I thought I'd update for those researching this in the future. Little puppies eventually got the kennel cough at 5 weeks old. The first 2 just started coughing the same day the nasal bordetella vaccine arrived from Revival. I still gave teh vaccine to all of the 5 week olds. 3 total out of 10 ended up having it very mildly. My vet wanted them on antibiotics, but I didn't put them on as it was so mild. I did give Robitussin DM prior to bedtime so they'd all sleep.

A local vet tech told me another local vet office misdiagnosed kennel cough telling clients "it's just a cold". Those clients all use 2 very high end doggy day care places which really spread it in our area. She said every vet office was reporting several calls a day about kennel cough. A friend's new 8 week old golden got it after his first well puppy visit to the vet.

In the future, I will be giving nasal bordetella prior to any vet visit. According to Revival, it can be given as young as 3 weeks old. It works really quickly. The only thing is I don't like using the nasal vaccine on a future hunting/hunt test pup.