Not sure if your vet had informed you about leishmania? It's a disease that can be transmitted from the sand fly. You do not need to be near a beach in order to catch it. but it can be fatal if not prevented. When I adopted my boy here I had never heard of it as in the UK we do not have to deal with this pleased to say.

Anyway, it is easily preventable you have a couple of options. Firstly, There is a couple of different collars one is Scalibor and the other is Seresto which gives you protection between 6- 12 months. I also use the collar along with Advantix drops ( also prevents fleas and ticks ) which should be done every 3 weeks to be effective.
They are most active between May and September but I tend to start with the drops around end of March if the weather is hotting up early.

There is a vaccine, however my vet said that it is only 80% effective and the drops and the collar would provide the same if not more protection.

Here is a couple of links with some information.

https://www.vet4life.co.uk/leishmaniasis/

https://www.travelnuity.com/protect-your-dog-from-leishmania/

Nothing to freak out about!

Do your own research and speak to your vet 🙂 I would also advise to buy it from the UK as here in Europe they are alot more expensive.

Anyway Hope you guys find this helpful and sorry it was a long one!