Ensuring Health - Understanding your dog's

Understanding your dog's - vaccination record

When you get your puppy’s papers from the breeder, or check out the health record your veterinarian gives you when you take a dog for vaccinations, you’ll see a whole bunch of abbreviations. What do they mean?

These initials indicate a distemper-measles vaccine given to a very young puppy to impart immediate protection against distemper.

DMP

This is the distemper-measles vaccine plus parainfluenza, which is part of the canine respiratory disease complex commonly known as kennel cough.

DHL

This stands for distemper, hepatitis, and leptospirosis. It’s also known as the “3 in 1” shot.

DA2L

This is the same as the DHL except that the A2 indicates that the vaccine used was the adenovirus type 2 which, as explained in the discussion of hepatitis, protects against both hepatitis and respiratory disease caused by the type 2 virus.

DA2LP-P

This is a frequently used combination and is essentially a “5 in 1” shot. The initials stand for distemper, adenovirus type 2 (against hepatitis), leptospirosis, parainfluenza, and – the final P–parvovirus.

DA2LP-P-CV

This combination is the same as the “5 in 1” shot but has added coronavirus, thus CV.

As it becomes possible to vaccinate against more diseases, the abbreviations will certainly become longer and the “3 in 1” – which is already a “6 in 1” - may become a “9 in 1”.

Most veterinarians like to give a puppy his first vaccinations when he’s 6 to 8 weeks old. A second series of inoculations generally takes place at 9 to 11 weeks, then a third sequence is give after the puppy reaches 12 weeks of age. Your veterinarian will decide on a specific schedule for your dog. Vaccinations are not permanent. Thereafter, you’ll need to take your dog to the veterinarian at least once a year for booster shots.