Puppy Vaccination Schedule
Dated shots for your puppy, from birth date.
Typical timing from AAHA 2022 guidelines. Your vet's plan and local rabies law decide the real schedule.
How to use the puppy vaccination schedule
- Leave birth date blank to see week-of-age numbers only, or type YYYY-MM-DD (or use the calendar button) to fill dates.
- If you have no birth date, set age in weeks so earlier weeks can be marked. A future birth date is rejected.
- Pick the first dose week (6, 7 or 8) and the gap (2, 3 or 4 weeks).
- Choose the last dose: the first visit on or after 16 weeks, or a series that finishes in the 18–20 week range.
- Copy the list, print it, or download the .ics file after a birth date is entered. Import that file in your own calendar app.
What the 2022 AAHA guidelines actually say
Two AAHA texts were read for this page on 6 October 2026, and they do not use one sentence for the last dose. The guideline PDF starts the combination vaccine (distemper, adenovirus, parvovirus) at 6–8 weeks, repeats it every 2–4 weeks until the puppy is older than 16 weeks, and says 18–20 weeks may be preferred where risk is higher. A booster follows within 1 year, then every 3 years. Annual boosters are not necessary for that combination.
Table 2 says at least three doses between 6 and 16 weeks. This tool keeps going until the first dose on or after 16 weeks. The default list is 8, 11, 14, 17 weeks, and the last core dose is Week 17. The other control finishes the series in the 18–20 week range. The guideline calls itself discretionary. Your vet's protocol wins.
Rabies, leptospirosis, and what is left off the list
Rabies on Table 2 is as required by law. The PDF narrative adds that licensed products are labelled for puppies 3 months and older, with a booster 1 year after the first dose. Later rabies intervals follow the law and the product, so this page does not invent a 1-year or 3-year rabies cycle. The row dated at week 12, once you enter a birthday, is the earliest labelled age, and the label says so.
Leptospirosis is in the core section of the current Table 2: two doses, 2–4 weeks apart, starting at 12 weeks, then a dose within 1 year, then every year. The 2022 PDF still described it as not unanimously core, and said the first dose should be at or after 12 weeks. This page follows the table: first dose on the first series week that is at least 12, second dose one interval later. It is not placed on the 3-year combination interval.
Bordetella, Lyme disease and canine influenza are noncore and are not dated. Shelter puppies are a note, not a switch: from 4 weeks, every 2–3 weeks, until 18–20 weeks, when the history is unknown.
Why the printed page shows weeks, not a calendar date
A schedule that baked in today's date would be wrong next week. The page therefore opens with week offsets only. The default puppy is treated as 8 weeks old, with no birthday stored, so the date column stays blank. Type a birth date and the same rows gain calendar days, computed in the browser from that date plus the week offset. The file you download is an iCalendar list of all-day events. Take it into a calendar app yourself; this site does not send it anywhere.
The within-1-year booster date, when shown, is the end of that year, not a required morning. Print the list for the clinic. It is a discussion sheet, not an order.
Default series as week offsets
| Step | Offset | Calendar date |
|---|---|---|
| Core combination, dose 1 | Week 8 | Enter a birth date |
| Core combination, dose 2 | Week 11 | Enter a birth date |
| Core combination, dose 3 | Week 14 | Enter a birth date |
| Core combination, dose 4 | Week 17 | Enter a birth date |
| Leptospirosis, first dose | Week 14 | Enter a birth date |
| Leptospirosis, second dose | Week 17 | Enter a birth date |
| Rabies (earliest label age, per local law) | From week 12, per local law | Enter a birth date |
| Core booster | Within 1 year after week 17 | Enter a birth date |
| Later core boosters | Every 3 years after that booster | Enter a birth date |
| Leptospirosis boosters | Within 1 year of the second dose, then every year | Enter a birth date |
Default series: first dose at week 8, every 3 weeks, last dose on or after week 16. Dates stay blank until a birth date is entered, so this table does not go stale.
Tips and common mistakes
- A 3-week gap from week 8 finishes at week 17. A 4-week gap finishes on week 16. The 18–20 control is there because the narrative says 'older than 16 weeks'.
- A missed dose is not 'close enough' to decide alone. Rabies follows local law, not the week-12 row by itself.
- A wrong birthday shifts every date in the calendar file by the same number of days.
When to call your vet
- You do not know the puppy's age or which doses were already given, or the puppy came from a shelter. Shelter timing is not the mode this page runs.
- A dose was late, or a kennel is asking for a vaccine this list does not date.
- You want to know when the puppy can meet other dogs. That is a clinic decision, not a line in this list.
Frequently asked questions
When does a puppy get its first shots?
The AAHA texts read for this page put the first combination dose at 6–8 weeks. The page opens at week 8. You can move it to week 6 or 7. It does not start earlier than 6 weeks for a pet puppy.
How many weeks apart?
The same texts say 2–4 weeks. The control offers only those three gaps. The default is 3, which with a week-8 start produces core doses at 8, 11, 14, 17 weeks.
When can a puppy go outside?
This schedule does not answer that. Exposure to other dogs, parks and classes depends on local disease risk and on which doses are already done. Ask the clinic that knows the puppy. The list is timing, not a social calendar.
Does the puppy need a shot every year after that?
For the core combination, the guideline says a booster within 1 year and then every 3 years, and that annual boosters are not necessary. Leptospirosis on the current table is different: after the first pair, boosters are annual. Rabies follows the law and the product label.
What if I only know the puppy is about 8 weeks old?
Leave the birth date empty and keep the age at 8 weeks. You still get the week list, including 8, 11, 14, 17 weeks. Dates and the calendar file appear after you enter a birthday. Guessing a birthday would stamp the wrong days into the file.