Puppy Deworming and Vaccination Schedule: Week by Week for Breeders
Every litter runs on the same clock. Deworming starts at two weeks, the first shots come at six to eight, and the series isn't finished until the puppies are long gone to their new homes. None of it is hard. The trouble is keeping it straight across two litters at once, with dates worked out by hand on a whiteboard.
Here's the schedule week by week, what's yours to do and what's the buyer's, and how to set it up once so every litter after this one takes care of itself.
The schedule at a glance
| Age | Care | Whose |
|---|---|---|
| 2 weeks | First dewormingWeigh each puppy and dose to weight.Breeder | Breeder |
| 4 weeks | Second dewormingBreeder | Breeder |
| 6 weeks | Third deworming and first combo vaccine (DA2PP #1)A good moment for a quick wellness look-over.Breeder | Breeder |
| 8 weeks | Fourth deworming, go-home vet exam, records readyExams, microchips, and paperwork before puppies leave.Breeder | Breeder |
| 10 to 12 weeks | Second combo vaccineBoosters every 2 to 4 weeks.Buyer and their vet | Buyer and their vet |
| 12 to 16 weeks | Rabies, as your state requiresBuyer and their vet | Buyer and their vet |
| 14 to 16 weeks | Final puppy combo vaccineThe series runs until at least 16 weeks.Buyer and their vet | Buyer and their vet |
| Monthly from here | Parasite and heartworm preventionYear-round, on your vet's advice.Buyer and their vet | Buyer and their vet |
Timing, products, and doses come from your vet. This is a planning outline, not veterinary advice.
Everything above the line happens with you. Everything below it happens after go-home, with the buyer and their vet, which is why it belongs in the folder that goes home with the puppy.
Deworming starts at 2 weeks
Puppies can pick up roundworms from their mother before they're even born, so deworming starts early. The Companion Animal Parasite Council says to treat puppies "starting at 2 weeks of age and repeating every 2 weeks until regular broad-spectrum parasite control begins" (CAPC general guidelines). For most litters, that's 2, 4, 6, and 8 weeks.
Weigh each puppy and dose to weight. Your vet chooses the product and the dose.
Vaccines start at 6 to 8 weeks and run to 16
The first combination vaccine (distemper, adenovirus, and parvovirus, often with parainfluenza) usually goes in at six to eight weeks. The American Animal Hospital Association recommends boosters every two to four weeks until the puppy is at least 16 weeks old (AAHA canine vaccination guidelines).
The series runs that long because the antibodies a puppy gets from its mother can block a vaccine for a while, and nobody knows exactly when they fade. Rabies comes later, on the timing your state requires.
So most puppies go home partway through their shots. That's normal. It just means the family needs to know exactly what's next.
Where it falls apart
The schedule itself fits on an index card. What goes wrong is everything around it:
- Two litters born three weeks apart, so the whiteboard has six deworming dates that look the same.
- Dates counted by hand from the birth date, and one of them off by a week.
- A buyer's vet who gets the shots that were given but not the ones still due.
Set it up once in BreederBuddy
Care Schedules in BreederBuddy turn the table above into dated tasks for every litter.
- Start from a template. Pick Puppy Vaccination & Deworming and it lays out the deworming at 2, 4, 6, and 8 weeks, the first vaccine at 6 weeks, and the go-home vet visit, with notes that never prescribe a dose.
- Review before anything is created. Untick a task, rename it, or change the day. If your vet runs the first shot at seven weeks, change it once and every litter after gets it.
- Apply it to a litter. The litter's birth date fills the start date, and every task lands on your calendar on the right day.
- Apply it from the list. Each schedule has Apply to litter right on its card, with a preview of what it'll create before you confirm.
- Log care for a group. When several dogs get the same shot, deworming, or groom, Log Care records it for all of them at once.
- Send the rest home. The Go-Home Packet includes a checklist of the shots still due, so the buyer's vet sees what's next. Here's what else goes in that folder.
There are five more templates to start from: annual wellness and boosters, monthly parasite prevention, a six-week grooming routine, a heat-to-whelping timeline with progesterone testing, and puppy socialization milestones from three to seven weeks.
Questions
When should puppies be dewormed?
Start at 2 weeks and repeat every 2 weeks, usually at 2, 4, 6, and 8 weeks, until the puppy moves on to monthly parasite prevention. Your vet picks the product and dose.
When do puppies get their first shots?
Usually at 6 to 8 weeks, with boosters every 2 to 4 weeks until at least 16 weeks. Rabies follows on your state's schedule.
Can a puppy go home before its vaccines are finished?
Yes. Most puppies go home around 8 weeks, partway through the series. Send the family home with the dates of every shot given and a list of what's still due, and ask them to book a vet visit in the first week.
Does this work for kittens?
Yes. For a cat program the template uses the FVRCP vaccine and a later go-home, around 12 weeks, and the wording switches to kitten throughout.
Want a dated list for a single litter right now? Our free puppy vaccination schedule builds one from the birth date. Care schedules are part of BreederBuddy's daily workflow tools.