Rhiannon Solem
Hi Dr Falconer! I never saw your response even thou I looked for it right after I made the post, weird! Anyway I did the protocol sort of. Here is my story:
I waited until my pup Braxee was older (18 weeks) and then I only took her to the dog park parking lot ONCE for 5 min (yes I set a timer!) I did not do the recommend once a week for 4 weeks. I was just too scared...
And now for the great, amazing news! IT WORKED!!!!!! Braxee's titers show she is completely immune to parvo AND distemper at one year of age!!!!!! She NEVER had ONE shot in her entire life! I did not follow the protocol exactly as specified, but I am guessing some extra exposure came from my dog room and dog yard, since I would let her briefly play in there from time to time with my guest dogs. It is kind of like a dog park after all, since I run a dog boarding business out of my home. SO happy and AMAZED that the natural immunity worked!
By the way my traditional vet was shocked! When I was doing this protocol he was against it, and said I was taking a risk. He said: "there is a very small, slight possibility, that maybe you can get her immune from parvo that way, but in no way will it work with distemper..."
When the blood titer results came back for Braxee showing that she was indeed protected with no vaccines, my vet was extremely surprised! He said "are you sure she never had any vaccines, not even from the breeder?" He also said, "this is very interesting." He went on to say that he will always remember this, and that he will tell all his colleagues. He also was shocked that the distemper titer was even stronger than the parvo titer!
MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!!! Thank you so much for this article! It worked, and my 15 month old puppy has always been really healthy!! She never stepped foot in a vet office until 1 year of age when I had her blood work done for parvo/distemper titers, CBC and a thyroid panel. All came back perfect! She has eaten raw for whole life, even with the breeder, and no vaccines ever!! That makes her a happy, healthy girl! Thank you again so much!!!! If I breed her next year I will NOT be vaccinating any of the puppies before they go to their new homes, and I will educate all the puppy families what I did and how I feel about vaccines! ;-)