Vaccination Policy & Health Requirements
What your dog needs before their first visit, and how to get records verified without a scramble.
Quick Answer
Every dog needs current Rabies, DHPP, and Bordetella vaccinations dated at least 7 days before their first visit, and must be at least 20 weeks old. Canine Influenza and Leptospirosis are not required. Dogs coming from a rescue or shelter environment wait 30 days at home first. Verify records through your Pet Parent Portal, by email, or directly with your veterinarian.
The Policy
Partners Dogs runs shared spaces: playgroups, training classrooms, crate rooms, boarding suites. Any facility that brings dogs together in close quarters carries a real risk of passing along contagious illness, the same reason a busy dog park or a vet's waiting room carries that risk too. Requiring current vaccinations before a first visit is the most effective tool we have for keeping those shared environments safe, because it builds protection before a dog ever walks through the door instead of reacting to an outbreak after one starts.
A consistent standard protects more than the dog wearing the leash. It protects the older dog boarding down the hall, the puppy who just turned 20 weeks and is meeting a group for the first time, and the staff members handling dozens of dogs a day. It also protects your own dog: knowing the facility holds the line on its standards means the dog next to yours in the playgroup or the crate room came through the same screening yours did.
None of this eliminates risk. Close contact between dogs always carries some exposure, and any facility that tells you otherwise is overselling. What a consistently enforced standard does is narrow the range of what can get through the door and shorten the time it takes to catch a problem.
For that to hold, current has to mean current on the day of the visit, not current at some point last year. A dog whose vaccinations have lapsed does not come into the building, and that is the detail that most often derails a first morning. Check the expiration dates when you book, not when you arrive.
Required Vaccinations
Every dog attending a Partners Dogs program needs current documentation for:
- Rabies
- DHPP (also written DAPP): the combination vaccine covering Distemper, Hepatitis/Adenovirus, Parainfluenza, and Parvovirus. A DHLPP combination, which adds Leptospirosis, also satisfies this requirement.
- Bordetella (Canine Cough), the vaccine that matters most in shared indoor and outdoor group spaces.
Vaccines We Do Not Require
Canine Influenza and Leptospirosis are not on our required list. Your vet may still recommend one or both depending on where your dog goes and what they are exposed to, and Leptospirosis often comes bundled into a DHLPP combination anyway. That conversation is worth having with your vet. Neither vaccine is a condition of enrollment here.
The Seven-Day Rule, and Why It Exists
Vaccinations need to be dated at least 7 days before your dog's first day with us, not the week of. A shot does not grant instant immunity, and a live vaccine can cause a dog to shed small amounts of virus for a short period afterward. Seven days covers both: protection has begun to build, and the shedding window has passed.
Bordetella is the one worth asking about specifically. If your dog's Bordetella dose was given less than two weeks before the visit, ask your vet to confirm it has had enough time to be fully effective.
Minimum Age: 20 Weeks
Dogs must be at least 20 weeks old, and fully vaccinated for at least 7 days, before their first visit to any Partners Dogs facility.
The age line is not an arbitrary cutoff; it follows the puppy vaccination schedule. Puppies receive their Distemper/Parvo series in several rounds, with the final round usually landing somewhere around 16 weeks, and they are not considered fully covered until roughly a week after that last shot. Twenty weeks is where the paperwork and the protection reliably line up. Bring records for the whole series, including the third round of Distemper/Parvo, not only the most recent visit.
If your puppy is younger than that, you are not stuck waiting idle. We typically recommend starting with at-home foundational work paired with an online private lesson, then bringing your puppy in for their first in-person class the week they hit the 20-week mark.
Dogs Coming From a Rescue or Shelter
Any dog that has been inside, around, or near other dogs in a rescue or shelter environment stays home for at least 30 days before a first visit. That covers newly adopted dogs, fosters, and dogs pulled from a shelter on your behalf by someone else.
The reason is timing, not suspicion. Shelter populations carry illnesses that can take weeks to show themselves, and 30 quiet days at home is long enough for most of them to surface somewhere they cannot spread through a playgroup. Tell us at booking that your dog came from a rescue or shelter and we will confirm the earliest date that works.
If Your Dog Is Showing Symptoms
A dog with coughing, sneezing, digestive upset, or any other sign of active illness stays home, and that holds even when the symptoms look minor. The first day of something contagious and a harmless one-off look identical from the outside.
The same rule applies if symptoms show up after drop-off. If a dog develops signs of illness while already in our care, we separate them from the group right away and contact you for pickup.
Either way, our standard for coming back is the same: a full week fully symptom free. Talk to your vet, then check in with our team before you rebook so we can confirm your dog is clear to return.
Medical Exemptions and Titer Results
If your dog cannot receive a required vaccine for a documented medical reason, or your vet has run a titer test in place of revaccinating, contact our Guest Support Team before you book. Exceptions of this kind are reviewed case by case by a manager. We will typically ask for a letter from your veterinarian and may put additional precautions in place so we can still welcome your dog safely.
How to Submit or Verify Records
You have three ways to confirm vaccination status ahead of a visit:
- Upload to your Pet Parent Portal. The fastest route, and it keeps your records on file for every future booking.
- Email your records to our team. Allow up to 48 hours for processing, so send them well ahead of the visit and not the night before.
- Let us verify directly with your veterinarian. We are happy to call your vet's office. We may need your permission on file before the clinic will release records, so give us a heads-up before your visit.
Whichever route you take, close it out before you arrive. Sorting out verification at the front desk on the morning of a visit is the slowest version of this, and it holds up the drop-off line behind you.
For a full walkthrough of portal uploads, see our Pet Parent Portal Guide.
Planning the Vet Visit
Book the vet appointment ten days out, not seven. The extra buffer absorbs a rescheduled appointment or a vaccine the clinic has to order, and it costs you nothing when everything goes smoothly.
Ask for all three by name. When you call your vet, specifically request documentation for Rabies, DHPP, and Bordetella. Clinics print what you ask for, and a visit summary that quietly leaves off Bordetella means a second phone call later.
Photograph the record before you leave the parking lot, then upload it to your Pet Parent Portal the same day, while it is still in your hand.
Reaching Our Team
Anything unusual, tell us early. A recent adoption, a titer result standing in for a vaccine, an upcoming surgery, a dog with a history of reacting badly to vaccines: the sooner we know, the more room there is to work with your timeline.
If your dog is sick right now, that is a conversation for your veterinarian first, not us. Once your vet confirms your dog is symptom free and safe around other dogs, and the symptom-free week has passed, come back to us and we will get the visit rescheduled.
Email our Guest Support Team at enroll@partnersdogs.com with any of the above. Your Pet Parent Portal also holds the Staying Healthy Agreement and your dog's health documentation. If you would rather talk it through by phone, use the "Schedule a Call" or "Contact Us" link on partnersdogs.com so you always reach our current line.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why does my dog need to be vaccinated a full week before their visit?
Two reasons. Vaccines take time to build protection, so a shot given the same week as the visit has not become effective yet. Live vaccines can also cause a dog to shed small amounts of virus for a period afterward. Waiting 7 days clears both, which is why we ask for proof dated at least a week before drop-off.
We just adopted a rescue. Can we book a visit now?
Not yet. Any dog that has been in or around other dogs in a rescue or shelter environment stays home for 30 days first, so illnesses that are common in those settings have time to show up before your dog is in a group. Tell us the adoption date when you reach out and we will find the first workable day.
What if my dog has a medical exemption, or a titer instead of a vaccine?
Contact our Guest Support Team before your visit. A manager reviews medical exemptions and titer results individually. We will typically ask for a letter from your veterinarian and may add extra precautions so your dog can still attend safely.
My puppy isn't 20 weeks old yet. Can we start now?
Not with an in-person visit, but you do not have to wait idle. Most pet parents start with at-home foundational work and an online private lesson, then bring their puppy in for a first class the week they turn 20 weeks.
Does Partners Dogs require the Canine Influenza or Leptospirosis vaccine?
No. Both are optional here. Ask your vet whether either makes sense given where your dog goes and what they are around, but neither is required for enrollment.
Where can I find my dog's Staying Healthy Agreement or upload vaccination records?
Both live in your Pet Parent Portal. See our Pet Parent Portal Guide for a full walkthrough, and our General Booking Policies for how this fits into the rest of the booking process.
Related Articles
Vaccination status is one piece of getting ready for a visit. General Booking Policies covers the rest of what to expect at the point of booking, Health of the Pet covers the broader wellness standards we ask every pet parent to know, and Overnight Boarding adds what else to prepare when your dog is staying the night.
Upload your dog's records well before the 20-week mark, then book a first DaySchool class once that milestone passes.