boxer puppies

Question
I am a 20 year old college student and I, along with my roomates are all about to get our dogs. One on my roomates allready has a 3 month old black lab, and my other roomate is about to get choclate lab puppy. I am about to get a boxer puppy and my question is will these dogs be good together. They will live inside but have a big backyard to play in.
My next question is what shots do I really need to give to my boxer. I have heard many different things about vaccinations and am not sure what to believe and not to believe, and I also have read where vets make the majority of their income from vaccinations. Being college students I don't want to pay for shots that are not neccessary as long as the dog is healthy but I do want to make sure I do everything I can to have a healthy dog.  
Any information or links is very appreciated.

TEXAS AGGIE
Kevin Wurst

Answer
Hi Kevin-

Congrats on getting a new pup...isn't it exciting?!

These dogs will all get along just great, you have their age working with you.  I will tell you, however, that if you're going to have more than 1 male in the same area with females, and not have any of them sterilized, there will be fighting.  Your best and healthiest bet is to have them all sterilized if you're not intending on breeding them.  It's healthier, cleaner and easier, for both you guys and the dogs.  

As for vaccinations...I don't do any before 8 weeks of age.  And then I do the remaining 4 weeks apart from each other.  There is a lot of research being done showing that once a pup has had it's annual booster, it's immunized for at least 3 years.  Some research is showing that they are vaccinated for life.  Here are a few websites with the info supporting that:
www.woodhavenlabs.com/vaccinex2/html
www.shalako.com/vaccine.htm

Let me know if you have problems getting to them.  

If you're not planning on taking your dogs to trials and/or tests or to a lot of dog parks, I wouldn't worry about getting them every year.  Rabies you do want to stay current on, however.  The first one is given at 16 weeks, a booster a year later and then boosters every 3 years.

You might also want to look into the pet shops in your area.  I know here there are PetCo stores that give vaccines...much cheaper than the vets. office.  In some places you can also buy your own vaccines and administer them yourself.  There are also catalogs that you can order them out of;  www.revivalanimal.com and www.fostersmith.com are 2 off the top of my head.  

You're correct in thinking that the vets make most of their $ off of the vaccines and, why should you pay the office visit fees and the well-check fees just to get a vaccine?  Check into the stores in your area and don't worry about going every year...just make sure that you do get the series needed and the 1 year booster.  

Let me know how things go for you and if you have any more concerns, don't hesitate to get back in touch with me.


Good luck!
Patty Lemke
Country-Side Breeders
www.country-sidebreeders.com