you have a pup that may be vulnerable to sickness.
That’s also a transitional time in a gun dog puppy’s life, for it’s when we want to start socializing them to the world. During that time, we want to begin progressively socializingpuppies to the environment, to their new homes, to kennel life and other animals, and to people as well. Contacts with those situations help create a learning foundation for sure, but each of those exposures can carry the risk of disease. It’s a time when we need to be vigilant.
Dr. Franck Peron, DVM, PhD, is part of the Global Scientific Support Team for both Eukanuba and Royal-Canin. Dr. Peron is a scientist, a veterinarian, and an ethologist who spends a tremendous amount of his time studying puppies. “Breeders report that between 10 and 20 percent of their litters are lost, with a high percentage coming from the dam’s nutritional deficiencies,” he said. “There are many ways to improve the dam’s health before she whelps her litter. One way is through vaccinations or boosters that help to create more antibodies in the colostrum. Another way is to feed dams food supplemented with docosahexaenoic acid, commonly known as DHA. DHA is an omega-3 fatty acid that is found in fish oil. Feeding the dam food with DHA helps improve the development of a puppy's central nervous system. A third way is through the use of a dietary supplement of probiotics such as boulardii which also has positive benefits on the puppy’s developing immune system.”
Vaccinations given to the dam before pregnancy can increase the antibodies throughout her body and in her colostrum. “Dams that have vaccinations that create a reaction to create antibodies throughout her body before pregnancy have more successful litters,” Dr. Peron said. “Boosters, given early enough, allow the dam to create antibodies that help support the puppy’s immune system through nursing. Nutrition and booster vaccinations won’t make every litter 100 percent successful, but they do dramatically and positively impact success rates.”
When it comes to colostrum, Dr. Peron says there are considerations. “Colostrum varies from litter to litter,” he said. “It also varies from teat to teat. Ideally, nursing puppies should be moved around to ensure that they are benefiting from the dam’s overall health. That movement should be done every eight hours or so. Also of interest, and what makes the immunity gap such a critical time in a puppy’s life, is that as the puppies age, the amount of antibodies in the dam’s colostrum decreases. During the entire four-week time until weaning begins, puppies lose 50 percent of their protection every three days. By the time they are four weeks old, they are unprotected. That is what makes the immunity gap such a critical time on which to focus.”
Introducing puppies to new animals should be done in a way that protects them from disease. (Photo courtesy of Eukanuba Sporting Dog) Introducing Puppies to New Animals There is more to socializing puppies to the world than just cutting them loose, says Dr. Peron. “Introducing your young puppy to the environment and other people and animals requires a balance,” he said. “Part of helping a puppy develop hisimmune system requires him to come in contact with pathogens. It’s normal, and really the only way for their bodies to become properly equipped to handle life.”
How to Keep Puppies from Getting Sick Clean and disinfect training gear, especially items that have been used with adult dogs that already have developed immune systems. Introduce puppies to other animals before the immunity gap closes. Introductions should be scheduled and monitored. Clean and disinfect other animals that the puppy contacts. Bathing a dog prior to a puppy introduction is a good example. Watch for things like fleas or worms, both of which can be harmful to a puppy. Limit the number of new animal introductions. They should be introduced one at a time over a period of time. Keep stress levels down. Puppies are always under a lot of stress, and that stress can increase the risk of disease. Watch for people. Visitors should wash their hands before coming in contact with a puppy. Maintain a clean but not too clean environment. Puppies raised in a hospital-like setting won’t have an opportunity to develop a strong immune system. Watch for farm debris, especially feces. Moving water is okay, but stagnant water may not be ok. Avoid rodents because they are known carriers of diseases. Dead rodents in non-moving water, like a pond, are really bad for puppies.
Your vet can help you decide on a puppy vaccine schedule that fits you and your pup best. (Photo courtesy of Eukanuba Sporting Dog) The Importance of a Proper Puppy Vaccination Schedule “Beginning during his sixth week of life, a puppy’s immune system strengthens through a series of puppy vaccines and boosters,” says Dr. Myers. “Distemper and parvovirus vaccinations are typically given by the breeder when the puppy is betweensix and eight weeks of age,” he said. “Later on, and between 10 and 12 weeks of age, we vaccinate for DHPP, or distemper, adenovirus (hepatitis), parainfluenza, and parvovirus. Those inoculations are the ones common to the timeframe of theImmunity Gap. Follow up boosters further help strengthen the puppy’s immune system. As they age, puppies will be vaccinated for other diseases such as rabies, Bordetella, leptospirosis, and others.”
“Once a puppy receives a shot, he’s not immune from disease,” says Dr. Myers. “Most veterinarians consider the puppy to be immune from pathogens or disease after he’s received a booster,” he said. “To be on the safe side, I always add two weeks to the date of the booster shot before more advanced socialization. Also, puppy vaccinations should take regional illnesses into account. Gun dogs work in the woods, and if ticks are present, then consider a vaccination against Lyme disease. If you travel outside of your home area to hunt, trial, or test, then consider a vaccination for what your puppy might encounter there. Prepare your puppy for those pathogens when he’s young. Creating healthy foundations for puppies is important.”
Vaccines on a Common Puppy Vaccine Schedule Bordetella: A bacteria that causes vomiting and coughing, and the typical cause of kennel cough.Distemper: An airborne disease that affects the gastrointestinal, nervous, and respiratory systems. Some symptoms include vomiting, seizures, coughing, and fever.Hepatitis: Impacts the liver, spleen, lungs, and eyes, among other organs. Fever accompanies vomiting and mid-section pain.Parainfluenza: Another leading cause of kennel cough, showing with similar symptoms as Bordetella.Coronavirus: Has a respiratory and gastrointestinal form and, depending on the strain, can show as coughing, vomiting, diarrhea, and avoidance of food.Leptospirosis: A bacteria found in water and in the ground that can spread from dogs to people. Vomiting, weakness, diarrhea, and stiffness are some of the several symptoms.Lyme: An increasing disease spread by ticks. Lyme disease impacts the dog’s joints and shows as stiffness and pain. It also impacts the immune system’s lymph nodes among others.Parvovirus: A virus that affects unvaccinated puppies during the Immunity Gap timeframe. Attacks the GI system and can be lethal if untreated within two to three days.Rabies: Transmission comes from the bite of an infected animal and impacts the nervous system.
Clean, controlled environments allow puppies to develop their immune systems while protecting them from disease. (Photo courtesy of Mark Atwater) Keep Whelping Areas Clean Until Puppies are Vaccinated Mark Fulmer of Sarahsetter Kennels in Aiken, South Carolina is no stranger to whelping litters. For the past 40 years, he’s averaged between three and five litters of English setters and Irish setters. And despite having had between 120 and 200successful litters in his career, one recent experience showed the importance of the immunity gap.
“One of my litters came at a time right when I had a handler’s clinic scheduled,” Fulmer said. “Knowing the importance of keeping adult dogs and handlers completely separated from newborn puppies, I held the handler’s clinic at the opposite side of my training grounds. On the second day, a few folks were interested in seeing the puppies. They were the spouses and children of the handlers involved in the clinic, but they themselves were not participating in the training. They asked several times, and ultimately, I agreed to let them see the puppies who were between six and seven weeks old. After they left, the puppies started to vomit and got sick with diarrhea. I took one to see my veterinarian, and then another got sick, and then a third. It turned out that they were suffering from parvovirus, which is transmitted through feces. The only thing I can figure is that some contaminants were tracked into the whelping area on a pair of shoes. Until their immune systems are fully developed, all puppies are vulnerable to disease. Maintaining the highest level of cleanliness in a kennel is always important and especially critical when puppies are on the ground. Having Faith is always good, too.”
The saying goes, ‘you only go around once in life, but if you do it right, once is enough.’ Those words are true when it comes to puppies too. As you begin to prepare young puppies for their future lives, think about the Tube, and be sure to Mind the Gap.
