Dog Vaccination Schedule
When your adult dog's shots are due.
Typical timing from AAHA 2022 guidelines. Your vet's plan and local rabies law decide the real schedule.
How to use the dog vaccination schedule
- If you do not know which vaccines were given, choose Unknown. The page will not invent a restart series.
- If you know the history, enter months since the last core dose. The page opens at 12 months ago.
- Optionally type the date of the last core dose. Leave it blank to keep the answer as a count of months.
- Optionally type the last rabies date. It is stored on the list. The next rabies dose is not calculated.
- Read next core booster. At the opening example that is 24 months from today. A typed core date replaces the month count with a calendar day in your browser.
This list starts after the puppy series
The puppy page builds week-of-age doses from a birth date. This page does not. It assumes the dog already finished that series, including the booster that AAHA places within a year of the last puppy dose, and it asks only when the last core dose was.
Core here means the combination that covers distemper, adenovirus and parvovirus. AAHA's 2022 guideline says that after the within-1-year booster, further combination boosters are every 3 years, and that annual boosters are not necessary for that combination. The opening example, a dose 12 ago, is therefore due in 24 months from today.
Leptospirosis is not on that 3-year line. On the current AAHA table it is boosted every year after its own early series. If your clinic gives lepto, ask them for that date separately. This page will not pretend lepto and distemper share a calendar.
Rabies is a blank on purpose
You can record the last rabies date so it sits on the printable list. The next dose is not a sum. Licensed products and local law set the interval, and the two do not always match. Adding 1 year, or 3 years, would be a guess with a calendar attached.
If the history is unknown, stop. AAHA expects the clinic to decide whether a series starts again. A website that prints 'come back in 3 years' for a dog with no records is worse than a blank. The unknown switch exists so that sentence is the whole result.
Lifestyle vaccines such as Bordetella, Lyme disease and canine influenza stay off the list. They are the vet's call. Naming them here without a date is as far as this page goes: they are not forgotten, and they are not scheduled.
Months on the printed page, dates only after you type one
A schedule that baked in today's date would be wrong next month. The page therefore opens with a count: last dose 12 months ago, next core booster 24 months from today, interval 3 years. The table under the article repeats that count for several 'months ago' values. None of those cells is a day in a calendar.
Type a core date and the browser adds 3 years. Import the calendar file only after that date exists. Rows without a day are left out of the file on purpose.
Take the list to the clinic. It is a discussion sheet. It does not say the dog must be vaccinated on the morning it prints, and it does not override a local rabies rule.
Months until the next core booster
| Last core dose | Next core booster | Interval |
|---|---|---|
| 0 months ago | 36 months from today | 3 years |
| 6 months ago | 30 months from today | 3 years |
| 12 months ago | 24 months from today | 3 years |
| 24 months ago | 12 months from today | 3 years |
| 36 months ago | 0 months from today | 3 years |
Months only. No calendar date is stored, so this table does not go stale. Rabies is not given a due date.
Tips and common mistakes
- Do not use this page for a puppy that is still in the first series. The week list is the other vaccine page.
- A rabies date you type is the last dose, echoed back. It is not the next appointment.
- If the 3-year window has already passed, the line says overdue. That is a prompt to call, not a home plan.
When to call your vet
- You do not know what was given, or the dog came from a shelter with a partial card.
- A boarding kennel is demanding a vaccine this list does not date.
- The dog was ill at the last visit, or had a reaction.
- You need a legal rabies certificate. Only the clinic and the law can issue the interval.
Frequently asked questions
How often does an adult dog need shots?
For the core combination, AAHA says every 3 years after the booster that follows the puppy series. The opening example is due in 24 months from today. Leptospirosis on the current table is yearly. Rabies follows the law and the product.
Are yearly boosters needed?
Not for the core combination. The guideline says annual boosters are not necessary for that group. Other products, including lepto, are on a different rhythm. Do not cancel a clinic plan from this sentence alone.
What if shots are overdue?
If the months-since figure is past 36, the result says overdue and tells you to talk to your vet. Unknown history is the same kind of call. This page will not rebuild a puppy series for an adult.
Why won't it date the rabies booster?
Because the next rabies dose is 'per local law and the product label' in the guideline, not a single interval. Recording the last date is useful. Inventing the next one is not.
Can I download a calendar file?
Yes, after you type a core date. The file contains only rows that have a day. The month-count view on the printed page has no day to export, which keeps the page from going stale.