Czech Working Line Health and Vaccination Schedule

All Czech Working Line puppies have been socialized with children. They are healthy, happy, vibrant representation of well-bred German Shepherds. All our puppies are AKC registered. Click here to see our current German Shepherd puppies for sale.

Your Czech Working Line German Shepherd puppy comes with a 1 year health guarantee; and a two year guarantee against hip dysplasia.  Puppy will have been  treated for parasites and will be up to date on vaccinations. In addition to Nobivac 5 ways vaccinations, a vaccine that includes Parvo as one of the five diseases covered, our puppies are also given a Parvo specific vaccine, Neopar. One of the most contagious viruses, Parvo can quickly devastate and kill entire litters with virtually no ability for veterinary care to reverse the damage this virus causes. We learned this the hard way back around 2010, when a 6 week old puppy brought Parvo home from the vet— the vet of all places.

While we don’t have definitive proof that Parvo has strengthened as a virus, many breeders have found the 5/7 ways vaccines lacking. I can’t tell you the number of breeders that have privately lamented their struggles with Parvo. Even with fully vaccinated puppies. Usually when this occurs, its with younger puppies not more than ten weeks of age, although it can still be a serious problem in older puppies. Having run into this problem ourselves, we had the opportunity to speak with one of the scientists that worked on developing the Neopar vaccine. With a far higher titer level in this Parvo specific vaccine (as compared to 5/7 way vaccine), Neopar has been a game changer for many dog breeders. We at Czech Working Line consider ourselves “unofficial ambassadors” for Neopar. Whenever we get the chance, we encourage our fellow breeders to start using this very effective tool. Virtually every person we know that has made use of Neopar has all but stopped this virus. 

Below is our protocol for worming and vaccination of puppies here at Czech Working Line, and our recommendations for puppies from birth through adulthood.

German Shepherd Puppy Health and Vaccination Schedule

Health and Vaccination Schedule

2 Weeks

• Pyrantel. A gentle wormer for neonatal puppies.

4 Weeks

• Neopar vaccine. Label on vaccine several weeks older. However, two reasons have moved us to give at 4 weeks (give or take a few days). Having spoken with one of the scientists that developed the vaccine, we were told first hand that newborn and pregnant dogs have received the vaccine with little no side effects. On several occasions I have been at vet when a customer came with a dog not on leash where the dog was Parvo positive. The dog walked all over the clinic. There was no way to avoid stepping where the dog had walked. When this occurred, I called my wife and before I even came home my wife gave every dog, including pregnant and newborn puppies a Neopar vaccine in order to protect from what we knew for certain was exposure. This has occurred several times. Several years ago my son’s fiancé had a young puppy that was Parvo positive. My son was in her vehicle with the puppy. Again, we revaccinated all our dogs. 
• Vet can be one of most dangerous places to take your young puppy. As German Shepherd Dog breeders, it can often be unavoidable that we might need to take a puppy to the vet. We might need vaccinations, a health certificate for delivery— there are all kinds of reasons. Understandably, it can be near impossible for a vet clinic to get every square inch of the clinic sanitized every time a dog with Parvo enters the clinic. As humans we are fallible, and even best efforts often fall short. With Neopar being such a gentle vaccine, as compared to many others, we choose to give at 4 weeks of age, giving that puppy an opportunity to kick start its immune system in case it might be exposed during one of those early wellness visits. This decision has spared us great loss. Prior to initiating this protocol, we brought Parvo home from vet twice (that was probably 15 years ago). Since adding Neopar to our protocol, we have never since lost a puppy to Parvo even though we know for 100% certain our dogs have been (unavoidably) exposed on multiple occasions.

5-6 Weeks

• Toltrazuril- for 3 days
• Febendazole-for 3 days
• Covers wide gamut of parasite 
• Nobivac 5 way

7 Weeks

• Nobivac oral bordatella

8-9 Weeks

• Toltrazuril- for 3 days
• Febendazole-for 3 days
• Covers wide gamut of parasite 
• Nobivac 5 way

Our puppies typically go home around 8-9 weeks of age— older if they go through our puppy boot camp. What follows are how we vaccinate. You will need to speak with your local veterinarian and verify their advice moving forward. Heather is an RN and gives puppies vaccinations while under our care. 

*** Up to Date (UTD) vaccinations does not mean vaccinations are done. We have learned it can be helpful to remind dog owners that puppies and older dogs will need continued vaccinations as time passes. This is particularly true for young puppies as they will generally need multiple vaccinations. So please, don’t make the mistake of thinking UTD vaccinations means a puppy is done with vaccinations when you take your new puppy home.

With puppies under our care in our home we continue vaccinating every 3 weeks until the puppy is 4 months of age or older. Once past 8 weeks of age we move to Nobivac 7 way (Nobivac Canine 1 DAPPvL2). The seven way includes protection against Lepto. Lepto is a serious virus that can have similar effects as Parvo, although generally not as life threatening. Vectors for Lepto are typically vaccines or rodents. Since Lepto is transmissible to humans, it is doubly important for puppies to be protected against Lepto. Your puppy will typically also need a second kennel cough vaccine if it has not received it while in our care. Ask your local vet for recommendation on this question.

8 weeks and older: Heartworm protection. We start our puppies on heart worm protection at 8 weeks and give monthly for rest of their life.

8 weeks and older: Flea and tick prevention. We start our puppies on flea and tick prevention at 8 weeks of age and older. At this time we are using Bravecto. You would need to purchase at your local vet, or something similar.

4 months or older: Rabies vaccination. While some states allow private parties to administer rabies vaccinations, if for some reason you needed proof your dog was rabies vaccinated, you would need proof it was given from vet. For this reason, our practices is for vet to give Rabies. It only makes sense even if it is legal for owner to give where you live. We consider this cheap “peace of mind insurance.”

We continue with worming on our adult dogs annually or as recommended by vet, as well as annual vaccine boosters. Ask your vet what is recommended in your area.