Medically reviewed by Dr. Catherine Nicolaou, DVM. Last reviewed July 2026. This guide is for information, not a diagnosis; vaccine timing and prices vary, so your vet’s advice for your dog and city comes first.
The first month you bring a pup home, the vet bills feel like they arrive weekly, and half of them are needles. It’s tempting to skip one when the dog looks perfectly healthy. Here is the thing nobody tells first-time owners plainly: the two diseases these shots prevent, parvo and distemper, are the exact two that kill Indian puppies most often, and they kill fastest in the weeks before the course is finished. The schedule below is not a suggestion. It is the cheapest insurance you will ever buy for your dog.
What is the dog vaccination schedule in India? Core puppy vaccinations start at 6 to 8 weeks, repeat every 3 to 4 weeks until at least 16 weeks, and include an anti-rabies dose from around 12 weeks. After that, dogs need a yearly booster. A full puppy course typically runs about ₹3,000 to ₹6,000 across all visits, and a single anti-rabies shot about ₹300 to ₹600.
The schedule at a glance
This is the timeline most Indian vets follow, built around the combined DHPPi (or DHPPiL) shot that covers distemper, hepatitis, parvovirus and parainfluenza in one injection, plus the separate anti-rabies vaccine. Deworming runs alongside it, so the chart includes both.
| Puppy age | Vaccine / treatment | Protects against |
|---|---|---|
| 2–3 weeks | First deworming | Roundworms, hookworms |
| 6–8 weeks | 1st DHPPi (or DHPPiL) | Distemper, hepatitis, parvo, parainfluenza (+ lepto) |
| 9–11 weeks | 2nd DHPPi booster | Same core diseases |
| 12–14 weeks | 3rd DHPPi booster + 1st anti-rabies | Core diseases + rabies |
| 14–16 weeks | Final puppy booster; anti-rabies completed | Locks in core immunity |
| Optional, 8–12 weeks | Kennel cough (Bordetella), corona | Situational — boarding, daycare, high exposure |
| Every 12 months | Annual booster (DHPPi + rabies) | Maintains protection for life |
One distinction first: the DHPPi shot and anti-rabies are the core vaccines every dog needs, while kennel cough and corona are non-core, worth it only when a dog’s life calls for them — a boarder, a daycare regular, a show dog. Two rules then matter more than the exact dates. The final dose must land at or after 16 weeks whatever came before it, because a mother’s fading antibodies can quietly block an earlier shot from taking. And keep an unfinished pup off unknown ground and away from strange dogs until about a week after that last booster. That gap between “started vaccinating” and “fully protected” is where parvo catches most puppies.
What each vaccine costs in India
Prices move with your city, the clinic and the vaccine brand, so treat these as typical 2026 ranges rather than fixed rates, and confirm locally before you go. Most of the cost of a vet visit is the vaccine itself plus a consultation or injection charge of roughly ₹300 to ₹800 on top.
| Vaccine | What it covers | Typical price per dose (₹) |
|---|---|---|
| DHPPi / 7-in-1 (DHPPiL) | Distemper, hepatitis, parvo, parainfluenza, leptospirosis | 500 – 1,200 |
| 9-in-1 | The 7-in-1 diseases plus extra lepto strains and corona | 800 – 1,500 |
| Anti-rabies | Rabies (legally important, and fatal once symptomatic) | 300 – 600 |
| Kennel cough (Bordetella) | Contagious cough — for boarders, daycare, show dogs | 500 – 900 |
| Corona | Canine coronavirus (situational) | 400 – 700 |
| Full puppy course | All core doses across the first 16 weeks | 3,000 – 6,000 |
A quick word on the maths, because owners ask: the parvo vaccine is not sold on its own here, it is the “P” inside the combined DHPPi shot, so the DHPPi price is the parvo price. And the yearly booster afterwards is one DHPPi plus one rabies, usually somewhere around ₹1,000 to ₹2,000 all in. Set beside a parvo hospital stay that can run ₹15,000 to ₹50,000, the whole first-year vaccine bill is a rounding error.
Can you vaccinate a dog at home?
You can buy vaccines over the counter in many Indian cities, and plenty of breeders and shelters do their own to save money. Be honest with yourself about the trade-offs before you try it. A vaccine that sat in a warm bag on a scooter for an hour may already be dead, and a shot given at the wrong depth or the wrong age can simply fail without you ever knowing. A vet visit also buys a health check that catches the sick pup you shouldn’t be vaccinating yet. If cost is the barrier, ask about a low-cost municipal clinic or an NGO drive rather than winging it at home, and never skip the professional handling of the rabies dose in particular.
Why the timing is the whole game
Newborn pups drink in antibodies from their mother’s first milk, and that borrowed immunity fades over the first three to four months. For a stretch in the middle, it is too weak to stop a real infection but still strong enough to neutralise a vaccine dose, so a single early shot cannot be trusted. That is the entire reason for the repeating series every three to four weeks. Each dose is another attempt to catch the moment the mother’s antibodies have dropped far enough for the vaccine to take, and the 16-week dose is the backstop that works no matter what. Miss the follow-ups and you have a pup that looks vaccinated on paper and is wide open in reality.
Adult dogs, missed doses and the yearly booster
Once the puppy course is done, an adult dog needs a booster every year for rabies and the core diseases, though some vets move certain components to a three-year cycle depending on the vaccine used. If you have adopted a grown street dog with no records, do not gamble on old immunity you cannot prove. A vet will usually restart with one or two doses and then move to the annual schedule. Missed a puppy booster by a few weeks? Rarely a crisis, but do not stretch it, and let the vet decide whether to continue the series or restart it rather than guessing yourself.
The one shot the law cares about
Rabies is the vaccine that stops being only your dog’s business. It is almost always fatal once signs appear, in dogs and in people, and India carries a heavy share of the world’s human rabies deaths. Housing societies, boarding kennels, groomers and travel paperwork will all ask for a current rabies certificate, so keep the card and the dates. This is the one dose to never let lapse, whatever else slips.
Deworming runs on its own clock
Vaccines and dewormers are not the same job and do not share a schedule, though the early visits overlap. Worms are near-universal in Indian pups and drain a growing dog quietly, so deworming starts earlier, at two to three weeks, and repeats more often through the first months. The full timeline sits in our dog deworming schedule for India, and coordinating the two is simplest if you let one clinic track both on the same card.
Before the needles: bringing a new pup home safely
If you have just taken in a puppy, especially an indie off the street, assume zero protection until a vet has started the course, and keep it away from unknown dogs and ground in the meantime. The first-week health checklist, including when to start this schedule, is in our dog adoption guide. And because the diseases these shots prevent move fast, it is worth knowing the early signs: our guide to parvo in dogs covers the symptom that should send you to a vet the same day, no waiting.
Side effects, and when a reaction is worth a call
Vaccines are very safe, and most dogs show nothing at all. Some run a quiet day or a little tenderness or swelling at the injection site, which passes on its own. The reaction to act on is rare but fast: vomiting, swelling around the face, or any breathing trouble within a few hours of the shot. That is an allergic response, it is treatable when caught early, so ring your vet straight away rather than waiting it out. It is the reason many vets like the first dose given in the morning, with the day ahead to watch the pup.
Questions owners ask us most
Is it illegal not to vaccinate your dog in India? Rabies is the one with legal weight. Municipal rules and most housing societies can ask for a current anti-rabies certificate, and an unvaccinated dog that bites someone lands you in real legal and medical trouble. The core puppy shots aren’t policed the same way, but skipping them is a gamble with the two diseases that kill Indian pups most.
Can a vaccinated dog still get rabies? Very rarely. A dog whose rabies cover is complete and current is extremely well protected, and the rare failures almost always trace back to a lapsed booster or an unfinished course. Keep the dates current and the risk is close to nil.
Can a fully vaccinated dog get parvo? A puppy still mid-course can, because protection isn’t sealed until that 16-week dose. A dog that finished the series is very well guarded. It is exactly why you keep an unfinished pup off unknown ground until the course is done.
When in doubt about timing or a reaction, call your vet — the schedule above is the norm, not a substitute for their advice on your dog.
Thanks for the information!