Five dogs....

equals approximately 10 vet visits a year - not counting going because they're "sick." It seems like all we do is go to the vet. Now, of course, you say, "Well, why don't you just arrange the vaccination schedules so they all "match?" First, of course, you just can't take five dogs to the vet at one time. Not even if they're well-behaved, which ours only partially are...actually, they're pretty much okay until you add Emily to the mix. Anyway. Trust me, five at once is tough. Second, in the dog world, as in the human world, there's a trend away from over-vaccination. Which means that the vet is really not willing to speed up one set of shots so that it coincides with another set of shots. In other words, if you have them vaccinated for parvo - a "6-month" shot - in January, then have them vaccinated for lepto - another 6-month shot - in March - that's three months apart, and the vet won't speed up one, and you can't really risk slowing down the other. So it makes for a LOT of visits. At least they went to every three years on the rabies....and our vet said that he really wouldn't even do it that often, except that it's required by law. When the dog's blood is titrated, there's still tons of antibodies even after three years (more than you wanted to know, right?).