Importing From Europe

[alpha bet]

Am toying with the idea of importing a dog from Europe. Just wondering if anyone has some experience or recommendations that they could share.

What companies did you use? approx costing? any problems?

Thanks in anticipation

[Saffioraire]

Do you have kennels in certain countries that you are looking at? It would be a good idea to get to know your breeder (or minder) very well as it is a difficult age to travel out from, you want them to be well socialised.

If you would prefer to do the paperwork yourself it is not difficult, I did the paperwork for both of mine. If you are importing from the Netherlands (or Germany) PM me as I can give you the direct exporter details and save you the extra 1000€ of using a middle man. The only extra thing you would have to do yourself is call quarantine. It's not hard!

So long as your breeder can understand English to get the blood work done to the correct dates it is not hard. Rabies Vacc @ 3 months Titre test @ 4 months 130 days from titre test you do your final bloodwork, 150 days from titre test the dog flies, and the remaining 30 days are done in quarantine to meet the 180 day from titre test and minimum 30 days in quarantine requirements. Easy!

Rabies Vacc & Titre test will cost you approx 250€ + final bloodwork approx 125€ + Airfare (depending on breed - for a similar breed to your profile pic ~ 1500€ with a direct exporter or ~ 2600€ with Jet Pets) + approx $1500 for quarantine (don't be fooled, they SAY $1330 but then they add fees! ;) )

+ cost of puppy and boarding for 5-6 months.

[Saffioraire]

Should have said that if you can get a pup from Norway or Iceland (Category 2) then the pup can fly at 12 weeks. No rabies vacc or testing, just final bloods! Save you lots of money and time but it's not always as easy as that.

The pup must be born in these countries. Requirement is that a dog must reside in the country of export for 6 months prior to export (with the exception for instance of crossing the German/Netherlands border for the purpose of using Amsterdam Airport rather than Frankfurt Airport because it is about 1000€ cheaper to fly out of the Netherlands!!)

[Ptolomy]

I have imported 2 dogs from Norway in the last 20 months. The cost of importing including the cost of the dog - for a 12 week old puppy it was just over $7000 - for an adult dog it was closer to $9500. I used Scandipet the first time for booking flights, the second time the breeder did it for me and I booked the quarantine side of things at Byford both times.

Quarantine you now have to pay upfront too - 30 nights at $39 a day - so looking at about $1400 there abouts.

[DLB]

Hi

I used Brooke at Dogtainers in Brisbane to book my dogs travel. The agents they use over there were amazing and couldnt fault Dogtainers at all. Brilliant service and took the hassle out of it. He came from Sweden

It cost just under $7000 for a 12 week old pup.

Quarantine in Sydney was just horrible and would not go there again. I believe Melbourne is really good as is Perth.

Hope that helps!

[Saffioraire]

As of this year Sweden is now a Cat 4 country. The only two European Countries who are still Cat 2 are Iceland and Norway

[alotanewfs]

We have imported from Germany (Via Netherlands) and from France. In the European countries, France is by far the most expensive, costing us way WAY over the prices given here for the flight, but this was for a 10 month old Newfoundland. Our German import was quarter of the price as she flew out from Amsterdam.

We used a shipper for both imports and they were wonderful, even sending photo's of each dog at their stopover via text message so we could see that they were OK.

We have not been charged extra for quarantine either time, just the bottom line of $1330 each dog.

Both my dogs could not come out before 9/10 months as they were cat 4 countries, but this suited us as we would not risk bringing in a 12 week old giant breed when so much can change/go wrong at that age. At 9/10 months we could be pretty assured of what we were getting.

I would not hesitate to import again (well maybe I would when I look at the bank balance...lol) but both dogs travelled well and are happy and healthy dogs.

[tashnchief]

I agree with alotanewfs, France and Belgium are by far two of the most expensive places to ship a dog out of. We brought 2 dogs over from France however once they were ready to leave we applied for a special dispensation (sorted by our agent Jetpets) and drove them across to Amsterdam and they flew from there. In comparison we saved over half our initial freight quote in Paris by doing it this way.

We found our greatest expense during the whole process was boarding fees whilst they did their Q time over there. Again, more of an expensive exercise as the breeder was restricted by law on how many dogs they could keep so they couldn't run them on for us and we had them cared for at a specialised Q boarding facility.....expensive but very worth it in the long run.

[alpha bet]

Great feedback, thanks for your information. I have been talking with some breeders in Poland and Germany - heading over later in the year and plan to visit to have a first hand look. Am also hoping to get to a aussie speciality show in Belgium which might give me a good chance to see a wide range of dogs/breeders. Consider it is worth investigating more before I go so that I know what I might be letting myself in for. So likely costs of $6-8,000 expected..... for an adult. Lots to outlay on the offchance. Otherwise might consider importing semen but then wonder if this is as good an option.

Must say I am more nervous/concerned about the length of time the dog will be locked up on the plane - do they get watered, fed at all ?

The quarantine time here seems okay, after all not too far away to visit at Spotswood and have hear great things.

Another question, what is the difference between the country Catergories.

Edited April 28, 2012 by alpha bet