How To Avoid Travel with Your Dog Becoming a Total Nightmare
We have travelled together a lot – and I mean A LOT. Max and Nena are original Mexican rescues, and after our first year together I took them back with me to Toronto which was our first flight.
But just as before Toronto wasn’t the right place for me – too cold, too much of many things and after a few years in the Great White North we were off again, this time to Europe. Then..
- Dominican Republic
- Mexico again
- Costa Rica
- and soon, Panama
My friends often joke that they’ve travelled more than they have. One thing people often ask me – isn’t it hard? And the honest answer – it depends.
Travel with your dog doesn’t have to be a nightmare but it can be, depending on your ability to follow instructions, the country you are travelling to, the amount of time you leave yourself to prepare and your resources.
I am going to provide specific experiences of the places we have travelled but I want to highlight a word here – EXPERIENCE – not instructions. Especially in our current pandemic world country regulations are constantly changing but I still see people going to Expat websites or travel blogs from 2016 to ask for directions on how to transport their dog across the world. I can promise you – these people don’t know! They have an experience or story to talk about based on their situation and that’s it. Save yourself the headache and stress by going directly to the source.
International Travel with Dogs – Where to find the info
Give a man a fish and feed him for a day… you know the rest. While I’ll give my experiences in other posts, the most important thing I can give you is where to find the information yourself.
- Check your countries website. You will typically find the information under the agricultural export pages. Each country has rules about live animals exiting their borders. Make sure you have the most recent and up to date information and forms required
- Check the airlines requirements. Different airlines have different rules and different ways of transporting the animals. Best thing is to call or check their website
- Check the website of the country you are going to. Depending on the locations you are visiting not all websites are fully developed but there will be contact emails for embassies in your country that you can contact directly and communicate with someone in your language to get the correct importation information for live animals
- Speak to your Vet. Most vets are not travel specialists and it is important that you don’t take any of the info they give you at face value and cross check them with the above listed agencies, but they will be a necessary part of the process
What not to do
- Don’t be lazy – just one google search isn’t going to cut it. Get in touch with the right people as fast as possible to give yourself the time to make preparations
- Don’t ask random people on the internet
- Don’t ask random people on the internet, it’s really worth saying more than once
Why harp on that point? While I have done it myself, and have found some decent information from time to time just don’t do it. Random people on the internet will have incomplete at best and incorrect information at worst, and sometimes can make your stress worse by giving you information that is only relevant to them. If you follow the above check list you will have all the relevant point to get the paper work sorted correctly and get you on your way without worry.
Whether you are doing a full relocation, a long term travel or a short trip – a lot of us don’t want to be separated from our best friends. It is entirely possible to do this with as little stress possible, but it takes time and preparation so as soon as you decide to do a trip and have confirmed your details, you need to verify theirs as well. I’ll be giving you some of my experiences in other blog posts.
Happy Trails!
