What is a Nomograph?

A canine nomograph is an estimate of the amount of antibodies passed on from a dam to her puppies. It is used to determine the ideal vaccination schedule for the puppies, and to determine the youngest age at which a puppy can be confirmed to be immunized.

Newborn puppies cannot be immunized. They do not have their own immune system or the ability to respond correctly to a vaccination for a few weeks. Once they develop an immune system, puppies can be given a vaccine, but the vaccine will not do its job (immunize) if the puppy still has a lot of maternal antibodies.

Maternal antibody levels drop at a predictable rate over time, so the higher the level at 2 days age, the older a puppy will be before a vaccine can be effective. Some puppies run out of maternal antibodies at 6 weeks or younger; some puppies still have significant maternal antibodies at 24 weeks age. Yikes! If we give all puppies a vaccine every 3-4 weeks from 6 through 24 weeks age, that's a half dozen shots each!

A nomograph uses one blood test done on the mother shortly before or after whelping, to determine the best age to vaccinate her litter.

A nomograph also determines the youngest date a titer can confirm immunization. If a nomograph has been used, a standard titer can be done 4 weeks after the last vaccine. Tell your vet about the nomograph and bring it in too though, because without a nomograph, titers cannot distinguish between maternal antibodies and successful immunization. A nomograph follow-up is a special titer that can be used as soon as 2 weeks after the last vaccine, because it measures additional early forms of immune development.

Socialization

Regardless of whether you are seeking a personal lapdog, an outgoing family companion, a formidable guard, an effective hunter or a trustworthy service dog, it is essential to first choose the right breed, breeder, bloodline and individual puppy to match the puppy's aptitutes with your needs, and to match the puppy's needs with the family, home, schedule and lifestyle you currently have to offer. Second, the puppy you have thoughtfully chosen requires proper socialization in order to live up to potential and behave within the norm for the breed. Inadequately socialized puppies suffer lifelong social disability. Prior to immunization, a puppy's social contacts and environmental exposure are essential, but limited to maintain low risk of exposure to serious diseases. The younger a puppy is known to be immunized, the sooner these restrictions can be lifted.

Bite Inhibition is a puppy's proper understanding of when biting is appropriate and how hard a bite is warranted for a given situation. Bite inhibition is learned at 6-8 weeks age and requires socialization with the mother and at least one littermate. Although it is acceptable to separate puppies from their mother for 1-2 days for early weaning, they should then be reunited and housed together with her through at least 56 days age. Puppies deprived of the opportunity to learn bite inhibition grow into dogs who are mouthy, inappropriately putting people or dogs in their mouth, and/or who bite harder than warranted, potentially causing injury despite intention of play. Puppies left with their mother and littermates through a full 8 weeks of age learn proper bite inhibition allowing behaviour in a manner that is normal for the breed.

Critical Imprinting is a puppy's understanding of what is and is not safe. It continues through 12 weeks age, thus often after the puppy is in a new home. Puppies confined to limited experiences develop into dogs who are only comfortable around what they were exposed to. During this phase, the more a puppy can be exposed to the better: wheelchairs, garden hoses, fireworks, children, etc., as a puppy who has sufficiently broad experience will develop into a dog that is not only comfortable around those experiences, but can also accept new experiences and adapt to change. In addition to imprinting on good experiences, 8-12 week old puppies will also imprint on bad experiences. Thus the puppy should be supervised to avoid traumatic or fearful events, and if needed immediately re-trained and desensitized following an unfortunate event, as permanent fear can only be avoided if corrected before this critical phase comes to a close.

Language Development is a puppy's ability to communicate with social contacts of their own and other species including humans. It can be complete by 12 weeks age; but if a puppy's social contacts and outings have been restricted to protect from disease, most breeds are able to catch up through 16 weeks age. Different communication skills are required for a dog to socialize well with people of different ages and personalities, or with those wearing gloves, hats, sunglasses or beards. Different communication skills are required for a dog to socialize well with dogs of other sizes, breed types and personalities or those with hairy faces or surgical alterations to the length or carriage of the ears or tail. Trilingual puppies also learn to speak cat. Livestock guardian breeds have strong potential to become multilingual.

Social Enhancement is a strengthening of skills that were adequately primed by the 8, 12 and 16-week deadlines. While each of the previous stages benefits from daily experiences, this final stage can be optimized through as seldom as weekly outings to a puppy kindergarten, a public park or another valuable exposure. After 6-12 months age, periods of relative isolation while you and your dog hibernate in your one-man one-dog shack will not permanently inhibit your dog's social abilities.

Puppy socialization does not alter a dog's genetic makeup nor prevent any working dog from serving a function suited to its breed. It helps each and every dog to be the best dog he or she can be.

How Does the Nomograph Work?

A dam gives antibodies to her puppies via colostrum in their first 16-24 hours after birth. If the amount of antibodies she gives a puppy is above the protective threshold, the puppy is protected from disease and cannot be immunized: a vaccine given to a puppy with a high level of maternal antibodies will fail to cause immunity. Over time, a puppy's maternal antibody level will decline: after it crosses below the protective threshold, the puppy becomes susceptible to disease and can be immunized with a vaccine.

By 6 months age, all puppies have low enough maternal antibody levels to allow successful immunization, but some puppies have low maternal antibodies at a younger age, so delaying the first vaccine risks serious illness and death. Thus, puppies are typically given a series of multiple vaccine doses spaced over their first few months, and allowed only limited socialization until 2 weeks after the final dose.

If you are familiar with the 8-12-16-16 puppy vaccine protocol, you might be under the impression that puppies get a little bit of immunity at 8 weeks, more at 12 weeks, more at 16 weeks, and reach maximum immunity at 16 months, but that's not how it works. It works more like this: the 8-week vaccine might immunize ~70% of puppies for distemper and ~20% for parvo. A second dose at 12 weeks could bring immunity rates up to ~85% for distemper and ~60% for parvo. A third dose at 16 weeks could take immunity rates up to ~90% for distemper and ~80% for parvo, and the pick-up dose for the rest is a whole year away! Wouldn't it be nice if we knew which puppy was fully immunized at 8 weeks, so we could skip those extra two doses and socialize the puppy freely without worry? Wouldn't it be nice if we knew which puppy was still not immune at 16 weeks, so we could hold back a little longer and give a fourth dose at 20 weeks rather than leaving the poor puppy susceptible for up to a year?

A major cause of vaccine failure in puppies is maternal antibody interference. Maternal antibodies are necessary to protect a neonatal puppy from disease, but they respond to disease and vaccine alike, so as long as a puppy is protected, immunization is prevented! Maternal antibody levels drop below the protective threshold anywhere between day one and five or six months age.

1. An antibody titer test can measure a puppy's maternal antibody levels to accurately determine whether it's a good time to vaccinate yet. Several blood samples might need to be taken before a yes is reached, however.
2. A single pre-vaccination antibody titer can make an excellent prediction of when the date will occur by applying the expected rate of decline of maternal antibody levels.
3. An antibody titer on the dam can be used to make a very good estimate of the threshold date by a nomograph, using the expected rate of passive antibody transfer from dam to puppy.
4. Or we accept a very broad window of possibility, using the expectation that by 6 months no puppy still has a detectable maternal antibody level.

Antibody titers don't distinguish maternal antibodies from a puppy's own antibodies, so normally, a titer test can't verify immunity until 6 months age, when maternal antibody levels are low to undetectable for all puppies. With a nomograph or with a pre-vaccination titer, we know when a particular puppy's maternal antibody levels become low, allowing some puppies' titers to be valid as soon as their last vaccine takes effect, the age of which is determined by the nomograph.

Step By Step

First, the dam must go through her own vaccination and respond with immunity. An immunized dam can have different types of immunity. One type of immune cell is dormant and waits ready to act if she is ever exposed to the disease. Another type makes the disease-fighting antibody weapon every day even if there is never disease exposure. For her own sake, we would like to measure both kinds to ensure she has strong immunity but unfortunately it is not feasable to do so.

Second, we must measure the type that we can measure, which is her antibody levels. The puppies only get antibodies from their mother, no immune cells at all, so it's all we need to measure for their sakes. Your vet probably has an in-house titer test that takes less than an hour to get yes/no or high/low results. It's a great test to get done on your dog, but for the nomograph we need accuracy, numbers, and for the puppy's follow-up test measure of not just longterm IgG antibodies that show up 3-4 weeks after vaccination but also the early IgM antibodies that are there at only 2 weeks.

Once we have her numbers, we need to do some math, plot a curve, add in a margin of error... but of course the lab knows the purpose of getting a nomograph titer done and does this part too.

There are two ways mammals can get immunity. Some get it mostly through the placenta before they are born; while others get it mostly from their mother's colostrum in the first days after birth. For dogs, it's mostly in colostrum. In fact, the amount of immunity a puppy has at birth is so small, it runs out within hours or a couple days, but the average puppy is covered at birth long enough to get up, crawl over to mom, enjoy a first meal and absorb that antibody-rich colostrum!

What is colostrum? Colostrum is a special substance made by the dam's mammary glands instead of milk for the first couple days after whelping. It does have some calories and nutrients, but its key component is antibodies, temporary protection from diseases the dam has been vaccinated for or exposed to. In case you have run across jars of colostsrum you can buy, please note that is cow colostrum which contains antibodies to cow diseases. A dairy cow can easily make 4 times as much as her own calf needs, so it's easy to come by, but has no value whatsoever in replacing what a puppy is supposed to get from his dam.

How do you actually know a puppy gets enough of his mother's colostrum for the nomograph to be an accurate vaccine protocol? Turns out the best way to measure colostrum intake is as simple as comparing birth weight to weight at 2 days old. Any puppy who doesn't have good growth rate in those two days didn't get his fair share. It can happen to one puppy who struggles to get started, or even the whole litter if mom's nervous or low on milk, so it's important to make note of it!

Does My Dog Need an Annual Booster Shot?

Maybe. It Depends!

Think of the vaccines that are given to people: Some vaccines are only given to children because the effects last 40-100+ years. If you're a farmer or a gardener, you probably get a tetanus shot every decade. If you get flu shots, that's once or twice a year. If you get covid shots, well... Okay, so it depends on what illness.

Have you ever planned a tropical holiday and needed an extra vaccine to keep you safe there? Yes, it also depends on where you live and travel to.

Have you ever talked to someone in a different generation or different part of the world and compared notes on vaccination? For the exact same illness, there are slightly and even completely different vaccines that may differ in safety and efficacy.

Do you know someone who catches every sniffle that comes their way? Or maybe it's you, and you notice the stand out who never catches anything ever. Yes, individuals matter too!

Canine Parvo

Parvo is a serious life-threatening illness that is present in Alberta and takes numerous lives each year. The main route of transmission is by unvaccinated dogs, including dogs who were never vaccinated as well as dogs who did not complete a full set of puppy vaccines. Depending on what part of the province you are in the vaccination rate may be excellent to pathetically low. The virus is shed in the feces of an infected dogs, and can survive in the soil for years. Some people throw bleach on their lawns and assume if the grass dies, so will the virus. Bleach doesn't work that way.

The good news is that the Parvo vaccines currently available in North America are excellent. For most puppies, the reccomendation is 8-12-16-16, but you will have a different schedule if a puppy has a nomograph, or is of a breed known commonly still unimmunized at 20+ weeks, or in an area/time when the disease is prevalent, or is raised in an animal shelter where exposure is near certain.

Do you know what the thymus gland is? You have one, but depending on your age it might be large or microscopic. The thymus gland produces naive T-cells, which are immune cells ready to meet a disease or vaccine and turn into disease-specific watchmen. It grows until puberty and shrinks thereafter. It is fairly common for puppies to have too immature an immune system to form a strong long-lasting immune response, but at 16 months they can achieve their best response or you can titer first to measure how effective the puppy series was.

Some dogs are low responders. They need a triennial booster. Many dogs are high responders who by 16 months will be covered for life. Non-responders are rare. If your dog is a non-responder, try to seek access to a different vaccine brand as it may solve the issue.

Canine Distemper

Distemper is a serious life-threatening illness that is present in Alberta. It is carried by a wide variety of wild animals, and about twice a decade an outbreak occurs in one or more random locations throughout the province. When an outbreak occurs, it is readily transmitted to dogs. Although it is transmitted directly between animals, nose to nose contact or rolling in wild carcasses is more common than you'd like to think, and once a dog catches it, the dog can pass it to other dogs.

The currently available Distemper Vaccines in North America are very good. Most often you will find parvo and distemper vaccines packed in the same vial. This is fine as the immune system can respond very well to up to 3 vaccines given simultaneously.

While some puppies are covered for life, the rate of low responders and non-responders is higher than for parvo. If you end up on the unfortunate side of statistics, try to find access to the recombinant Distemper vaccine as it is the most likely fix to a poor response to the more common MLV (modified live virus) vaccines.

Canine Infectious Hepatitis (Adenovirus-1)

Canine adenovirus-1 is a serious illness that can cause chronic illness or death. Locally, it is considered under control, but likely to return if vaccination wanes. The illness can survive for months in the environment, and can be spread by an infected dog for a year after recovery.

Parvo, Distemper and Adenovirus-1 are the core canine vaccines and usually you will find them packaged together. However, beyond 3 concurrent vaccines, immune response is poorer, so if possible, avoid the multi-way vaccines unless you live where every disease under the sun presents your pup equal risk.

This vaccine is an odd one. First you will find CAV-1 is no longer given as a direct vaccine, because it wasn't a friendly vaccine. Instead they use CAV-2, which is an illness with completely different symptoms, but the immune system makes good immunity to CAV-1 when given the much safer CAV-2 vaccine.

The CAV-2 vaccine is available in 3 forms, injected, intranasal and oral. The injected vaccine, the one usually found alongside parvo and distemper, tends to give the best initial response to the CAV-1 liver disease. The intranasal vaccine tends to give the best response to the CAV-2 respiratory disease. As boosters, however, they are quite interchangeable.

Rabies

Rabies is a deadly illness. Alberta is a rare location considered rabies-free, and all local cases follow travel outside the province. Keeping Alberta rabies free is a lot of work!!! Rabies is invariably a death sentence. There are no known animals of any species who have survived an infection. Humans can survive if given multiple vaccine doses immediately after an animal bite or spit before the disease takes hold and causes any symptoms, when it is considered the incubation phase and not yet an infection, but the only protection for dogs is vaccination in advance.

The rabies vaccines currently available are killed virus vaccines. So what? Well, modified live vaccines trick the body into reacting the same way as to a real live disease and cause a full natural immune response. Killed virus vaccines don't do much of anything unless you mix in an immune-stimulating adjuvant. Adjuvants are often the culprit when an adverse vaccine reaction occurs, so they are a source of risk, but that risk must be weighed against the risk of the disease itself.

Delaying the vaccine to an older age reduces the risk of adverse reaction. For example, where rabies is endemic, puppies are vaccinated as young as 4 weeks, because the risk of exposure to rabies is extreme. If you live where vaccination is legally required by 12 weeks, it is usually quite possible to prevent risk of exposure and wait until the final 12th week. As long as Alberta remains rabies-free, there is the option here to wait even longer. Minimum risk level is reached when a puppy is 6-8 months old, if you are both practically and legally able to wait that long.

Holistic immune support can also improve the immune response leading to greater chance of immunity and lower chance of adversity, so you may also seek the assistance of a veterinary specialist who uses the various supplements or techniques to optimize results.

There are both good and poor vaccines available for rabies in North America. The good ones are at least 90% effective and long-lasting but not lifelong. In a high-responding breed, the vaccine remains effective for ~12 years, ranging 8-16 years among individuals. In a low-responding breed, immunity lasts ~6 years, ranging from 6 months to 10 years among individuals. For the most part, smaller breeds have higher responses than larger ones, and also live longer, so a reasonable protocol, if frequent rabies vaccination is not legally required for the protection of humans, would be a booster halfway through your dog's expected lifespan. Beagles are a notable exception to the trend: though small, their rabies immunity lasts a mere 7 years on average, ranging from a low as 4-5, so for them, three vaccines would be warranted.

There is a titre test for rabies immunity. It is much more expensive and less readily available than the parvo-distemper-adenovirus titres, but accessible and particularly useful for dogs with greater-than-average risk of exposure, such as working livestock guardians, and dogs that hunt potential carrier species.

Kennel Cough

Canine adenovirus 2, canine parainfluenza virus and bordetella bronchiseptica bacteria are infectants that are present in Alberta. Alone each usually causes only mild illness, but in combination they can cause major illness and increase susceptibility to life-threatening secondary infection. These respiratory illnesses are spread wherever dogs congregate, such as kennels, daycares and groomers, so lifestyle will determine whether vaccination is warranted for your dog.

There are injected, intranasal and oral vaccines available. The intranasal and oral vaccines both do an excellent job of initiating mucosal (IgA) immunity. The oral vaccine is easier to administer to nervous dogs, but has the highest risk of causing a 3- to 10-day post-vaccination cough. The injection does a poor job of initiating mucosal immunity, but works fine as a booster on a dog previously given an intranasal or oral kennel cough vaccine.

This is a respiratory illness, like the human flus and covids, and the immune system is simply not designed to produce long-term resistance to this type of illness. Most dogs require an annual booster, but some as frequently as every 6 months or as seldom as every 2 years. Also like flus and covids, these vaccines do not achieve sterilizing immunity, so it is possible for a fully immunized individual to experience symptoms of disease that are less severe and shorter duration than an unimmunized individual. The transmission rate is also reduced but not eliminated, so could be passed on to an unvaccinated dog in the household.

Influenza (the Flu)

Canine vaccines are available for H3N8 and H3N2. They should be discussed with your vet if your dog attends dog shows, boarding kennels or daycares where travellers may originte from areas of outbreak. The vaccine contains adjuvant, begins with a 2-dose series and requires an annual booster.

Borrelia Burgdorferi Bacteria (Lyme Disease)

Where ticks are common up to 100% of dogs are infected, but only 5% of dogs show symptoms. Risk of serious illness is higher among travellers than residents. Most vaccines contain adjuvant but there is an adjuvant-free option. The vaccine requires 2 doses, only 50-99% of vaccinates are protected, and protection lasts less than a year so must be timed just before tick season. Ticks primarily transmit the disease after feeding, so inspecting your dog and removing ticks mid-meal is highly effective prevention for short-haired dogs. If you have ticks on your farm or acreage, consider getting guineafowl.

Leptospira Interrogans Bacteria (Leptospirosis)

Lepto is common in warm wet climates. There is transient infection, but it's mainly spread through consumption of urine of infected animals, such as eating rodent-infested garbage. This would of course be most common among stray dogs, but rodents can find their way into any home. Cross-protection among lepto strains is poor, so even if all available strains are vaccinated for protection is sometimes zero. Vaccination requires a 2-dose series and all options but one contain adjuvant.

Crotalus Atrox Venom (Western Diamondback Rattlesnake)

This vaccine also provides a degree of cross-protection to other rattlesnake species. The level of immunity achieved with this vaccine is not protective, but it can buy you up to 12-24 hours time for transportation to a vet for life-saving treatment. Initial vaccination requires up to 3 doses, with boosters once yearly for seasonal exposure or twice yearly for year-round exposure.

Others

Travellers abroad may also need to consider vaccination for canine herpesvirus, additional strains of Leptospira interrogans bacteria, Babesia parasite and Leishmania parasite.

Canine enteric coronavirus is a widely available vaccine no longer reccommended as its risk benefit ratio is poor. However, canine enteric coronavirus can increase the severity of parvo, so while generally obselete, the vaccine may be warranted in dogs with high parvo risk.

Canine respiratory coronavirus is a fourth cause of kennel cough, but there is not yet a vaccine for it, and there is no cross-protection from the enteric vaccine.

The Annual Check-Up

Dogs age much faster than humans. For a small dog, age 1 is equal to 16 dog years, age 2 is equal to 24 dog years, and each year thereafter adds 4 dog years. For a large dog, age 1 is equal to 14 dog years, age 2 is equal to 21 years, and each year thereafter adds 7 dog years. There are also treatments for internal and external parasites that may be relevant for your situation, and benefits of health screening. For example, if caught early enough, some cancers can be removed, early heart disease can be reversed, and your dog's changing needs can be addressed. In fact, if your dog doesn't need an injection, the two minutes it would have taken to administer free you up to ask one more queation instead!

References

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