Vanuatu Dog Friendly?

[moosmum]

Has anyone any knowledge of Vanuatu with regards to dogs?

I need to know if it is a dog friendly place,and how long quarantine would be for dogs.

There is a couple enquiring about a pup who intend to move there.

She is a huge dog who will need a chance to socialise and exersise.I wouldn't like to allow her to go if she will be quarantined for long,or if her movement would restricted once there.

Thanks in advance for any help offered.

[Greytmate]

Has anyone any knowledge of Vanuatu with regards to dogs?

I need to know if it is a dog friendly place,and how long quarantine would be for dogs.

There is a couple enquiring about a pup who intend to move there.

She is a huge dog who will need a chance to socialise and exersise.I wouldn't like to allow her to go if she will be quarantined for long,or if her movement would restricted once there.

Thanks in advance for any help offered.

Dogs wander around the place, most in poor condition. Whether the dog gets socialised would depend on whether the people have friends with dogs they could socialise with. You wouldn't want your dog socialising with the village dogs, you would really want your dog to ignore them. While they could walk a dog on the street there on a lead, unless they owned property it wouldn't get the same opportunity for off-lead exercise.

I doubt whether the dog would need to go into quarantine on arrival as most countries accept animals from Australia without quarantine. Bringing them back here is different.

Vanuatu is a very divided society, not everyone there values dogs highly or keeps them contained. There is very little in the way of public infrastructure, and so the quality of the dog's life would depend a lot on the financial situation and attitude of the owner. If there were behaviour or complicated vet problems with the dog, I'm not sure what help they could get.

[moosmum]

Has anyone any knowledge of Vanuatu with regards to dogs?

I need to know if it is a dog friendly place,and how long quarantine would be for dogs.

There is a couple enquiring about a pup who intend to move there.

She is a huge dog who will need a chance to socialise and exersise.I wouldn't like to allow her to go if she will be quarantined for long,or if her movement would restricted once there.

Thanks in advance for any help offered.

Dogs wander around the place, most in poor condition. Whether the dog gets socialised would depend on whether the people have friends with dogs they could socialise with. You wouldn't want your dog socialising with the village dogs, you would really want your dog to ignore them. While they could walk a dog on the street there on a lead, unless they owned property it wouldn't get the same opportunity for off-lead exercise.

Thanks Greytmate,

The people sound lovely and reasonably financial,but slightly complicated by being an older couple.

Might give it a miss.This dog could also be a target by the sound of things.

I'd rather be safe than sorry!

I doubt whether the dog would need to go into quarantine on arrival as most countries accept animals from Australia without quarantine. Bringing them back here is different.

Vanuatu is a very divided society, not everyone there values dogs highly or keeps them contained. There is very little in the way of public infrastructure, and so the quality of the dog's life would depend a lot on the financial situation and attitude of the owner. If there were behaviour or complicated vet problems with the dog, I'm not sure what help they could get.

[wayrod]

A link is attached for the general information about importing a dog to Vanuatu.

http://www.daff.gov.au/micor/live-animals/vanuatu/dog

As mentioned a provisional import permit is required, which will stipulate the protocols required to be met to allow the dog to have entry.

[Pretty Miss Emma]

I believe there is no quarantine period getting in (I'm not saying that factually though) but I believe there are vacc's and testing to be done, it's coming back to Australia that is the big problem. My friend ended up having to leave one of her dogs there for nearly 6 months due to testing coming back with problems (thought to be a false positive as the samples had to be sent O/S for analysis etc etc), she was at the point of being able to do one more test and if the dog wasn't cleared to come back to Australia it was going to be PTS as there are no boarding facilities over there, you need to rely on friends and vets who will offer short term boarding.

The other thing to consider is that there is a great deal of animal neglect and cruelty over there, it's just to do with culture and there are rescue organisations that are trying really hard to implement education programs to try and change attitudes. But I'd be wanting to know that the dog was secure at all times. It is really only expats who treat their dogs as pets, the nee-Vans tend to treat them as guarding animals and very few believe in them being pets - although I think those perceptions are slowly changing.

As for socialisation, like someone above said it would depend on their social circle. Also vet care can be be hard to come by. I think if you wanted behaviour training stuff there probably is next to none. There are some expat vets that work over there with the rescue organisations. If they intend to come back to Australia they will need to think about the testing and quarantine requirements.

(Note - all of this probably also depends to some extent which island they are on)

[moosmum]

Thanks Wayrod for that link, and Pretty Miss Emma. I have plenty to think about,and make sure the couple have taken into consideration.

If they can satisfy me that they are well prepared for all this,I'll see. And if any problems she comes back to me.

Socialisation will naturaly end up more neutralisation with this pup anyway,so mixing with dogs other than her owners 2nd small dog won't be an issue.

I've only agreed to talk more if they can set my mind at rest with this information.

I doubt very much they will have any behavioural problems. :)

Edited February 17, 2012 by moosmum

[moosmum]

Thanks again for the help.

Shes going.

They have year to prepare and have looked into everything.

They are used to traveling all over europe with dogs,and aren't put off by the protocols and they are familiar with them.

Any problems getting her into the country when the time comes and she comes back to me.They don't expect to return,its a well planned retirement,and sounds like a great match. :)