Dog vaccine schedule: what's due and when
Your dog's vaccines from puppyhood: the core ones, rabies as local law requires and how often they're repeated, based on WSAVA guidelines.
Vaccines are the first thing your vet asks about when a puppy comes home. Here’s the general schedule set out by the World Small Animal Veterinary Association (WSAVA) guidelines, so you know what to expect. Your dog’s actual plan is your vet’s call: it depends on their age, health, where they live and what they’re exposed to.
Core vaccines
These are the ones every dog should have, wherever they live. They protect against three serious diseases:
- Distemper, a virus that affects the respiratory, digestive and nervous systems.
- Adenovirus (infectious canine hepatitis).
- Parvovirus, especially dangerous for puppies.
The puppy schedule
| Age | What’s due |
|---|---|
| 6–8 weeks | First dose of core vaccines |
| Every 2–4 weeks | Further doses until 16 weeks or older |
| 26 weeks | Core booster |
| After that | Core vaccines no more often than every 3 years |
Why so many doses at first? Antibodies a puppy gets from its mother can block the vaccine in the first weeks. Since nobody knows exactly when they fade, the dose is repeated until 16 weeks so that one lands once they no longer interfere. The 26-week booster covers the few puppies that still had them.
Rabies, depending on where you live
Rabies rules depend on local law. In Spain, for example, it’s mandatory for dogs in most regions, but not in Asturias (except for potentially dangerous dogs), Catalonia, the Basque Country or Galicia, and how often it must be repeated varies from yearly to what the manufacturer recommends.
If you travel with your dog abroad, rabies vaccination is required anyway, together with a microchip and a pet passport.
Non-core vaccines
Others, such as leptospirosis or kennel cough, are given depending on risk: if your dog goes to kennels, spends time in the countryside or lives somewhere with more cases. Ask your vet whether they make sense for your dog.
How not to miss one
The hard part isn’t understanding the schedule, it’s remembering months later. Log each vaccine with its date and the next one due, and take that history to every appointment. If several people look after your dog, let everyone see it: that way nobody has to ask whether it was due.
This guide is for information only. It doesn’t replace your vet’s assessment: they decide which vaccines your dog needs and when.