All of the dogs attending our group classes are required to be vaccinated.
From time to time, I encounter pushback against this rule from people who claim that by enforcing such a policy, I violate their democratic right to choose not to vaccinate their dog.
This sentiment is often accompanied by links to sources that unanimously claim vaccines are poison and that all dogs are better off without them. These sources assert that vaccines can cause cancer, anaphylaxis, paralysis, terrible and chronic skin conditions—you name a dog’s disease, and it’s probably listed as a side effect of vaccination.
I can’t help but wonder whether the people who believe these sources have ever seen a whole litter of puppies dying from parvovirus. They’ve probably never seen a dog literally coughing out its lungs, attacked and destroyed by distemper, or one dying a terrible, painful death from an adenovirus infection it couldn’t recover from. Because if they had, they wouldn’t entertain the thought that gambling with their dog’s life is a fine idea.
Sure, there can be side effects. But decades of research and careful fine-tuning have minimized these risks—to the point where it makes no logical sense to compare a treatable, short-term reaction to the suffering and devastation caused by the actual viruses.
Each of these viruses is highly contagious, and dogs don’t even need to catch them directly from other dogs. To get infected, all it takes is a sniff of contaminated poop. And a dog doesn’t have to be visibly sick to transmit the infection. In fact, vaccinated dogs will not get sick, but can still transmit these viruses.
True, some dogs—healthy, older ones with strong immune systems—can recover. But many won’t. Many will die or be left with lifelong chronic health issues.
Now picture a group of 12 dogs gathered outside in relatively close (definitely sniffable!) proximity. Just one dangerous scenario: some dogs will urinate or defecate, and even though the poop gets picked up, other dogs will be very interested in that spot. Some will sniff. Others will lick. That’s what dogs do. And unless all dogs in the group are vaccinated, the risk of infection from that encounter is extremely high.
I know we live in an age of cancel culture. But please, I beg you, choose to cancel something else.
I genuinely don’t care what your beliefs about vaccines are, or whose veterinary protocols you choose to follow. I choose to keep all my group participants alive and healthy. I could not care less about someone’s “democratic right to choose” when that choice puts others at risk.