PUPPY QUESTIONNAIRE
PUPPY QUESTIONNAIRE
This questionnaire is intended for those seriously considering purchasing one of our hounds. If you only have general inquiries, feel free to e-mail us. We would be glad to answer any questions.
Please consider that bringing a dog into your home is a huge decision that will impact your life.
I’m sorry if all these questions seem intrusive, but our goal is to find the best homes possible for our Irish Wolfhounds. We want our dogs to be placed in a forever home where they will be loved. With that in mind, we would like to begin to learn more about you so I can advise you if there is any need for alterations to be made before taking a puppy home.
ADDITIONAL COMMENTS
Irish Wolfhounds like to chase as they are a hunting breed. Before allowing the dog to run off lead it must be taught to respond to a recall signal/command.
The breed does have some health problems which include heart disease, cancer, epilepsy and liver shunt. Most breeders do their best to breed healthy hounds, but sometimes the unexpected happens and the dog gets sick. If it is cancer, then the dog will most likely die. All reputable breeders carry out blood tests on their puppies at 7 weeks to ensure that the puppy doesn’t have liver shunt but there are no tests to check for the other problems. These are just issues that you need to be aware of.
PUPPY CARE
Below is a schedule of the visits you will need to make to your veterinarian once you have taken your puppy home.
- The first shots are given at 6 to 8 weeks of age: One Measles (if 6 weeks) or Distemper (if 7 or 8 weeks), Parvovirus, Parainfluenza, and Adenovirus vaccine. This is usually all in one injection and Sarken Kennels will make sure every puppy has received this vaccination before being released.
- Three weeks later -- 9 to 11 weeks of age: One Distemper, Parvovirus, Parainfluenza, Adenovirus, Leptospira vaccine +/- a Coronavirus vaccine. This is usually all in one injection.
- Three weeks later -- 12 to 14 weeks of age: One Distemper, Parvovirus, Parainfluenza, Adenovirus, Leptospira vaccine +/- a Coronavirus vaccine. This is usually all in one injection. If 13 or 14 weeks a Rabies vaccine. If to be boarded a Bordetella vaccine. If in an area of high risk (ie NE USA) the first Lyme vaccine.
- Three weeks later -- 15 to 17 weeks of age: One Distemper, Parvovirus, Parainfluenza, Adenovirus, Leptospira vaccine +/- a Coronavirus vaccine. This is usually all in one injection.
WHY DO I NEED TO VACCINATE MY PUPPY?
The immune system of the dog is designed to produce antibodies, a type of protein, to disease agents (such as bacteria, viruses, protozoa, fungi, etc). These antibodies protect the body from infection and disease by binding to the disease agent and marking it for destruction by other parts of the immune system like killer cells, phagocytic cells, and the complement system. Thus, antibodies are the body's protection against disease.
When do antibodies form? Antibodies form ONLY after an initial exposure to a disease agent. During this initial exposure the dog has no protection from the disease agent, and, therefore, the disease must run its course. In addition, antibodies are very specific -- antibodies to a specific virus like the rabies virus do not protect the dog from any other disease agent. Thus, a dog must experience each disease before it will become protected against that disease.
This is how Mother Nature has designed the immune system to work. The drawback to her plan is that the dog has to survive the initial disease exposure in order to develop protective antibodies, ie become immune, to the disease.
